Elder Sanchez

Professor Michael Flores

Eng. 120 009
Hard Ball Film Analysis
The Film Hard Ball directed by Brian Robbins is a movie that brings satisfaction and
hope to ones life after watching it. Some might say the film even has an aw way of expressing
the harsh life that most boondocks kids live. I believe that in the film each character carries a
different meaning. The characters that I will be focusing on the most throughout the film analysis
are Conor ONeill (played by Keanu Reeves); Jarius G- Baby Evans (played by DeWayne
Waren) and his older brother; Sammy Sosa; Ticky Tobin (played by John Hawkes); and Jimmy
Fleming (played by Mike McGlone). These characters are the ones who I believe represent their
subject the best.
In an article written in The New York Times, published on September 15, 2001, and
named Hard ball (2001) Film Review; Teaching inner city Kids Baseball and (Sniff) Life. The
Writer Stephen Holden states in the first paragraph, And it forces Keanu Reeves, who plays the
coach of an inner city baseball team, to deliver misty-eyed inspirational boilerplate about how
the most important thing in life is showing up. Thus stating that writer Stephen Holden
believes that the character Conor ONeill (played by Keanu Reeves) represents the act of taking
charge of never going back on ones word, and actually showing up to confront the issue at hand.
In other words the character Connor ONeill represents that little spark of bravery that everyone
has to use at least once in their lifetime. I agree with the writer Stephen Holden that the character
Conor ONeill represent the bravery in a person, but I also believe that Conor ONeil stands for
something else as well. I believe that Conor O Neill not only represents bravery but also the
little tiny voice behind everyones head called the conscious, and the act of change. My reason
for believing that Conor ONeil Represents consciousness is because even though he does sell
scam tickets he knows he is doing wrong and gets a sense of guilt. We can see the conscious
being tested in the film when Conor ONeill went to the loan shark to make his final bet that
could either save or brake him. In this scene we can see that Conor has to light a cigarette to stay
calm and the dealer tells his henchman that Conor ONeill is really serious. Thus we can draw
the conclusion that Conor ONeills conscious is yelling at him that it is not such a good idea to
make the bet. Another time we can see Conor ONeills conscious being played with is when he
goes to leave the equipment with the kids after he quit being coach. He started to double guess
himself until he broke down, and finally decided to stop his bad habit of making bets and finally
get clean from all dangerous debts. The reason why I also believe that conor ONeill represents
change is because he started as a poor indebted man who did anything to get money, even teach
poor kids baseball, but by the end of the film he was able to change to a dignified man who
became close to the children, got a good decent job, and finally was not involved in anything
indecent. This is why I believe the character coner ONeill (Played by Keanu Reeves) not only
represents the idea of bravery to show up and finish what one has started, but also the idea of the
consciousness and change being played.

One other article that we could use to represent the idea that each character has their own
voice is the Metactritic article, based off of the film Hard Ball. In the article we notice that
DestineeB wrote I love g-baby in this movie he is so little but he can be hard at times. The
reason why I have chosen this comment is because here we can come up with the idea that even
though Jarius G- Baby Evans (played by DeWayne Waren) is a little kid, his surroundings have
made him a tougher kid than most kids his age. Thus making him the voice of the lost childhood
many kids lose while they live in the poor parts of town. An example where we can see that
Jarius G- Baby Evans (played by DeWayne Waren) is being a bit different from what a kid his
age should be doing is when the teams pitcher and out-fielder are not allowed to play because
their either too young or cannot have headphones on. Then G-baby exclaims that it is Bullshit.
Another example is the place where G-baby and his older brother live because they are
surrounded by drugs, gangsters, and any other crime you can think of. Thus showing that under
the circumstances a kid can lose his childhood. The final example I have for the idea that Jarius
G- Baby Evans (played by DeWayne Waren) stands for the losing ones childhood is when Gbaby dies at the Climax of the film. My reasons being that G-babies dream and childhood got
ripped away from him. I also believe that G-babies older brother represents hope because even
after losing his little brother (Jarius G- Baby Evans) he continued to play baseball in the hope
of winning for his younger brother. That is why I believe he stands for hope while G-baby stands
for the loss of ones childhood.
Besides G-babies older brother, another character that I believe represents not only hope
but also dreams is Sammy Sosa. My reasons to this is because to the kids on the baseball team
Sammy Sosa is the greatest person they could meat and at such would like to meet him but they
never could because they did not even have enough money to go to an actual baseball game, thus
making it their dream. Until Coach Conor ONeil got out of debt, and decided to take them to an
actual game where they were the kids able to fulfil their dream of meeting their hero Sammy
Sosa. Thus in my eyes he stands for the hopes and dreams that people try to reach every day in
their lives, and that one day they will be able to accomplish just like the baseball kids were able
to do.
The character of the film that I believe represents greed is Ticky Tobin (played by John
Hawkes). My reason being that even though he is Conor ONeils best friend he does give him
bad ideas, and also gets him involved in some shady business. An example where we might be
able to see this kind of behavior is when Ticky and Coner are selling game tickets to the crowd
even though they have already expired. Another example is when Coner finally gets out of debt,
and Ticky wants him to make another bet just to get even richer. Thus proving that Ticky Tobin
(played by John Hawkes) represents greed.
The last character which I believe has a significate meaning behind of it is Fleming
(played by Mike McGlone). I believe that he represents opportunity, because he gave Conor
ONeil an opportunity to get some money by giving him an honest job, thus allowing Conor to
pay off his debt little by little, and thus also allowing him to get closer to the baseball team. That
is why I believe he represents opportunity.

These are the reasons why I believe these characters have meanings behind them.