"_The Fan _(1996) **The Pitch: **A knife salesman and diehard (literally!) San Francisco Giants fan (Robert De Niro) becomes slowly unglued as he loses his job and turns his attentions solely to his favorite team and their newly acquired star, Bobby Rayburn (Wesley Snipes). **The Visual Pallet: **The Giants' black and orange hues, glimmering like a San Fran sunset. **The Faces in the Crowd: **Perhaps you'll recognize a pre-Traffic Benicio del Toro as deposed center fielder Juan Primo? Also, Ellen Barkin's ball-busting talk radio hot/journalist, a character only made possible by pure screenwriter hooey. The Father, The Son, The Holy Dramatic Tension: De Niro's fan is a neglectful father himself and his childlike adoration of Snipes' character hints at all kinds of unresolved Daddy Issues. **The Idiotic Conceit: **During the preposterous final scene, Rayburn attempts to hit a homerun in hopes of dedicating it to De Niro's fan. If he fails, De Niro will murder his kidnapped son. After a long drive falls short of the fence, Rayburn attempts an inside-the-park homerun, but is called out at home, despite clearly being safe. Turns out, The Fan is the umpire! Crazy! Then he gets shot. Uh, spoiler alert. **Script Notes: **""Let's play some fucking baseball!"" OK! **The Set Piece: **That finale is something, but so is De Niro's car-stabbing dance on his ex-bosses' ride. He leaves a blade wedged in the man's hood. Grimy."
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