Ball of Wax
Baseball Othello
BALL OF WAX is the story of Bret Packard, a superstar athlete who undermines his professional baseball team and takes them from the top of the league to the bottom of life itself.  Take for example how he strikes a deal with two of his pitcher teammates.  Whichever one hits more batters with a pitch wins something of great value (saving his job or signing a big contract).  <br /> <br />From there it just gets worse.  One young guy is forced to cheat on his wife.  Meanwhile, something is done to the team manager, because he becomes very cryptic and ill.  This is one of the film's problems (I like to think of them as \\"challenges\\" :)) because it is not obvious what is going on.  But it is also what makes BALL OF WAX intriuging.   <br /> <br />There is a great scene in a supermarket that says it all about this movie.  Two characters (the team manager and the wife of Bret Packard) run into each other and each of them tries to say something to help the other one.  But instead both just end up a mess, like Bret Packard is right there torturing them.  Even though he's not there his evil schemes have infected everyone so much. <br /> <br />Not for everyone, but very melancholy and effecting.