Catching Hell (2011) Reviews

• Scapegoats

  ccthemovieman-12011-10-08

  I was pretty familiar with both of these stories, but this two-hour special was still very good and a real eye-opener in parts, particularly on Steve Bartman. Basically, it's a story of injustice. It's about two men, one a ballplayer in Boston and another, a fan in Chicago, and how one incident unjustly ruined their lives. The ballplayer is Bill Buckner, who let a ground ball go through his legs which contributed - not cost - to his team losing the 1986 World Series to the New York Mets. Most people have seen lots of footage of the amazing comeback of the Mets in that series and know how the media (mainly) made Buckner the scapegoat. The bulk of this ESPN story, however, deals with Bartman, the unlucky fan who did what everyone else does at a game: reached with outstretched arms for a foul ball. In a nutshell, the Cubs - whose fans were desperate for the team's first championship since 1908 - lost the game and went on to miss the World Series. They blamed it on this fan because the Cubs left fielder, Moises Alou, made a big stink about it on the field and it would have given the Cubs two outs in the eighth inning while they were holding a 3-0 lead. If they won, they would have advanced to the world series. The opponents, the Florida Marlins, went on to score eight runs in the inning, won the next game, as they won the World Series. Who did the Cubs fans blame? The shortstop who booted an easy double-play ball in the inning? The pitchers who gave up all the runs? Nooooo. They blamed Bartman, a nerdy-looking young man who just there rooting for his beloved Cubs like everyone else. The shocking part of the story is the behind-the-scenes footage at the game, the stuff you didn't see in this 2003 playoff game. The abuse this young guy took was unbelievable. You have to see it and hear it to believe it. It's shocking and it's disgraceful. It's a wonder he made it out alive from Wrigley Field and still lives - although in a pretty secret world - in the Chicago area. This is one of those stories that a review here doesn't do the story justice. You have to sit and watch "Catching Hell" to get the full impact. It left me speechless.

• You gotta feel sorry for these folks.

  MartinHafer2011-11-13

  I am not exactly the sort of guy to watch a documentary from ESPN. I am not a sports fan any more--and a bit of it relates to the subject of this film. The notion of scapegoating folks for losses in the World Series has always baffled me. While I noticed that the film only focused on recent scapegoats, I was very interested in seeing how the film dealt with Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman--two guys who took a lot of heat from unreasonable fans who got angrier at these guys than the average American felt towards Hitler during WWII!! Talk about needing to get a little perspective! As far as the film goes, it's about as good as any you can find on the topic. And, once again, it makes you feel terrible for these guys. In the case of Buckner, a couple bad games seemed to have undone an excellent major league career. And with Bartman, it was amazing how folks literally talked of killing a guy just because he reached out to grab a foul ball! Well worth seeing--and hopefully films like this will get folks to stop and think a bit.

• A Fair, Even-Handed Review of One of Baseball's Most Difficult Debates

  drqshadow-reviews2012-01-11

  The oft-delayed "lost chapter" of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, this strives to be more than just a routine examination of the infamous Steve Bartman incident that may (or may not) have cost the Chicago Cubs a shot at the 2003 World Series. With the famously publicity-shy Bartman refusing to take part, the film instead leans on interviews with several of the fans to rub elbows with him that fateful evening and insightful confessionals from the announce crew that called the game, a good portion of the Cubs' starting lineup, the local news team that outed Bartman's identity to the public and several of the security guards that escorted him to safety as the situation escalated. Director Alex Gibney deserves credit for not only painting a broad, fair portrait of a chaotic, emotionally charged situation, but for rightly comparing it to other instances of misplaced blame and shameless scapegoating in pro sports and asking the difficult question of what exactly spins a knee-jerk reaction into a bonafide vendetta. Though the scrutiny of the Bartman play itself is a bit too intense at times, resulting in a run-time that's about 30 minutes too long, it accomplishes much more than a simple reenactment and should leave any serious sports fan wondering how many times they've reacted with the same brainless mob mentality over the years. Smart, challenging and honest; it's what any good documentary should strive to be.

