Hard Ball

Plot

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

Release Year: 2001

Rating: 6.1/10 (11,893 voted)

Critic's Score: 48/100

Director:
Brian Robbins

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, John Hawkes

Storyline
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.

Writers: Daniel Coyle, John Gatins

Cast:

Keanu Reeves
–

Conor O'Neill

Diane Lane
–

Elizabeth Wilkes

John Hawkes
–

Ticky Tobin

Bryan Hearne
–

Andre Ray Peetes

(as Bryan C. Hearne)

Julian Griffith
–

Jefferson Albert Tibbs

Michael B. Jordan
–

Jamal

(as Michael Jordan)

A. Delon Ellis Jr.
–

Miles Pennfield II

Kristopher Lofton
–

Clarence

Michael Perkins
–

Kofi Evans

Brian M. Reed
–

Raymond 'Ray Ray' Bennet

DeWayne Warren
–

Jarius 'G-Baby' Evans

Carol Hall
–

Pearla Evans

(as Carol E. Hall)

Jacqueline Williams
–

Lenora Tibbs

Freeman Coffey
–

Darryl Mackey

D.B. Sweeney
–

Matt Hyland

Taglines:
The most important thing in life is showing up

Details

Official Website:
Paramount |

Release Date: 14 September 2001

Filming Locations: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $21,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $9,386,342
(USA)
(16 September 2001)
(2137 Screens)

Gross: $40,219,708
(USA)
(20 January 2002)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min
 |
Spain: 109 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

All of the league's team names are taken from tribes in Africa.

Goofs:

Continuity:
Duffy comes out of his bar with a towel on his shoulder, which he throws at Conor before punching him… when Connor falls to the floor, no towel is in sight.

Quotes:

Conor O'Neill:
I want you guys to take a good look at yourselves and feel proud. We made it here. We're here. What I've learned from you is that really one of the most important things in life is showing up. I'm blown away by your ability to show up through everything that's gone on. The league never wanted you to play this game, but you showed up. But, uh, we only have eight players so, we can't play.

User Review

Much better than I expected

Rating:

Due to alot of negative reviews on this site I did not expect the movie to
be as good as it was. However after watching it this evening I was
delighted by the entire experience. While I agree that it goes along with
the "ducks" formula it deviates from it by not showing us the final game
with the final ten seconds for the team to win. It spared us that and just
let us know with the final credits that the team won. I thought the
performances in the movie were excellent, although even I (living here in
the deep south) found the accents of the children a little difficult to
comprehend. As for the overall effect of the movie it entranced me,
completely, I kept having to rewind scenes to view them again and again.
And, more importantly, if anyone ever doubted Keanu's ability to act then
one should only view the eulogy scene to know that his critics have been
simply barking up the wrong tree. Strong, emotional, sympathetic and
completely believable… speaking as as part time amateur actress, do you
know how hard it is to cry, and cry believably? Do you know how hard it is
to make your chin tremble..? My conversion to Mel Gibson fan was watching
him "cry" in Lethal Weapon… this has been my reconversion to Keanu fan…,
to cry so believably in a movie is worth quids in my book and to be able to
express emotion in such a way is worth any amount of praise. Wonderful
movie. Go see it.