2014 dockumentary
Rating: 15/20
Plot: Chronicles the life and career of Dock Ellis, a pitcher most notable for throwing a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD.
“If Dock’s pitching, you know he’s high. How high is he?”
I almost refused to watch this because of that silly title. And I think I might have–subconsciously, at least–docked this a point because of that title. But one of my favorite things about baseball (other than the fact that it’s just the most perfectly-created sport ever invented) is the collection of characters throughout its history, and this Pirate was one of the most interesting. This starts, probably wisely, by briefly giving a glimpse of that (in)famous no hitter. It’s a trippy opener, all kinds of sound and vision fuckery. It’s cool and surprisingly doesn’t clash with the rest of the documentary at all. The style is lively enough, and it moves with a pace that’s a little quicker than baseball himself. The music was put together by Beastie Boy Ad-Rock and matches the time period and mood of the documentary perfectly, and the interviews from Ellis’s family members, teammates, friends, ex-wives, and Dock himself feel like these fun little storytelling sessions. This covers his career shenanigans, including an extensive look at that no-hitter and the days when he wore hair curlers when pitching because it aided his spitball, the kind of idea it seems that the New England Patriots and Tom Brady would be interested in. This also covers some of the political activism of the times and Ellis’s role in all of that as well as his post-baseball career where he became an anti-drug ambassador. Sadly, he died before the completion of the documentary, but at least he didn’t have to see what a horrible title they gave to the movie. He’s a fascinating dude, the kind who just adds that little extra color to the game, and this movie would probably interest any baseball fan or people who just like interesting human beings.