• Absolutely amazing....

  witster182011-09-28

  I've seen most, but not all of the 30 for 30's. This one is a masterpiece. There is a human element here that is very powerful, very emotional. What happened to Steve Bartman could have happened to anyone... to whomever purchased the ticket for that particular seat in Wrigley field. Those who say they wouldn't have reached for the ball are either liars or they fall in the 5% of fans that have such an understanding of fan-interference and the game, such the restraint, that they might, and I mean might, hesitate or know better.... The film's parallel's between Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman are amazing. Buckner's story is no less heartbreaking, and at least we get to hear from him. For Bartman, for Chicago, the play goes on. The small stories from journalists, historians, ball-players, ministers, security guards, and fans are gut-wrenching and poignant. I sat there with my jaw on the floor for the last hour. The scene where the media asked the first question at the press conference for Bill Buckner's return to fenway.... the fact that Bartman has not used a credit card since the incident.... Bartman's reaction to the guy from ESPN who tried to get an interview after tracking him down.... This film really shows how cruel we can be... It's all the little connections... the curse of the goat... the scapegoat... the Leon Durham situation... and it's all of the tiny stories about the hours following the incident and the home-video footage from different sources... breaking down the play.... this was an incredible documentary... It took me back to when it happened, and thrust the human race back to the middle ages... Hopefully this film will make Cubs fans, and fans around the world re-evaluate what it means to be a fan, and re-evaluate the definition of 'sport', 'sportsmanship', and 'humanity'. 91/100 Congratulations Jim Cuthbert.. you're an (*^$%()!$% Bartman's absence from the documentary(other than the replays) - only adds to the power of the story. Can't wait for the 30 for 30 box set.

• Like a Greek Tragedy

  Michael_Elliott2011-09-27

  Catching Hell (2011) **** (out of 4) Terrific documentary from ESPN about Chicago Cubs fan Steve Bartman, the man who would walk into Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS hoping to see history with the Cubs reaching the World Series but instead became history after interfering with a foul ball, which many fans fill caused their beloved team to lose the game, the series and a chance at breaking the "curse" on their team. Director Alex Gibney spends the majority of the time going over the Bartman play but he also starts the film off by flashing back to 1986 when another cursed team, the Boston Red Sox, lost their game 6 game when Bill Buckner let a ball go between his legs. As with the Cubs in 2003, the Red Sox would lose that game six and then lose the next game to lose the series. The documentary does a very good job at connecting the two men but it also asks the question on why both men were as hated considering there were other people to blame during both games and not to mention that both teams had a game 7 that they could have won. The documentary features interviews with Bob Costas, Steve Lyons who was calling the game for Fox, a Fox producer, several security guards working at the game and we also get interviews with many of the people who were at the game. Some of those at the game include people sitting right around Bartman and one idiot who would go down and confront Bartman and throw beer on him. CATCHING HELL is a terrific little documentary because it's not just for baseball fans because its story is almost like a Shakespeare play or some sort of Greek tragedy. The human side of the story of a man making one mistake and becoming the most hated person is quite a tall order. There's some footage of Bartman being led out of the stadium where all sorts of things are thrown at him and even to this day he hasn't really came out of hiding. I think it should be noted that the documentary reveals that the man has been offered at least two-hundred thousand dollars to tell his story but he refused to make a profit off of it. I think he speaks a lot more highly than most people in this story. With that said, it should come as no shock that Bartman is not interviewed here and that there would have been the only thing that could have improved the film. The argument is also made that the story will never go away until the Cubs win the World Series but others seem to think that Bartman could take some heat off of himself simply by talking. CATCHING HELL is a perfect documentary that fans of the sport should love but I think just about anyone will be able to feel for the characters of this play.