Themes: Redemption, Inner City Blues, Baseball Players
Main Cast: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, John Hawkes, D.B. Sweeney, Sterling Elijah Brown
Release Year: 2001
Country: US
Run Time: 106 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Television actor-turned-director Brian Robbins follows up Varsity Blues (1999) and Ready to Rumble (2000) with another sports comedy. Keanu Reeves stars as Conor O'Neill, an underachiever and inveterate sports gambler who needs a bailout loan from a friend to pay off his mounting debt. As a condition for receiving the necessary funds, Conor is saddled with coaching a corporate-sponsored Little League baseball team for underprivileged youth in Chicago's notorious Cabrini Green housing project. Reluctant at first, Conor slowly begins to enjoy his new authority role, especially when he makes the acquaintance of his players' attractive teacher, Elizabeth Wilkes (Diane Lane). Based on the real-life chronicle Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Outside magazine editor Daniel Coyle, Hardball also stars D.B. Sweeney and Mike McGlone. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
D.B. Sweeney - Matt Hyland; Sterling Elijah Brown - Sterling; A. Delon Ellis, Jr. - Miles Pennfield II; Julian Griffith - Jefferson Albert Tibbs; Bryan Hearne - Andre Ray Peetes; Michael B. Jordan - Jamal; Kristopher Lofton - Clarence; Michael Perkins - Kofi Evans; Brian Reed - Ray-Ray; Alexander Telles - Alex; DeWayne Warren - G-Baby
Credit
Francine Jamison-Tanchuck - Costume Designer, Brian Robbins - Director, Ned Bastille - Editor, Kevin McCormick - Executive Producer, Erwin Stoff - Executive Producer, Herbert W. Gains - Executive Producer, Mark Isham - Composer (Music Score), Jermaine Dupri - Composer (Music Score), Jaymes Hinkle - Production Designer, Tom Richmond - Cinematographer, Brian Robbins - Producer, Mike Tollin - Producer, Tina Nides - Producer, John Gatins - Screenwriter, Michael J. Moore - Second Assistant Director, Daniel Coyle - Book Author
Hardball is a 2001Americanfilmdirected by Brian Robbins. It stars Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane and D.B. Sweeney. The screenplay by John Gatlins is based on the book Hardball: A Season in the Projects by Daniel Coyle. The original music score is composed by Mark Isham. The film is known in some parts of the U.S. as "Little Sluggers."
Reginald A. Dempsey Jr. ... Bobby J. Williams (as Reginald Dempsey Jr.)
Plot
Conor O'Neill is a gambler who has bet on his dead father's account and is now severely in debt. In order to repay the debt he must coach a baseball team of troubled kids in the Cabrini-Green housing projects of Chicago. He had decided that once he repaid his debts he would leave the team but soon Conor connects with the kids and finds it harder to leave than he thought.
Details
Two players on Coach O'Neill's team are named Jamal and Andre. Keanu Reeves (O'Neill) starred as a quarterback in the football movie The Replacements, and his two main blockers were also named Jamal and Andre.
All of the league's team names are taken from tribes in Africa.
Diane Lane and D.B. Sweeney previously co-starred together in Lonesome Dove.
The bookies that O'Neil owes his debts to are members of the Irish Mob in Chicago's Lincoln Park Irish Pub area.
Controversy
The film was based on a nonfiction novel that tracked the experience of Robert Muzikowski, a real-life youth baseball coach. Muzikowski sued Paramount Pictures Corp. for defamation, alleging that the film inaccurately portrayed him as a down-on-his-luck gambler with suspicious ties who took on youth baseball simply to repay a debt. In fact, Muzikowski coached baseball voluntarily because of his concern for the community, was not a degenerate gambler, and was an upstanding member of his community. Muzikowski won his lawsuit against Paramount Pictures Corp.
