Watchingwell   

             Curated classic films

Season’s Greetings!

        It's April and although we are not likely to think Spring when snow is visible out the window, we still can think -- baseball!  Yes, baseball in the snow in several cities this month.  Balaclavas under baseball caps -- what planet is this? It is Earth, of course -- where else would such a gratuitously-complicated sport have been invented? Well, the answer to that is that it is not a sport, it is a ritual, part of the authentic American culture, which has even penetrated the cultures of other nations.  Hence, everyone, whether they know the rules, or even like the game, relates to a story about baseball, and Hollywood has played a part in this.  Some of the following films are better than others, but they all offer American audiences something familiar and reassuring about the baseball mythology of teamwork and individual aspirations, disappointment and redemption, often seen through the lens of family memories.

Gary Cooper was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Lou Gehrig in Pride of the Yankees (1942).  Directed by Sam Wood, and co-starring Teresa Wright as his wife, this is the prototype sports biography, with Gehrig's illustrious career ended by ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium, declaring himself, "the luckiest man on the face of the earth", insuring his and the film's immortality.





Speaking of "pride", there was also The Pride of St. Louis (1952), the story of Hall of Fame pitcher, Jerome "Dizzy" Dean, starring Dan Dailey.  Directed by Harmon Jones and co-starring Joanne Dru and Richard Crenna.






                                                Another biopic, The Stratton Story (1949), is about pitcher, Monty Stratton, who lost his leg in a hunting accident and was able to resume his career.  Starring James Stewart and June Allyson and directed by Sam Wood, this is an uplifting, well-acted story.





A biography that is not so  uplifting is Fear Strikes Out (1957), directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Anthony Perkins as Billy Piersall, a popular player in Boston, who suffers a mental breakdown, after being subjected to years of  brutal, perfectionist standards by his father, played by Karl Malden, in one of his best roles.




The Winning Team (1952) is the entertaining story of Grover Cleveland Alexander, the Hall of Fame pitcher of the early 1900s, starring Ronald Reagan as Alexander and Doris Day as his wife.  Directed by Lewis Seiler, the film recounts Alexander's problems with epilepsy and alcohol, even though he never had a losing season, with 373 lifetime victories.




    
I hesitate to mention this film, 
which is arguably the worst

sports biography, but it's one of those 'so-bad-it's-fun' films, and it is about the best-known player in history, The Babe Ruth Story (1948). Many biopics tend to portray the subject as an unblemished hero, but this one sugarcoats with a trowel. Babe Ruth was a great player, extremely likable and generous, but his over-the-top lifestyle was well-known. Starring William Bendix as the Babe with Claire Trevor, directed by Roy Del Ruth. 




Two entertaining musicals you should see that have baseball themes:  Damn Yankees (1958) starring the amazing Gwen Verdon and directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen,and Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Esther Williams and Betty Garrett, directed by Busby Berkeley.



Several baseball films deal with perennially losing teams like the one in Damn Yankees where someone makes a deal, in desperation, with the devil or some other power to let the team win. Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh star in Angels in the Outfield (1951), where the title helpers of the Pittsburgh Pirates are invisible. Directed by Clarence Bown. 





Billy Chapin becomes the nine-year old manager of the losing Bisons in The Kid From Left Field (1953) relaying advice from his ex-player father, and when he gets sick, his dad, Dan Dailey, must step-in.  Co-starring Anne Bancroft, directed by Jack Sher.

Then there is another kid, The Kid From Cleveland (1949) where young Russ Tamblyn, is re-directed from some bad influences by his beloved Cleveland baseball team.  Starring George Brent and Lynn Bari, directed by Herbert Kline.


Speaking of kids, many of us have fond memories

of kids playing for The Bad News Bears (1976). Michael Ritchie directs Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, and Vic Morrow. There are many fine performances from the kids who play the game in this story of the enduring appeal of the little leagues.




     

In film, there are many possible influences on a team's fortunes  besides the quality of play.  For instance, there is the secret chemical formula that repels wood (as in a baseball bat) discovered in It Happens Every Spring (1949). Ray Milland, Jean Peters, and Paul Douglas star in this semi-madcap comedy, directed by  Loyd Bacon.


Another Ray Milland baseball comedy is Rhubarb (1951) directed by Arthur Lubin. Also starring Jan Sterling and Gene Lockhart, Rhubarb is the name of a cat who becomes the team mascot as they start to win and is a target for the opposing teams. This is a good comedy, especially for people who like baseball and cats.





Lloyd Bacon directed another semi-madcap comedy, Kill the Umpire (1950), where Ray Collins arranges for baseball- crazy grandson, William Bendix, to go to umpire school.  It's not so easy for Bendix, who is used to being on the other end of the abuse.



Leslie Goodwins directed the 1943 comedy from RKO, Ladies Day, about a team's star pitcher, Eddie Albert, whose  pitching suffers when he is in love, which is frequently, this time with Lupe Velez.  So, the wives of the other team members, who want the cash that comes with winning the World Series, plot to keep the couple apart.

Edward G. Robinson plays the real-life Hans Lobert, who runs a school for young prospects for the New York Giants in Big Leaguer (1953). Director Robert Aldrich makes this somewhat predictable story of young men trying to make the big leagues pretty watchable. Having Edward G. Robinson in the lead doesn't hurt.

                                                                                           

 

James Earl Jones, Billie Dee Williams, and Richard Pryor star in an intelligent and under-appreciated comedy, The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars and Motor Kings (1976), a fictional story of a Negro League team that rebels against corrupt management and goes out on their own in the 1930s. Directed by John Badham, the cast is great, as is the music by William Goldstein.

Before Robert DeNiro became -- well, Robert DeNiro, he starred with Michael Moriarty in Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), the story of a friendship between a star pitcher and a not-so-valuable catcher who is terminally ill. Directed by John Hancock, with a great performance by Vincent Gardenia as the manager, DeNiro and Moriarty give peerless performances that elevate this from the level of tearjerker.


      I will go no further forward in time than 1984 but this allows me to include my personal favorite baseball movie, The Natural, which captures the mythological quality of the game more than most. Yes, Robert Redford may have been too old for the role, but he got it right.  Based on the Bernard Malamud novel, and directed by Barry Levinson, the film is best when it centers on the game itself.  The iconic score by Randy Newman adds to the magical reality. It captures like no other that I have seen the sounds and the tension of a crowd filled with hope in the bottom of the ninth, with two out and two strikes on the batter.  In what other sport is there still the possibility of victory with just one swing of the bat? Four years later life imitated art when Kirk Gibson hit that improbable home run in the ninth inning of Game One of the 1988 World Series in Los Angeles with two out and two strikes. Everyone thought about that scene in The Natural.