'Long Gone,' the HBO baseball flick: WTF is the deal?

It is invariably mentioned as an offbeat/obscurity choice whenever "best baseball movie ever" discussions arrive, but it seems to have pretty much vanished off the earth.

Not available on DVD, Netflix, Amazon, HBO Demand -- it seems to have been locked deep in the vaults. As far as I can tell it's been out of circulation a decade or more.

A few years ago you could watch it on YouTube, but that's been blocked too.

HBO certainly rolls out enough crap on its channel lineups, you'd think they'd run it themselves a couple times a year.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say it was the "greatest baseball movie EVARRR" but it is certainly an entertaining couple of hours.

 

"Let's go knock their dicks off!"

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/long-gone-movie

I've looked before, too. Seems there is one copy of the DVD on ebay right now. The funny part is some guy trying to sell a sealed box of the VHS tape for $34.99.

Loved that movie. Kind of silly, but a lot of fun. I used Tampico Stogies as a fantasy baseball team name for many years. I am curious how it would hold up. It is odd how hard it is to find.

 

My guess is HBO has a rights issue with stuff it produced way back when. You never see Dream On, Tales From The Crypt, First and Ten, etc. on any of the HBO channels either. I think an HBO Classic channel that showed its old stuff would be awesome.

 

I believe the DVD is actually recorded off a VCR tape. Looked into buying the movie a few years ago and came across a DVD for sale, but the info gave the impression it was from a tape.
I think the movie would hold up pretty well since it's a period piece.
HBO really needs to think about remastering it.

 

I'm assuming it is something like that as well, though First and Ten at least is much easier to find. (Yes, I do own the box set on DVD. It was really cheap.)

 

Definitely a good point. A good majority of their shows are pretty much available in full on HBO Go and on-demand any more. Even a few that were only around for a season and people didn't generally care about. But those classics are nowhere to be found. I check in from time to time just to see if one of those types show up.

 

I thought it was every bit as good as "Bull Durham" and I'm old enough to have Jack Daniels for breakfast.
I taped the movie way back when. Loaned it a somebody I used to work with and never got it back. I guess my tape is "Long Gone."

 

Loved the Hank Williams usage in the movie.

 

That would be a great idea. I'd love to catch some of the old episodes of "The Hitchhiker" and "Not Necessarily the News" and some vintage 80s "Inside the NFL" (although I'm pretty sure you can find a lot of that on YouTube).

 

Three words for you: "Dixie Lee Boxx!"

 

It's out there in torrent-land, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

I was thinking of a different three words.