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Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 9780767037211 Format: Color, NTSC ISBN: 0767037219 Label: New Video Group Languages: Manufacturer: New Video Group Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: New Video Group Release Date: June 26, 2001 Running Time: 90 minutes Studio: New Video Group Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Not for baseball fans only, Jeremy Spear's heartwarming documentary will be a hit for anyone who yearns to pursue his own field of dreams. Spear, a New York artist and former college ballplayer, always dreamed of being a professional baseball player. At the age of 35, he began to crave "the thrill of competition." He gave up gallery openings for Opening Day as a shortstop for the New Jersey Gators, a "fastpitch" softball team. If you are not familiar with fastpitch, that is the point of this valentine to a sport "on the verge of extinction." Fastpitch once ruled the neighborhood diamonds of small-town America. But as one seasoned spectator notes, "The game is going downhill." Teams are disappearing "one by one, town by town." Fastpitch, Spear observes, "has a purity hard to find in sports today." But that purity is perhaps being threatened by one Peter J. Forcelli Jr., a junk-mail maven and owner of the Tampa Bay Smokers. While the average team operates on a budget of $30,000, Forcelli lavished $500,000 on his team. But the heart of the game beats on in people like Nick McCurry, who manages Ashland Abbott Labs (the Midwest team Spears eventually joins) and such local heroes as Maori slugger Shane Hunuhunu (whose girlfriend is forced to tack a note on his door warning adoring neighborhood girls to "back off") and Native American pitcher Darren Zack. Fastpitch does something wonderful. It makes you want to rush out to a park to watch a game. Or better yet, play in one. --Donald Liebenson Description: When memories of his collegiate softball stint loom larger than a promising art career, filmmaker Jeremy Spears decides to step up to the plate once more before it's too late. Armed with dreams of athletic glory, Jeremy dives into the fascinating world of fastpitch softball, America's last barnstorming sport, and finds himself on the road with Ashland, Ohio's team. In an intimate account of the once popular sport that is quickly fading from glory, the award winning documentary film Fastpitch takes a riveting look at the everyday lives of people chasing a dream on the back roads of America. And, come tournament time, when Ashland are still in the game, only money--and luck--stand in the way of a World Championship title. Average Rating:
 Rating: - A great slice of lifeJeremy Spear's journey into the world of fastpitch softball at the relatively old age of 35 would probably have been interesting enough on its own, but in documenting his first season, he also gives us a great deal more. The movie paints a compassionate portrait of small-town life in the U.S., and Jeremy's travels lead him to cross paths with teams comprised of New Zealanders, Native Americans, Canadians, and a somewhat obnoxious (but not all bad) junk-mail king from Tampa Bay. He also discovers ... Read More Rating: - This is a really cool movie!I truly liked the story told by the filmmaker. Unlike a lot of sappy Hollywood sports movies or network TV programs, this movie goes into the depth of real human characters, who must face both victory and defeat, integrity and compromise. The sport itself is quite interesting, and I would not have known about it except for this film. Rating: - Interesting and profoundI agree with the excerpted review comments from the New York Times, "Intelligent, insightful, touching," which are printed on the cover of the VHS box. Filmmaker Jeremy Spear respects the viewer enough to include many complexities of his subject matter. For example, the gross and tacky elements in the character of Peter Porcelli, the financier of the sport's highest paid team, are obvious. Yet beyond Porcelli's inflated self opinion, Spear also shows that the man has admirable qualities: ... Read More |
