What’s Aged the Best?
Clear the mechanism; Costner as a baseball player
In the discussion (17)
Approx. transcript time · 00:42:19Read transcript
- Clear the mechanism is praised as an enduring phrase.
- Sam Tuttle is praised as an ideal Yankees villain, especially his attempt to bunt against the perfect game.
- Brian Cox, John C. Reilly and J.K. Simmons are aged-best candidates; Simmons's genial manager is contrasted with his then-familiar violent racist character on Oz.
- Against the Wind is an aged-best choice.
- The old Yankee Stadium is an aged-best choice.
- Vin Scully is credited with elevating the baseball from ordinary to exceptional; a reported interview suggests freedom to alter dialogue, and his real perfect-game experience adds authority.
- Costner as a baseball player and in various states of undress are praised, particularly the locker-room changing and sensual handling of his glove.
- Jane's restrained sexual presentation is criticized in contrast to Costner's, while a defense argues it differentiates her from his usual partners; her museum appearance is praised.
- The relationship with Birch, nicknamed Scarecrow, is praised for handling friendship and a player's move for family and money without excessive emphasis.
- Signing autographs during the couple's argument is praised as realistic for 1999, but also considered dated because phone cameras would now expose the conversation.
- Gus’s reassurance speech is an aged-best candidate.
- Obnoxious Yankees fans are an aged-best candidate; the caricatured hecklers remain amusing.
- Gus's .184 batting average inspires a joking theory that the Tigers valued pitch framing before its wider recognition.
- The catching footage is thought to rely on a double for Reilly, which is considered understandable given the fastballs.
- The initial sexual arrangement is praised for honesty about Chapel’s behavior.
- The flashback structure is preferred to conventional narration despite the weak romance.
- Final aged-best choices split between Clear the mechanism and Costner as a baseball player, with Scully acknowledged as a tempting alternative.