Fear Strikes Out


Fear Strikes Out is a 1957 American biographical sports drama film depicting the life and career of American baseball All-Star Game|All-Star] player Jimmy Piersall. It is based on Piersall's 1955 memoir Fear Strikes Out: The Jim Piersall Story, co-written with Al Hirshberg. The film stars Anthony Perkins as Piersall and Karl Malden as his father, and it was the first film directed by Robert Mulligan.
This film is a Paramount Picture and was preceded by a 1955 TV version starring Tab Hunter.
The format of the film allows documentary footage of the stadium scenes to be used during the game sequences.

Plot

Based on Jim Piersall's autobiography, the film traces his rise from the sandlots of Waterbury, Connecticut, to the Boston Red Sox professional baseball team. Karl Malden plays his domineering father who pushes him further and further.
Plagued by problems, Piersall marries Mary, but they live with his parents. When he is eventually chosen for the Red Sox, it is in the infield position of shortstop for which he has little experience. He calls his father to apologise.
Daunted by the huge crowd and the pressure of his father watching his first time at bat, the pressure nearly causes Piersall to strike out. But on the final pitch, he hits a home run. Rather than celebrate in a normal way, he instead runs to the backstop fence where his father sits, shouting "Look Dad, I told you I could do it". His teammates try to restrain him as he climbs the fence. He swings his bat at them. Eventually the police subdue him, and he is taken to a mental institution.
After a long period of therapy, Piersall realizes that he has excelled in baseball to please his father, not for his own gratification.
Piersall went on to play in 17 major-league seasons with five different franchises, predominantly in the American League, during the 1950–1967 seasons.

Cast

The film was based on the book by Piersall and Al Hirshberg which had been adapted for TV in 1955 for the show Climax!.
Rights to the book were bought in July 1955. The television version starred Tab Hunter as Piersall, Mona Freeman as his wife, John Conte as a psychiatrist, and Robert Armstrong as his father. Herbert Swope directed and Martin Manulis produced.
The [New York Times] called the television play version "absorbing" and praised Hunter's portrayal of Piersall as "perceptive and believable." Hunter tried to get his studio, Warner Bros., to buy the film rights but these were purchased by another studio, Paramount Pictures, for $50,000. Mel Goldberg, who wrote the TV version, was hired to do the screenplay.
Hunter had a romantic relationship with Anthony Perkins. He says this relationship practically ended after Perkins took the role of Piersall in the film version without telling him beforehand, as Hunter had also been interested to portray the role of Piersall again in the film version.

Awards and honors

was a Directors Guild of America Best Director nominee.
Fear Strikes Out was nominated for the American Film Institute's 2008 list in the sports film category.

Reception

In 1957, Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote:
Dr. Sharon Packer wrote in 2012 that Fear Strikes Out is very unusual in cinematic history in that it portrays electroconvulsive therapy in a positive light.