Themes: Mental Illness, Fathers and Sons, Baseball Players
Main Cast: Anthony Perkins, Karl Malden, Norma Moore, Adam Williams, Perry Wilson
Release Year: 1957
Country: US
Run Time: 100 minutes
Plot
Anthony Perkins stars as troubled baseball great Jimmy Piersall in Fear Strikes Out. Based on Piersall's shattering tell-all autobiography, the film traces Jimmy's ascent from the sandlots of Waterbury, CT, to the Boston Red Sox, with his domineering father (Karl Malden) pushing the boy beyond all reasonable limits. Unable to withstand the pressure, Piersall suffers a nervous breakdown and is confined to a mental institution. Through a long period of therapy, Jimmy realizes that he has excelled in baseball not for his own gratification but to please his father. This film was preceded by a 1956 TV version starring Tab Hunter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Fear Strikes Out gives viewers a chance to appreciate what a fine actor Anthony Perkins was in his prime. Perkins was increasingly typecast after Psycho in roles that didn't allow him to show his range, and many of his latter performances are over the top yet tired, rehashes of things he did better previously. But Fear, a biopic of baseball's Jimmy Piersall, gives Perkins a chance to shine, and shine he does. As a young ball player whose incessant need for approval from his overbearing father leads to a nervous breakdown, Perkins is in top form; the scene in which, after hitting a home run, Perkins loses control and frantically, desperately climbs up the backstop, is beautifully executed (by both Perkins and director Robert Mulligan) and makes an indelible impression. But Perkins, as an actor, is in total control throughout, giving a wonderfully modulated performance that features many of his typical characteristics but keeps them from falling into mannerisms. Karl Malden is also excellent as the father who pushes too hard and finds nuance in a character that is written a bit too simplistically. It's true that the screenplay as a whole is a little too direct and obvious, but the actors and Mulligan's sensitive direction make up for this defect. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Peter J. Votrian - Jimmy (younger); Dennis McMullen - Phil; Gail Land - Alice; Brian G. Hutton - Bernie Sherwill; Bart Burns - Joe Cronin; Rand Harper - Radio Announcer; Howard Price - Bill Tracy; Eric Alden; Mary Benoit; John Benson; Don Brodie; Richard Bull; Edward Byrnes; Heather Hopper; Ralph Montgomery; George Pembroke - Umpire; Bing Russell; Don McGuire; June Jocelyn; Courtland Shepard; Morgan Jones - Sandy Allen
Credit
Edith Head - Costume Designer, Robert Mulligan - Director, Aaron Stell - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Haskell Boggs - Cinematographer, Alan J. Pakula - Producer, John P. Fulton - Special Effects, Albert S. Hirshberg - Screen Story, James A. Piersall - Screen Story, Ted Berkman - Screenwriter, Raphael Blau - Screenwriter
