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Fear Strikes Out (1957)

Rate: 5
Viewed: 8/25

FearStrikes
8/25: Fear Strikes Out is a disappointing biopic.

It's so bland that the screenwriters didn't even bother using much from the book Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story. Where's the explanation of how the guy ended up in the instutition? It's all right there in the book. Hint: mental illness was hereditary through Jimmy's mother. I also recommend The Truth Hurts for a follow-up even though it was published in 1984.

Another thing about Jimmy is that he always had to be on the move, talking and yelling a lot, and slept fitfully every night. Headaches were a regular occurence for him. He held down a lot of odd jobs while as a boy. Basketball was the other sport he excelled at, winning a state title in high school. Football was a sore point between Jimmy and his dad in order to preserve his potential of becoming a professional baseball player, and he broke his wrist, not foot as shown in the movie, during a fun game one time.

Jimmy graduated from high school at age 17 which explains why he had to be in the minors for a while just because he was way too young for the big leagues. Because his father suffered a heart attack and couldn't work anymore, Jimmy had to start making a lot of money to take care of his family, so he chose the Red Sox after being scouted by many teams. That's when the pressure started to racket for him.

Once, Jimmy bought a house and then decided to sell it right away because of incessant worry over money. That's when his wife began to be concerned for his health. Both had a baby almost annually until they had nine in total. While in MLB, Jimmy had been engaged in fights, including one with Billy Martin, even with his teammates, causing him to be ejected from games. Unfortunately, there's not a single video online showing any of them or his other antics.

Back to the film, most actual events in Jimmy's life are absent, so you're better off reading the book. As for Anthony Perkins and Karl Malden, they're okay, but their performances are rather simplistic. The real Jimmy Piersall managed to have his bipolar behavior under control for the most part to enjoy a 17-year career in MLB, ending in 1969. He said, "I don't know why they ever picked him [Anthony Perkins] to play me. I mean he threw a baseball like a girl, and he couldn't catch one with a bushel basket. He danced around the outfield like a ballerina, and he was supposed to be depicting me, a major league baseball player. I hated the movie."

All in all, Jimmy Piersall called Fear Strikes Out "a lot of bullshit, just a heap of fiction" and went further, "They made up all kinds of crap. Things that never happened. Things that were not even in the book. The whole movie story was dreamed up in Hollywood. I never climbed any screen."