stogies Archives - Virginia Madsen

Back on HBO on May 23, 1987 we got to see Virginia Madsen play up her more sensual side as Dixie Lee Boxx in the hit film Long Gone, based on a 1979 book of the same name by Paul Hemphill. Or, you might know it as Stogies, it went by that name in Europe.

The film is set in 1957 and revolves around The Tampico Stogies baseball team struggling to keep going. The team is owned by a corrupt family who are just in it to make as much money as possible from the team without wanting to put anything into it.

Despite this the team do their best to overcome all the challenges before them and prove they aren’t as down and out as everyone thinks they are, or would have them believe.

The story revolved around the Star Player and Manager of the Stogies, Cecil ‘Stud’ Cantrell (William Peterson), he’s the classic ageing player with only one or two chances to make it big in the game kind of character. Bit of a trope these days, but there we go.

Early on in the film we see him introduced to Dixie after she performs (or, mangles) the National Anthem at one of their games. She got the job after recently winning a beauty contest and has been crowned Miss Strawberry Blossom 1957. The fact that she does poorly with her rendition of the anthem is overlooked by the crowd, mostly because of her outfit. Bless her.
Virginia’s character isn’t as shallow as you might imagine being a Beauty Queen in an 80’s movie. Virginia plays her well as a woman with dreams, hopes and desires with an emotional edge – And she does it well. The way she interacts with Cecil and the rest of the team might be cliched these days, but it’s done well and you can never argue with the portrayal.

Cecil and DIxie get an introduction, they get together for a one night stand which turns out to be not what either of them want and over time they realise they are made for each other.

Before long the team takes on two new players, and they begin to realise they all want to make The Stogies the best they can be. They start winning and surprising everyone, and themselves. As the story moves on the team face a few home truths and their determination sees them winning against all the odds.
If it all sounds familiar, then it’s probably because it’s a pretty much cut and paste sports story from around the eta, and beyond.

Which brings me to…The film came out a good long while before a similar, more successful film came along called Bill Durham with Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon. According to the iMDB trivia for the Long Gone Mrs Madsen sat in the same row as the Writer / Director of Bill Durham, Ron Shelton, at a Premiere of Long Gone and would see him taking notes.

“He sat there during the film taking notes, which I thought was entirely rude, then maybe four years later I’m reading (a script) for him and I said, yeah, I met you at the screening of Long Gone. He goes: ‘Oh, yeah, we stole every shot from your movie.’ Like he’s proud of it. I was like, grrrrr.”

Mr Shelton of course denies this, though he admits being at the Premiere.

The involvement with the movie stayed with Virginia, she’s expressed fond memories of it over the years since it was released and in particular working with William Peterson;

“I’ve run into him a couple of times, and it’s like we really shared something. We all have roots in this movie, and everybody still holds it in their hearts. People ask me what was my favourite film to work on … and it’s at the top of the list. One of the best times I ever had.”

Speaking with The AV Club in July 2013 she’d also have a little reminisce over the film;

“Oh, God, that’s arguably the best time I ever had on a movie. Well, no, it’s not my No. 1 best time, but it’s one of the best times, because it was me and [William] Petersen and just a bunch of guys out of Chicago. Just me and a baseball team. [Laughs.] And a girlfriend! I had a girlfriend to hang out with, and then it was all those boys. And it was so sexy! Oh, my God, the whole thing… It was a hot, sweaty summer in Florida, we had a cool director from Brooklyn, and the guys were just so much fun. It just ranks up there as one of the best.

That was a part where I was cast as a blond bombshell, but I got to be Virginia. I got to be the tough girl from Chicago, not playing the victim. She really was a character who owned her sexuality and didn’t give a shit what anybody thought. To learn how to flaunt it was very difficult for me, because I was modest, so sexier roles for me at that age were really hard for me to pull off, because I wasn’t comfortable. My sexuality was not overt, so to play it… When they would cast me in roles like that, I felt awkward. I felt totally unsexy. Like, I knew I looked sexy in Slam Dance, but I didn’t feel sexy. But when I was Dixie? Aw, man, I was a bombshell. [Laughs.] It was great. I had a big smile on my face for that one.”

In my opinion, Long Gone is good for what it is and when it was. It has a lot of heart, the characters are likeable and it’s never going to offend anyone. There are some, touchy, subjects given the film’s setting, particularly so when the KKK take exception to one of the players on the team being black. It’s handled well, especially for the time the film was made and an early show of progression in this kind of backward thinking. Still, it’s right to show this kind of mentality than shy away from it and it stands as what it is.

I’d definitely recommend a watch of the film, it still held my attention on a recent rewatch despite me having seen it several times over the years.

Availability:
Another film that despite many people having fond memories of hasn’t ever had an official DVD release. HBO apparently lost the rights to the film back in 2004 so it’s unlikely anyone else is going to pick it up at this point. But, you never know.

There are VHS copies floating around, and a home made dodgy DVD version that you can find on eBay and the like. It’s minimum effort but at least this one comes with a nicely made up case unlike some of the others which just arrive in a cardboard sleeve.

Of course, being a film this old you can find copies floating around the web and YouTube…

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