Bob Uecker Movies

Harvey's Wallbangers documents the 1982 Brewers who, led by manager Harvey Kuenn after he took over the job mid-season, won the American League pennant. Thanks to all stars like Robin Yount and Rollie Fingers, the team made it all the way to game 7 of the world series against the eventually triumphant St. Louis Cardinals. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Two dogs and a cat, separated from their human family, must find their way home and face the dangers of a big city for the first time in this adventure story for the whole family. Bob Seaver (Robert Hays) and his wife Laura (Kim Greist), who live in Northern California, are taking their kids on a camping vacation in Canada, and they're bringing along their pets -- spunky bulldog Chance (voice of Michael J. Fox), self-centered Himalayan cat Sassy (voice of Sally Field), and wise old Golden Retriever Shadow (voice of Ralph Waite). However, Chance doesn't like being cooped up in his travelling cage at the airport, and when he escapes, Sassy and Shadow follow him to the nearest city, San Francisco. After a scary night on their own, the trio are befriended by a gang of stray dogs and cats who have learned to live on their own after running away from their cruel masters. However, Chance, Sassy, and Shadow soon realize that life on the streets is not for them, and they set out to find the Seaver house they call home. Sports fans take note: Bob Uecker, Tommy Lasorda, and Al Michaels appear as themselves and also provide the voices of their pets. The voice of Shadow was performed by Don Ameche in the preceding film Homeward Bound; it proved to be Ameche's last film released before his death in late 1993 (his final film, Corrina, Corrina, didn't reach theaters until several months after his passing), leading the producers of this sequel to cast Ralph Waite in the role. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This follow-up to 1989's unexpected comedy hit Major League continues the broadly humorous adventures of the misfit Cleveland Indians. No longer the scrappy survivors who pulled off an upset championship victory, the Indians have let success go to their heads, accepting movie roles and hefty endorsement deals. Unfortunately, with success comes complacency, and the Indians soon wind up back in last place. When this poor performance winds up threatening the franchise, the team rediscovers its roots and again achieves unlikely success. Original director David S. Ward brings back most of the first film's memorable characters, including unconventional pitcher Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), voodoo practitioner-turned-Buddhist Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert), and base stealer-turned-movie star Willie Mays Hayes (Omar Epps, replacing Wesley Snipes). ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Inheriting the Cleveland Indians baseball team from her late husband, covetous ex-showgirl Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton) wants to move the franchise to Miami, primarily to take advantage of the many personal perks she's been promised by that city. But Cleveland won't yield its lease on the Indians unless the year's attendance falls below 800,000. Figuring that chances for this are already good given Cleveland's inability to win a pennant, Phelps tries to make doubly certain that the fans won't turn out by ordering the club manager to put together the worst team possible. The new players include has-been Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), blind-as-a-bat pitcher Ricky Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), self-protective free agent Roger Dorn (Corbin Bernsen), and Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes), who is constitutionally incapable of hitting straight. Surprisingly, this band of misfits begins winning games, so Whitton decides to break their spirit by forcing them to fly from game to game in a World War II prop plane, assigning them a rickety old bus for road games, and divesting them of their precious whirlpool.

Still, the team's talent and esprit de corps grows, especially after "Wild Thing" Ricky Vaughn dons a pair of glasses and is able to see where he's lobbing his 100-mile-an-hour pitches. Once the players are told that Phelps plans to dump them all whether they win the pennant or not, the team defiantly adopts an "us against the you-know-what" attitude. In a nailbiting 20-minute climax, the Indians face down their hated Yankee rivals in the pennant playoff game. The film's conclusion ties up several loose plot ends, notably the off-and-on romance between the irresponsible Berenger and his "ex" Lynn Wells (Rene Russo). Though set in Cleveland, Major League was filmed virtually in its entirety in Milwaukee, with the Brewers' play-by-play announcer Bob Uecker giving a terrific performance as the Indians' drink-besotted color commentator. The film represented not only the fictional comeback of the Cleveland Indians, but the actual comeback of producer/director David S. Ward, who'd been in a professional slump for several years. Though containing few surprises, Major League was a box-office smash, inspiring a 1994 sequel, inventively titled Major League II. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

This 1984 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Bob Uecker and features musical guest Peter Wolf. ~ Skyler Miller, Rovi