Game 6

Game 6 (stylized as Game6) is a 2005 American film directed by Michael Hoffman, first presented at the Sundance Film Festival, released in the United States in 2006, and starring Michael Keaton. It follows a fictional playwright, Nicky Rogan, on the day he has a new stage play opening which is also the same day as the sixth game of the 1986 World Series is played. It realizes a 1991 screenplay by Don DeLillo, with a soundtrack written and performed by Yo La Tengo.

Game 6
DVD cover
Directed byMichael Hoffman
Produced byGriffin Dunne
Amy Robinson
Bryan Iler
Written byDon DeLillo
Starring
Music byYo La Tengo
Production
company
Serenade Films
Double Play
Distributed byKindred Media Group
Release date
  • January 2005 (2005-01) (Sundance Film Festival)
  • March 10, 2006 (2006-03-10) (United States)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$129,664

Plot

Nicky Rogan has written several plays and has achieved success. It's now opening night of his latest effort and everyone around him assure him that this one will be the best yet. But as opening hour approaches, Rogan falls prey to doubts and fears, egged on by another playwright whose last work was trashed by the local newspaper's new drama critic, Steven Schwimmer. He eventually lets those fears drive him to resolve to kill the critic (who he assumes will also trash his play) and he procures a handgun with which to perform the deed.

Instead of attending the play's opening night, Rogan spends time in a bar, accompanied by a lady cab driver and her grandson; earlier in the evening she misidentified Rogan as a local, small-time hoodlum but he doesn't correct her misidentification.

They watch the crucial Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Mets. The Sox have won 3 games and could clinch the title by winning Game 6 but Rogan, a lifelong Sox fan, knows how easily the team can lose when they should win. He spends the evening waiting for the inevitable, even though the Sox are leading most of the time. When the inevitable does occur (due to an unexpected pair of errors at the end of the final inning), he snaps and leaves to take out his rage on the newspaper critic.

Rogan not only finds the critic but sees him in the early stages of deflowering the playwright's daughter. He begins firing wildly and is finally calmed when he learns the critic is equally devastated by the Sox's loss. They end up together, watching an interminable rerun of the final error by Bill Buckner on a small television set in the critic's apartment.

Cast

Production

The film was made as an independent effort, largely as a labor of love, with all the "name" players working for little more than scale (Keaton's salary was $100/day, for instance). Filming was completed in 20 days, and the filming budget was $500,000. Most of the filming occurred in New York City.

Reception

As of June 2020, the film holds a 60% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews with an average rating of 5.98/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Though packed with Don DeLillo's witty dialogue and bolstered by strong performances, particularly by lead Michael Keaton, Game 6 also suffers from uneven direction and overwrought symbolism."[1] Leonard Maltin gave the film two and a half stars, describing it as "a writer’s film if there ever was one”.[2]

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References
  1. "Game 6 (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  2. Maltin, Leonard (2009), p. 511. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. ISBN 1-101-10660-3. Signet Books. Accessed May 9, 2012
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