Big Guns (2006 film)
| Big Guns | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Rester Zodrow |
| Produced by |
Travis Cook Angelita Esperanza |
| Written by | John Rester Zodrow |
| Starring |
Barry Primus Mel Novak Susan Thomas Geno Giordan |
| Music by |
Joseph Horswell Greg Spaulding |
| Cinematography | Thomas Myrdahl |
| Edited by |
Travis Cook Gary Finlan |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Big Guns is a 2006 film about a 60- to 75-year-old Senior Softball team "Kids At Heart." The film was directed and written by John Rester Zodrow and stars Barry Primus, Mel Novak, Susan Thomas, and Gino Giordan.
The premise of the movie is loosely based on real life events that took place a number of years ago in the Senior League World Series, where allegations of underage players and "doctored" or altered bats lead to the disqualification and banning of a Senior League World Series team.
In the movie, "Big Guns"; a small town just-for-fun senior softball team, who call themselves "Kids At Heart", find themselves on a winning streak, and begin having dreams of making it to the Senior League World Series. They begin trimming the "dead weight" from the team, and replace the "poor performing" team members with "ringers", (former professional ball players, and underage semi-pros). They even stoop so low as to resort to commissioning the construction of "corked bats" so they can hit the ball farther. They eventually change the team's name to a more aggressive moniker, ("Big Guns"), which better suits their new, "win-at-all-costs", attitude.
Despite the infighting and ethical disagreements among team members, the greed to win prevails and the team somehow makes their way to the Senior League World Series. However, their cheating ways are discovered before they can realize a World Series victory. The team is not only disqualified; they are permanently banned from the league, for life.
The broken team members realize just how far they have fallen, and reflect upon the reason they first began to play ball in the first place: "for the love of the game". The team members get rid of the "ringers" and vow to return once again to the "just-for-fun" game they love so much. They put the old team back together again, and resume playing local league Senior Softball using their former name, "Kids At Heart", and resume playing for the love of the game. They even "loosen up" the rules to allow senior women to join in the fun.