Hustle

Hustle (2004)

Few figures in professional baseball had a career quite like Pete Rose -- and practically no one who climbed so high fell so hard. Rose made his major-league debut playing second base with the Cincinnati Reds in 1963; nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for his daringness and enthusiasm over the course of his career, Rose played in eighteen All-Star games, earned three World Series rings, broke Ty Cobb's record for career hits, and in 1975 was named Sportsman of the Year by both Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News. In 1984, after six years with other teams, Rose returned to the Reds, signing on as both player and manager at the age of 43; he continued to play until 1986, and stepped down as manager in 1989. That same year, a dark secret Rose had been hiding for years came to the surface -- Rose had for years been dealing with an addiction to gambling, and after falling deep in debt to bookies by betting on horse racing, he attempted to make the money back by betting on baseball.

Date of release
2004-09-25
TMDB
5.0 / 10 (8)
Runtime
1h 30m
Genres
TV Movie, Drama
Director
Peter Bogdanovich

Casting

Interesting facts

Hustle is a 2004 television film about the baseball player Pete Rose, created by ESPN Films. It was first broadcast on September 25, 2004. The movie follows Rose as he gambled on Major League Baseball while managing the Cincinnati Reds, was caught and banned from baseball for life. The title is a reference to both Rose's gambling problem and his nickname, "Charlie Hustle".

Production

The script was largely based on the Dowd Report without Rose's involvement.

Major League Baseball did not approve the script or co-operate with the producers. ESPN was not given permission to use the uniforms, logos or trademarks of the Cincinnati Reds.

The job of directing was given to Peter Bogdanovich even though he was not a baseball fan. He was interested in that Pete Rose "is Dostoyevskian, a degenerate gambler. It's intriguing when somebody has an obsession he can't seem to cope with. With all the great things he accomplished, he screwed up his life. It's sad and fascinating." Bogdanovich thought the story was "very American...

"Peter's name is synonymous with excellence in film direction," said Ron Semaio of ESPN Original Entertainment. "His visionary and creative approach is well documented and hugely successful."

Bogdanovich said Rose "created an atmosphere around himself that was outside society, outside the law... [He] was operating on another level. There was a secret life there. People were living with lies. He traveled with not very distinguished company."

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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