Fear Strikes Out

“This is Jimmy, balanced on the ragged edge of violence, twisted and trapped by a world he never made…”

In the 1950s, Jimmy Piersall (Anthony Perkins) grows up with a father, John Piersall (Karl Malden), who drills him daily toward one goal, the major leagues. The film follows him from those early lessons into professional baseball, where the pressure to succeed starts to wear on his mind. Robert Mulligan, directing his first feature, keeps the camera close on Perkins's face and lets the strain show there.