If you are a sports fan then you have undoubtedly seen one of the three Major League movies. Obviously the third installment, Back to the Minors, left a lot to be desired but that shouldn’t shed any kind of negative light on the first two movies from the franchise.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, the first two movies follow the Cleveland Indians baseball team throughout a season. They are a bunch of bumbling idiots who by the grace of Hollywood, come together to win. The stars of the first two movies were Corbin Bernsen, Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen.
Sheen’s character was perhaps the most iconic. Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn was a pitcher for the Indians. His previous pitching assignments were in the California Penal League, where he did time for grand theft auto. Vaughns hair cut and classic entrance are what cemented these movies into everyones heads. Everytime I hear Wild Thing, I think of Ricky coming through the outfield wall in that sleeveless leather jacket.
Berenger played the veteran catcher Jake Taylor. Anyone that can’t walk and still refers to themselves as a “ball player” gets the veteran tag. The starting catcher in the first installment, Jake hobbled along but eventually pulled out the best suicide squeeze ever executed in movie baseball. When Major League 2 came around, we were introduced to Rube Baker, the farm boy rookie who couldn’t throw a ball back to the pitcher. Not only did Jake take Rube under his wing and teach him the finer points of the game but he also took over as manager after manager Lou Brown had a heart attack.
Corbin Bernsen is the third player in the star trifecta that made the Major League franchise such a hit. Bernsen played arrogant third basemen Roger Dorn. Dorn had only money on his mind while playing the game. He refused to dive for balls because he didn’t want to risk injury. In the second movie, Dorn decides to buy the team from the bitch own Rachel Phelps but over pays because he is a push over. He can’t afford the team so he ends up selling it back to her.
Reports of a 4th installment of this franchise had been flying around the interwebs for a while and it is now said that the outline was finalized for Major League 4 sometime in 2010. Charlie Sheen and Tom Berenger are said to be expected to reprise their roles as Rick Vaughn and Jake Taylor, but word is that Roger Dorn will not be rejoining the Tribe. Corbin Bernsen’s publicist has said that he would love to do the movie but as of right now he has not been written in.
In my opinion, it would be a travesty if they didn’t include Roger Dorn in this movie. The crew has already lost James Gammon, the actor who played Lou Brown, to cancer last year and if they don’t move fast, they might not have Rick Vaughn either. The movie will be empty enough without Lou, don’t let Roger Dorn slip through the cracks too. While they are at it, they might as well ink Willie Mays Hayes (either Epps or Snipes, I’m indifferent) and Pedro Cerrano, who has done enough All State commercials. Also, bring me back Monte and Harry Doyle too. This is going to be box office gold!
