Fear Strikes Out (1957)

  This is a sports biopic about Red Sox player Jim Piersall, the first professional athlete to openly discuss mental illness.  Piersall was what we would now call bi-polar and wrote a memoir that was used as the basis for this film.

Frustrated by never achieving his ambition of becoming a professional baseball player, John Piersall (Karl Malden) focuses all his hopes and dreams on his son, Jim (Anthony Perkins).  The boy shows aptitude, and like most children, has no concept that what he is experiencing is abuse as John pushes him from childhood through high school games.  Any minor setback is treated as a betrayal, forcing Jim to work harder and harder to get any warmth from his father.  Even when Jim is scouted by the Red Sox and sent to their training camp, John never lets up.  Eventually, the pressure is too great and Jim collapses under the weight.  He is voluntarily committed to the care of Dr. Brown (Adam Williams), who begins to unravel some of the trauma surrounding Jim's life.

Sometimes I forget that Anthony Perkins was in stuff other than Psycho.  His ability to shift from vulnerable to manic serves him very well here but it's Malden that really makes this picture work.  He never raises his voice or turns violent, but his cold silences quell your heart.  And I also like that this doesn't go for the sappy Hollywood happy ending where his mental illness is magically cured through baseball or hugging it out with his tormentor.  It's a valuable lesson even in this day and age that toxic people need to be cut out of your life, no matter how close a blood relative they are.

I would recommend this for a watch.  It's available to rent on Amazon for about $4.  I tried finding it other places for free but came up empty.  Amazon's streaming quality is pretty good, though, so I think it worked out.