Finding Buck McHenry (2000)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I just saw this movie on the Hallmark Movie Channel and thought it was one of the best baseball movies I have ever seen. The story was very well done and kept me interested throughout. I also liked the idea of the kid liking baseball cards since I enjoy that hobby as well. I even saw some of the ones I have at home. When they talked about the Negro Leagues it was also interesting to hear. I even learned some things from this movie, like where the Negro Leagues Museum is located. Any baseball fan should watch this movie which is great for the whole family. Ossie Davis as Mack Henry and Ruby Dee as his wife do a great job in this movie as well. Cubs fans will also enjoy seeing Ernie Banks in a small role.

This happened to be on television when nothing better was. There's not an awful lot of actual baseball in this, so if that's what you're looking for, you'll want to continue your exhaustive search. In general, I'm not entirely certain whom this is for. The few attempts at comedy are never funny(then again, they don't appear to be the focus). This is about a kid who forms his own team, and begins to wonder if the janitor Mack Henry is really Buck McHenry, the fictional pro player. It is nice that it is not revealed until the very end if it is him or not, apart from the fact that if it is(I won't give it away; also, do not look at the cast credits here on the site until you've watched it, or decided that you couldn't care less), his new name must not have taken more than a second or two to come up with. Just about every acting performance in this is terrible. The commenting on racism is good, if it can be heavy-handed(also, is it absolutely necessary to defend the whites? I guess they're taking a lesson from Mandela, but still...). Pacing is fine, the 90 minutes could seem longer than they do. I haven't watched anything else by this director; however, I understand that he's usually considerably better than this. I recommend this to people who find the concept interesting, I guess. 5/10

Agree that the plot is a bit thin, however, the information contained within this movie is excellent. Recently, my 8-yr-old son and I watched portions of Ken Burns' baseball mini-series. While watching "Finding Buck McHenry", he was able to remember the names of the old Negro League players, such as Satchel Page, Josh Gibson, and "Double Duty" Ratcliffe. Too bad more movies aren't made about the Negro League. Perhaps Hollywood will find some way to tell the stories of these great ballplayers. My son feels that the movie needed more baseball scenes (had just one long segment with actual play), but that the information dealing with the Negro League was very nice. Not to brag, but he remembered that Pee Wee Reese was one of the Brooklyn Dodgers to welcome Jackie Robinson to the team!

Many many movies have i seen in this world but this once stung my soul it feels good to say that,being an ex best friend of Michael schiffman (the lead actor) i had to just smile and compliment while watching this "heartwarming" story about a boy who loves baseball but sucks at it and befriends an ex Negro league baseball player turned school janitor. now i haven't seen this movie in a while but i am supremely confident that this video if Ever watched could end the world. No i am not being cheesy i know for a fact that if this is ever shown to people of influence they will become infected like in 28 days later and EVERYONE will perish horribly....I give this movie a 3 because he was my friend but for the love of god NEVER WATCH THIS