Synopsis
Where were you on that night?
Combining real and fictional events, this movie centers around the historic 1986 World Series, and a day in the life of a playwright who skips opening night to watch the momentous game.
2005 Directed by Michael Hoffman
Combining real and fictional events, this movie centers around the historic 1986 World Series, and a day in the life of a playwright who skips opening night to watch the momentous game.
Griffin Dunne Amy Robinson Michael Nozik David Skinner Leslie Urdang Christina Weiss Lurie Bryan Iler
Underdogs and coming of age Relationship comedy Moving relationship stories sports, team, coach, football or athlete marriage, drama, family, emotional or emotion boxing, fighting, champion, sports or fighter gambling, casino, unpredictable, drama or engaging romance, charming, comedy, delightful or witty Show All…
I was a huge Boston Red Sox fan growing up. One of dad's favorite players was Dwight (he played the dad in Hall Pass) Evans...so he became my favorite player as well. Well Evans was a Red Sox from 1974-1989. During the 1986 World Series they were within 1 strike of winning the title for the first time in almost 70 years. They however decided to break my and many others' hearts instead...as the Mets came back and won the game and won the series.
Game 6 stars Michael Keaton and Robert Downey, Jr and takes place before the game, during the game and after the game. Keaton is a playwrite...while Downey, Jr. is a critic. As we follow the…
One of the most highly regarded contemporary American novelists, Don DeLillo examines language, technology, chaos, and violence in such novels as White Noise, Libra, and Underworld. Game 6, his only original screenplay, resembles DeLillo’s fiction through its treatment of the paranoia of urban America.
Nicky Rogan (Michael Keaton) is a New York playwright with one big hit. He is hoping his new play will be a success but fears the reaction of critic Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey, Jr.), known for his vicious reviews. Rogan’s life is further complicated by his separation from his wife, Lillian (Catherine O’Hara), the hostility of his daughter, Laurel (Ari Graynor), and the declining mental faculties of his father, Michael (Tom Aldredge). His play’s leading man…
I guess technically this is a re-watch, although the first time I tried to watch this was off a junk DVD screener and I completely greened out before they even got to RDJ.
It's a film set in the world of New York theater that also walks and talks like a play, yet is totally cinematic in its own right. It's a small, contained story where nobody gets nuts, but you're still made dizzy as it moves along. It's a one-crazy-night story that starts a little before lunch, with a cast you want to see more of—the film runs only 87 minutes and you feel like you're only getting a few minutes with these people. More Griffin Dunne! More Catherine…
Pretty odd that Don DeLillo’s only screenwriting credit is for an obscure indie that barely got a release and nobody has really heard of. Revolving around Michael Keaton’s Red Sox-obsessed playwright, whose new play is opening the same night as Game 6 of the infamous 1986 World Series, it's familiar territory for DeLillo, who loves using baseball as connective tissue for wider introspection (Underworld, a top 5 all time novel for me, does this especially well), and the film also riffs on other themes he loves: superstition, paranoia, luck. It also features men who are inexorably tied to sports teams, but more specifically, the crushing losses the team has endured, as well as how they try to navigate the traditional…
I too would skip the opening day of my show to watch the Red Sox in the World Series.
What I like about this, is that it totally illustrates the delusion I will have while watching a replay or highlights of a game where my team loses (that includes the Red Sox and games between 1918 and 2004) where I still have a hope that they will win despite the reality of hindsight. There’s a lot to like about this: score by Yo La Tengo, Robert Downey Jr and Michael Keaton playing off each other, the footage and dramatization of Game 6 of 1986, and the fact that you can say “I already saw Birdman in 2005 when it was called Game 6.”
Seriously, Michael Keaton plays a playwrite this time on opening night of his comeback play on…
“I’ve been talking to a prominent divorce lawyer.”
“How prominent?”
“He has his own submarine.”
Written by the great Don DeLillo, starring Michael Keaton and Robert Downey Jr., and featuring music by Yo La Tengo, this unforgivably obscure film has finally been re-released on iTunes.
If you’re familiar with DeLillo’s work, in particular his lighter fare (read his short story Pafko at the Wall for thematic relevance), Game 6 goes down like a perfectly aged wine. It’s a beautiful meditation on the intersection of art and life through the point of view of someone deeply invested in both.
On the day of a big game day for the Red Sox, a playwright skips opening night of his own play, and…
Michael Hoffman's "Game 6" is a literate trek through psyche, sports, the art of writing, and the science of relationships. Starring Michael Keaton, the film follows Keaton's playwright as the guide through that trek while the story observes the quirks of its players and their quirkily compelling arcs. The narrative, drawn with sweepingly ear-catching dialogue, hooks quickly, and the lived-in production smoothly communicates the interesting realities of a well-played cast of characters. This is an enjoyable and dynamic piece of work.
While it might not be wrong to say most of the interest I have in this comes from its clearly proto-Cosmopolis notions I think Hoffman tackled the challenge of using DeLillo;s language especially well outside of the beginning and ending (doing both in a way that is almost challenging the viewer 2 not love what they are seeing and hearing). While not as complete as End Zone in its discussion of sport (how could it be?) it is peak DeLillo (thusly peak writing) when this is the focus nonetheless as so much of his language and its repetitive, simple, and stated nature derives from games and their structures. Hoffman does not express everything that there is to express in this…
“Two hours to game time. Never mind the traffic, we’re not interested in that. We’re interested in history. Lost games, lost dreams. Possible side effects of this medication? If your erections seem to speak to you in broken English, if you develop bodily marks that correspond to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus, maybe you don’t take this medication. But you get the side effects anyway. This is Lone Eagle, in your face and out of your life.”
Great score by Yo La Tengo
Interesting warm up lap for Birdman. Made me very, very curious to see what Baumbach does with the script for White Noise. Because you hear that there’s a movie written by Don DeLillo and you’re like “oh!!” And then you watch a movie where everyone talks like a Don DeLillo character and you’re like “oh...”
I'm glad this movie exists.
This is how it was made: www.theringer.com/movies/2020/7/6/21300934/game-6-movie-don-delillo-1986-world-series