Baseball Movie or Movie With Baseball In It: Brewster’s Millions
This one is for the r/baseball subreddit, which will just read the title and not the actual article. Never change.
I continue my look at baseball across cinema and have landed upon the 80’s Richard Pryor classic, Brewster’s Millions. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it follows Monty Brewster, a minor league pitcher who finds out his great-uncle has left him $300 million under the condition that he be able to spend $30 million of it in the next 30 days.
The rest of the movie follows Brewster’s escapades as he tries to spend $30 million without telling anyone what he is doing, as instructed in his great-uncle’s will. He can’t actually own anything new at the end of the 30 days, and he can’t simply give it away either, yet more stipulations of the inheritance.
Why It’s A Baseball Movie
There’s politics, gambling, expensive hotels, and extravagant parties; sounds about right for baseball. If you don’t think there’s politics and gambling in baseball, ask Pete Rose.
Since Brewster is a minor league pitcher, technically everything he does is done by a baseball player making it baseball related, even if tangentially. He’s also accompanied in his adventure by his catcher Spike, played by John Candy. Two baseball players only doubles the amount of baseball-ness.
There’s also the ridiculousness of the ballpark, which has a train that runs through the outfield. Ballpark quirks are the hallmark of minor league baseball, like the bull in Durham where a player can win a free steak. Hell, even the majors get in on the weirdness with the rings at Tropicana Field and the since-removed Tal’s Hill at Minute Maid Park.
And let’s not forget about some of the best baseball scenes in cinema history. Brewster shells out some serious cash for a three-inning exhibition against the Yankees and we get some of the best behind-the-plate trash talking from Candy ever put on film.
Predictably, the Hackensack Bulls are soundly beaten by the Bronx Bombers, and the baseball of it all is mostly put to rest except for the occasional jersey or ball cap worn. But in the end, doesn’t Brewster himself personify the undying devotion of baseball players and fans? An aging minor leaguer with a noodle arm who has never given up on the dream? That’s more than enough baseball for any movie.
Why It’s Not A Baseball Movie
Brewster being a minor league pitcher really only comes into play when he sets up the game between the Bulls and the Yankees. Sure, it’s used as a character trait that sets him up as a never-was who languished in obscurity, but beyond that there’s not much reason for him to be a baseball player. In fact, in the 1945 version Brewster is a recently-discharged soldier returning from World War II.
On top of that, the actual baseball scenes make up somewhere around seven minutes of the film. They’re a great seven minutes, but it’s still a very small portion of the 100 minute runtime. There’s more time spent talking about receipts than pitch counts and RBI’s in the film it seems.
You could take out almost every reference to baseball in the movie and you would essentially be left with the same film and be able to follow the plot with ease.
Final Verdict
It’s more than clear what the verdict for this film will be. Without a doubt, Brewster’s Millions is one of the most “baseball” movies of all time. It will go down with the likes of Major League and Field of Dreams, so long as we adhere to the r/baseball metrics of once baseball players are involved, it’s a baseball movie.
All jokes and jabs aside, while Brewster’s Millions is a fun movie with characters who happen to play baseball, it simply isn’t enough to make the “Watch During Spring Training” list. Calling this film a baseball movie would be like calling Top Gun a volleyball movie. One of the most iconic scenes involves the sport, but it’s nothing more than foul tip in the grand scheme of the film.
