The Catcher Was a Spy

"Based on the true story of Moe Berg"

2018 1h 34m EN

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6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 330

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Synopsis

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Former major league baseball player Moe Berg lives a double life working for the Office of Strategic Services in World War II Europe.

“Based on the true story of Moe Berg”

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Cast

Paul Rudd
Moe Berg
Mark Strong
Werner Heisenberg
Sienna Miller
Estella Huni
Connie Nielsen
Koranda
Shea Whigham
Joe Cronin
Hiroyuki Sanada
Kawabata
Tom Wilkinson
Paul Scherrer
William Hope
John Kleran

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ben Lewin
Writers: Robert Rodat
Languages: Hebrew, German, Italian, Japanese, French, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 7% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 6 languages: Hebrew, German, Italian, Japanese, French, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ben Lewin, shot by Andrij Parekh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Mark Yoshikawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Paul Rudd and Mark Strong and Sienna Miller carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Based on the true story of Moe Berg".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ben Lewin directs. Andrij Parekh behind the camera. Howard Shore scores. Mark Yoshikawa cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Hebrew, German, Italian, Japanese, French, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 7% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 8 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 6 languages: Hebrew, German, Italian, Japanese, French, English.
4Directed by Ben Lewin, shot by Andrij Parekh. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Howard Shore. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Mark Yoshikawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Paul Rudd and Mark Strong and Sienna Miller carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Based on the true story of Moe Berg".
9IMDB entry: tt4602066 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 14 themes, including "based on novel or book", "espionage", "spy", "baseball".

The technical file

Cinematography: Andrij Parekh
Original score: Howard Shore
Editing: Mark Yoshikawa
Production design: Luciana Arrighi
Costume design: Joan Bergin
Makeup / hair: Andrea McDonald
VFX supervisor: Wesley Sewell
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $14,000,000
Box office: $953,953
Return: 7% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Catcher Was a Spy (2018)

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Community reviews

What people are saying

SierraKiloBravo2020-06-09
★ 8/10
Click here for a video version of this review: https://youtu.be/zt13FFkDD1w Moe Berg was a professional baseball player who played for a number of teams as a backup catcher over his 16 year career. He also had a knack for languages and this led him to working for the Office of Strategic Services during the second world war. One of his missions during the war is the subject of the 2018 movie The Catcher Was a Spy. Paul Rudd plays Berg, and as the movie starts, we meet him during his baseball career. With the war unfolding the US begins working on The Manhattan Project and they suspect that there are some scientists in Germany who are also close to completing a nuclear bomb of some sort. Berg is despatched to Switzerland to look into one of the lead scientists and determine how close the Germans are to having a bomb. If they were close, Berg was to shoot the scientist. It's a small scale story told against the large scale of a world war, and the enormous pressure of the nuclear arms race. This has a number of big names in it such as Tom Wilkinson, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti, Jeff Daniels, and of course Paul Rudd in the lead as Moe Berg. I really enjoyed this and found myself drawn into the story. Rudd is engaging as the mysterious Berg and does a really good job of bringing this enigmatic character to life. This is not a big loud action extravaganza, but rather an understated film, which is apropo as this is how Moe Berg was in real life. I think this movie flew under the radar when it came out, but I reckon it's definitely worth your time.
Trevor Morris2023-07-11
★ 6/10
This should have been a better movie. There are complex characters, especially the titular spy that I am interested in learning more about, and an intriguing story set around World War 2. However, it fails to really deliver. The movie opens and closes with blocks of text giving an introduction and conclusion to the story, which sums up the disappointment; this should be part of the movie… The movie is filled with an amazing cast; Paul Rudd, Mark Strong, Sienna Miller, Tom Wilkinson, Hiroyuki Sanada, Paul Giamatti, Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels, although only a few are used to any potential. Paul Rudd carries the movie, with his portrayal of an intelligent baseball player turned out-of-his-depth spy, but never seems phased by his task. The screenplay tackles interesting ethical dilemmas and is a very personal character study. The undercurrent of lies and half-truths bleeds into our spy's personal life, with his sexual orientation questioned on numerous occasions. There is a nice blend between set-up, character development and suspense, with a small but sturdy action sequence thrown in. Everyone is exquisitely dressed. The world is filled with a distinctive brown and green colour palette and is captured with a sometimes off-putting extremely shallow depth-of-field focus style. For all the benefits, the movie seems to miss its marks. There is a lot of ground to cover and scenarios to introduce but it suffers because the runtime is only 94 minutes. Too much is either left unresolved (or just written at the end) or not given enough attention in the screenplay. Overall, the movie is fine and worth a watch, but it could've been much better.