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Film credit

James Gammon

Also referred to as Gammon

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Episodes featuring their films
1
Movies in this archive
1

Mentioned in discussions

Major League The Rewatchables
Major League poster
Major League

Apex Mountain

Margaret Whitton and James Gammon receive clear Apex Mountain calls; Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, and Dennis Haysbert are debated against later or larger roles.

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:38Read transcript
  • Charlie Sheen’s movie peak is weighed against the much larger commercial run of Two and a Half Men.
  • Tom Berenger’s Major League performance is weighed against Platoon and his broader 1980s run.
  • Margaret Whitton and James Gammon are treated as definite Apex Mountain winners for this movie.
  • Dennis Hayesbert's later President Palmer role keeps Serrano from being an uncontested apex.
Major League The Rewatchables
Major League poster
Major League

Half-Assed Internet Research

The research covers rejected roles, alternate endings, Milwaukee production logistics, baseball-player casting, injuries and stunts, Wild Thing history, sequel tensions, cast friendships, and Margaret Whitton’s dispute with Ron Shelton.

In the discussion (23)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:38Read transcript
  • Wesley Snipes reportedly turned down Do the Right Thing, although the role is not identified in the discussion.
  • Tom Berringer reportedly turned down the Crockett role on Miami Vice.
  • An alternate ending exposed Rachel Phelps as secretly supporting the team, but test audiences preferred her as a straightforward villain.
  • Milwaukee stood in for Cleveland during filming, including County Stadium and local crowd scenes.
  • About 20,000 extras were recruited for the Yankee-game crowd scenes.
  • Dennis Haysbert recalled being emotionally overwhelmed when the team ran onto the field as the crowd roared.
  • Former player Steve Yeager was the technical adviser, played the third-base coach, and doubled for Tom Berenger at catcher.
  • Former major-league player Willie Mueller played Yankees pitcher Duke Simpson.
  • The discussion says Chelcie Ross had pitched in college, although twenty years had passed since he had thrown a ball.
  • Steroid use reportedly helped raise Charlie Sheen's fastball for the movie.
  • A filming shoulder injury led Charlie Sheen to stop for cortisone shots and anti-inflammatories on the way to work.
  • Mitch Williams adopted Wild Thing with the Cubs, and the movie sequence is credited with creating the closer-entrance-music tradition.
  • Wesley Snipes complained about repeated sliding after getting strawberries, and Steve Yeager answered that he had done it for twenty years.
  • The fictional owner plans to move the team to Miami, and the discussion connects that premise to later Cleveland and Florida baseball history.
  • The hosts find Willie Mays Hayes’s wall of dirty black gloves creepy when imagining him bringing a date home.
  • A Jake-and-Lynn marriage scene intended to follow the Yankee game was filmed and deleted.
  • Dennis Haysbert's Yankee-game home run reportedly traveled 315 feet down the left-field line and hit the top of the wall.
  • In Dennis Haysbert's account, the close cast went to bars together and joined James Gammon’s poker games.
  • Charlie Sheen recalled James Gammon arriving badly hungover and called him an absolute warlock.
  • The oral history says Sheen coordinated women flying into Milwaukee, and Sheen compared it with women passing each other on the road during Young Guns.
  • Burnson mistakenly punched Charlie Sheen while filming the ending and left a welt.
  • Stacey Carroll's limited acting career and departure from the business are discussed in connection with Dorn's wife.
  • Margaret Whitton’s work on Major League and a settlement involving Ron Shelton and Bull Durham are discussed at the end of the research block.
Major League The Rewatchables
Major League poster
Major League

What’s Aged the Best?

Bob Uecker’s Harry Doyle broadcasts win. The alternatives are Jake Taylor’s bunt; the film’s slow motion; the Cleveland opening; credible baseball-player casting and Charlie Sheen’s physicality; the season-long structure and specialized roster; Lou Brown; baseball texture; Yankees villainy; the manager’s hunch; worst-to-first baseball magic; closer entrance music; and the profane R-rated tone.

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:27Read transcript
  • Having Jake Taylor win with a surprise bunt instead of a home run is introduced as an Aged Best answer.
  • The movie’s slow motion, especially Willie Mays Hayes running in pajamas during the opening, is offered as another Aged Best answer.
  • The opening credits’ documentary-like Cleveland images are praised for establishing the city and stakes.
  • Casting performers who look and move like baseball players helps the games feel credible.
  • Charlie Sheen’s youth and physical credibility as a pitcher hold up especially well.
  • Bob Euker as the lifelong local radio hack is praised throughout and is ultimately chosen as the winner.
  • The movie captures the day-to-day aspect, ebb and flow, and checkpoints of a baseball season.
  • The roster’s pre-Moneyball specialization, including speed, defense, and relief pitching, feels ahead of its time.
  • James Gammon’s Lou Brown is praised as a funny, credible manager rather than a sentimental caricature.
  • The film captures baseball's rule-bending, dugout drama, rituals, and superstitions.
  • Using the Yankees as the final villain restores their evil-empire role after a weaker decade.
  • The worst-to-first pennant story delivers the kind of baseball-movie magic the hosts want from the genre.
  • The grizzled manager's absurd hunch succeeds even though putting in Charlie Sheen should not work.
  • The Wild Thing sequence is credited with creating the closer-entrance-music tradition that followed.
  • The R rating, swearing, and adult jokes give the sports comedy an edge missing from safer versions.
Displaying all 4 discussions

Films in the archive

Major League

1989

Rewatchables episodes featuring their films

Major League poster

Major League

1989 film

Bill Simmons · Rembert Browne

Aired April 10, 2019

Displaying 1 episode