Movie Review: Major League: Back to the Minors

Major League: Back to the Minors a.k.a Major League III
Morgan Creek Productions, Warner Bros., USA, 1998.

I thought I had all the "Major League"- films but I didn't, so I have to skip the second part for now. Oh well, this is not the first time I'm watching movies in the wrong order. 

Gus Cantrell (Scott Bakula) is planning to quit his baseball career that has seen the better days. Stuck in lower leagues he does not have much room for advancement. Maybe he should start a peaceful life with his nice girlfriend Maggie Reynolds (Jensen Daggett). His old friend Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen) suggest a new career coaching a minor team Buzz. After the previous movies Roger has become a baseball team owner.

Gus Cantrell

Maggie Reynolds

Roger Dorn

The most promising player in Buzz is Billy 'Downtown' Anderson (Walton Goggins) but he is also selfish diva. Other players are weak. Pitcher Hog Ellis (Judson Mills) needs to learn pitching and the second pitcher Carlton 'Doc' Windgate (Peter Mackenzie) is too slow. Lance Pere (Kenny Johnson) is a former ballet dancer trying a baseball career and Lopez twins (Tim, Tom & Ted DiFilippo) are always quarreling. Empathetic Frank 'Pops' Morgan (Thom Barry) is supportive but too old to run fast, so Gus makes him the Captain. 

Frank 'Pops' Morgan

Hog Ellis

Billy Anderson

Roger wants Billy to his team Twins that is coached by Gus' old nemesis Leonard Huff (Ted McGinley). The game doesn't get better until two retired players 'Voodoo' Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert) and Taka Tanaka (Takaaki Ishibashi) join the team and show the youngsters how to play baseball. Buzz gets a chance to humiliate Twins in a big arena, but Leonard does not play fair. Billy shows his skills though and Leonard hires Billy although he is still not ready for the big league. Losing the best player makes Buzz lose the motivation. The End.

...
...

Not really. Gus teaches that baseball is not one man show, but a team game. There is no "I" in "Team." The players deserve a second chance so it is a time for a rematch!

Cerrano

Taka Tanaka

Leonard Huff

Scott Bakula was good as a coach, whipping the underdog players into shape. Familiar character from the previous films Announcer Harry Doyle (Bob Uecker) has some funny scenes. And Ted McGinley, known for "Married With Children" still has slick idiot charm. There is some fun physical comedy but the verbal comedy is milder than in the first movie, mostly because the new player characters are not as funny. You just start waiting the appearance of the old team players. Roger Dorn is quite out of the character here, and makes wonder what happened between the first and the third film. It is not so bad but far from remarkable. Although the comedy gets slightly better near the end, it almost would work better as a baseball TV-movie drama.

Rating: Average

Starring: Scott Bakula, Corbin Bernsen, Dennis Haysbert, Takaaki Ishibashi, Jensen Daggett, Eric Bruskotter, Walton Goggins, Ted McGinley, Kenny Johnson, Judson Mills, Lobo Sebastian, Thom Barry, Peter Mackenzie, Ted DiFilippo, Tim DiFilippo, Tom DiFilippo, Bob Uecker, Larry Brandenburg, Jack Baun, Mike Schatz, Joe Kelly, J. Don Ferguson, Brian Beegle, Ted Manson, Ronald 'Buzz' Bowman, Alex Van, Tim Ware, Robert M. Egan, Michael A. Lynch, Richard Bruce Doughty, Al Hamacher, Natalie Hendrix, Stephen Hardig, Letroy Myers, Gary P. Pozsik, André Tardieu, Brien Straw, R.J. Kackley, Bradley Crable, Ken Medlock, Lucinda Whitaker, Kimberly Herndon, Elizabeth Diane Wells, Gary Murphy, Scott Foxhall, Warren Peper, Dee Thompson, Raymond Sterling, Ron Clinton Smith, Richie Dye, Dolan Wilson, Laura-Shay Griffin, Mark Storm, Bayani Ison
Director: John Warren