Review: The Fan
Blu-ray: The Fan (1996)
The San Francisco Giants baseball team pay Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes) $40M to hopefully lead them to a World Series title, and nobody is happier at this news than superfan and knife salesman Gil Renard (Robert De Niro).
Gil likes to phone into a sports talk radio show hosted by Jewel Stern (Ellen Barkin) and soon his reputation as a Giants, and specifically Bobby Rayburn fan is well known.
Under pressure from his boss about low sales and a “questionable” sales technique, Gil still tries to maintain a relationship with his young son, despite his estranged ex-wife now living with someone else, and takes his son to a Giants game where his parental responsibilities are put to one side when he sneaks out to attend a business meeting. This of course leads to more mental stress and family friction for him.
When Rayburn goes into a slump and the Giants fans start to turn against him, Gil comes up with a plan that he’s certain will turn things around for everyone. Nothing can turn out well though when the plan involves murder!
The Fan deals with serious subjects such as mental health and relationship problems, but at its heart it’s a “turn your brain off and enjoy the spectacle” movie, with De Niro chewing up the scenes as his character gets ever more frustrated and out of control.
There are quite a few scenes involving baseball, but you don’t need to be a fan of the game to enjoy the movie, with one particular baseball scene being quite tense…despite you knowing how it will inevitably end.
There are no huge surprises during its almost 2 hour running time, but I’ve always found it very entertaining…and with a great cast to boot.
Directed by the late great Tony Scott, The Fan looks wonderful on this upcoming blu-ray release from Signal One Entertainment, with Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography capturing Scott’s affinity for golden skies and moody atmosphere.
Released 10th January 2022.
Review by Dave from a disc kindly supplied by Signal One Entertainment.