Rather than simply re-hash the well-established platitudes this film and hero deserve, I wish to pick out the glaring flaw found not only in "Pride of the Yankees," but many other baseball movies. Why don't the actors seem to have ever picked up a bat and ball before in their lives? Here, In Gary Cooper, we feature an actor so incapable of the rudiments of the game, his baseball-playing scenes had to be filmed with the frame flipped around. This was supposedly because Mr. Cooper was right handed, unlike Lou Gehrig. But watch him at bat... even right handed his swings look like those of a tee-ball tyro. Cooper's not alone. Check out Ray Liotta's ungainly effort as Shoeless Joe Jackson in "Field of Dreams," or Tom Beringer's wimpish swings in "Major League," or almost all of the supporting cast of New York Knights in "The Natural." Kevin Costner seems the only actor who looks like he's actually played some ball in his life, and the crucial athletic realism in any of his sports films is heightened because of it. I'm not looking for MVP-caliber skills in a sports movie actor, but it sure would be nice if he or she looked like they knew how to play the game better than your average 4th grader.
Review of The Pride of the Yankees
