Mr. Baseball

• Tom Selleck: Jack Elliot
• Ken Takakura: Uchiyama
• Aya Takanashi: Hiroko Uchiyama
• Dennis Haysbert: Max ' Hammer' Dubois
• Toshi Shioya: Yoji Nishimura
• Art LaFleur: Skip

Mr. Baseball is an American sports comedy from 1992.

Action

Jack Elliot is an aging baseball player of the New York Yankees. Because of his miserable job training and the resulting benefits during the game he is booted out against a rookie and is to be sold. However, only one prospective customer from Japan, the Chunichi Dragons reports. Reluctantly agrees to Elliot.

Arriving in Japan Elliot is confronted with a totally alien culture that he can neither understand nor want to understand. So he quickly comes to his coach Uchiyama and its management style. He finds it inappropriate and is rapidly across it, which is why he also einhandelt the anger of the team. His only ally in the team is the American Max, who plays baseball in Japan for five years. But he also distances himself from the profanity Elliots. At the same time, Elliot developed a relationship with the beautiful Japanese girl Hiroko.

After Elliot is not in check and has repeatedly misbehaves, he is after a game of escalation, in which he proposes his own interpreter knockout accidentally suspended. Hiroko then takes care of his and puts it in front of her family, where Elliot finds to his chagrin that she is the daughter of his coach Uchiyama. Elliot will consequently go immediately, but Hiroko and her father persuaded him to stay for dinner; it would be a great insult, not to do so. When eating it comes to a head, whereupon Hiroko angry departs alone. Elliot is left with Uchiyama and both entertained; Uchiyama Elliot explained that this was planned by his daughter because she was advised by her mother. He also learns that Uchiyama wanted to get him, against all odds in the club, from America. Elliot was in sloppy form, but still a great player. But since he did not want to settle in the Japanese league, now both careers are at stake. When Elliot hears this, he shows humility and a willingness to seek work of Uchiyama. Elliot learns the Japanese virtues to the spirit of sport and the balance in the team know, while Uchiyama of American cheering him learn to appreciate on the court instead of humiliation after a miserable performance.

Jack Elliot's services increase thereafter, and he manages to beat in seven consecutive games a home run. He is on the verge of breaking the 18- year-old record of his coaches Uchiyama. This, in turn, faces the problem that the club bosses do not like to see, to lose against the next opponent, and also that Uchiyama record is broken by a gaijin. In the game against the Yomiuri Giants, it is then 5:6 for the Dragons, as Uchiyama Elliot gives the signal that he should attempt to calm his record to beat to win the game for good. But this decides against a record attempt and drops the ball from the bat " drain " to let his two teammates run on the bases to the finish. This succeeds and the game is won.

After the Dragons have won, use Max and Jack chance in the Major League Baseball back. While Max signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Elliot, who married now Hiroko, coach of the Detroit Tigers is.

Criticism

Mr. Baseball was a very negative impact. Rotten Tomatoes was one of 15 film reviews just 2 positive, which corresponds to a value of 13 %. Also from 8,808 users evaluated just 36% of the film positive (as of April 17, 2011 ).

For Roger Ebert, the film was another formulaic sports movie ( " Mr. Baseball " is another One Of Those formula sports movies), but he liked him because Schepisi and Selleck did a good job, as the film neither designed nor transferred Let ( Schepisi and Selleck so do a nice, quiet job of making the title character convincing. He is not overwritten or overplayed ).

Janet Maslin regretted by the New York Times that of a hard Satire a slight shallow comedy had become (the finished version shows no signs of ever having been a hard-hitting satire. It is instead a light and sometimes ruefully funny comedy ).

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times sees the problem of the film is that in an era of political correctness, there is a tightrope to switch between believable characters and offensive stereotyping in order not to lose the humor (in this era of political correctness, Schepisi et al. inescapably find Themselves on a tight wire, Constantly having to balance the need to make Elliot and the Japanese he meets believably human yet avoid offensive stereotyping in Their humor ).

" An alternating between sports and everyday scenes film of the aspects of humanity and xenophilia stressed, but the scope of the topic does not exhaust. The confrontation of Western and Japanese habits ensures at least for cheerful and stimulating conversation. "

"Tom" Magnum " Selleck excels in this area by director Fred Schepisi amusing and action-packed scene set in sports comedy as a former baseball ace. However, the viewer can laugh even more when he sees a lot of baseball. Nevertheless Selleck as peaty " gaijin " in Japan is already delicious. "

Background

• After Universal Studios was acquired by the Japanese company Matsushita Electric Industrial, was commissioned Fred Schepisi and Ed Solomon to fly to Japan for research in order to avoid errors in the representation of Japanese culture. When they came back, their script was rejected because it seemed to be snappy. Kevin Wade was hired Ed Solomon replaced and should defuse the screenplay in three weeks ..
• The rookie at the beginning of the film, which replaces Jack, is the former baseball player Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas, who was at that time with the Chicago White Sox under contract.
• The scene holds in Jack Elliot out of frustration his bat simply the wrong way, is a throwback to the American baseball player Daryl Spencer, who in the service of the Japanese team Hankyu Braves was in 1965 and nearly the Home Run title would have won, the pitcher would have given him not permanently denied throws.
• The opening scene in which Jack Elliot arrives at an airport is similar to the American baseball player Joe Pepitone, who moved to the Yakult Swallows Tōkyō 1973.
• At the end of the movie is Tom Sellecks character coach of the Detroit Tigers and wearing the same baseball cap, which he wore often already in the television series Magnum.
• Mr. Baseball was Ken Takakuras 200th film.

Publication

Mr. Baseball celebrated its U.S. theatrical release on 2 October 1992 and was able to import a total of 20.8 million million dollars, making him the 63rd most successful film of the year 1992. After the VHS already June 7, 1993 appeared on the German market, the film was broadcast on German television premiere on July 16, 1994 and free TV on RTL on August 9, 1997 for the first time.