Hollywood created "The Pride of the Yankees" as a tribute to Lou Gehrig. It has since been considered the greatest baseball movie ever. The Babe on the other hand received this treatment from Tinseltown. How sad that this is all the more respect they had for the greatest ball player of all time.
Starting with the casting, one has to wonder why they would choose William Bendix, a man far better qualified for playing buffoons like Chester A. Riley, than the hero to thousands. His attempt to recreate a pitcher's wind-up and throw is absolutely pathetic. And while you can make a younger actor look older, trying to pass Bendix off as a kid coming out of school is quite the stretch. Why Mark Koenig or Mel Allen let themselves be a part of this film is beyond me.
The movie did have some respect for statistical facts, but as for the other events of Babe's life, it took quite the poetic license. In this movie, Babe isn't the womanizer and drinker he was in real life. No, he's some sort of healer, bringing back kids and dogs from the dead, and making crippled boys walk just by his presence.
Babe Ruth himself attended the premiere of this film, and it wouldn't be surprising if it didn't hasten his demise.
With the tripe Hollywood is putting out of late, I'd be hard pressed to call this one of the worst movies of all time. But it was definitely a clunker for the era in which it appeared. And, along with "The Kid From Cleveland", it definitely is one of the worst baseball movies of all time.
Starting with the casting, one has to wonder why they would choose William Bendix, a man far better qualified for playing buffoons like Chester A. Riley, than the hero to thousands. His attempt to recreate a pitcher's wind-up and throw is absolutely pathetic. And while you can make a younger actor look older, trying to pass Bendix off as a kid coming out of school is quite the stretch. Why Mark Koenig or Mel Allen let themselves be a part of this film is beyond me.
The movie did have some respect for statistical facts, but as for the other events of Babe's life, it took quite the poetic license. In this movie, Babe isn't the womanizer and drinker he was in real life. No, he's some sort of healer, bringing back kids and dogs from the dead, and making crippled boys walk just by his presence.
Babe Ruth himself attended the premiere of this film, and it wouldn't be surprising if it didn't hasten his demise.
With the tripe Hollywood is putting out of late, I'd be hard pressed to call this one of the worst movies of all time. But it was definitely a clunker for the era in which it appeared. And, along with "The Kid From Cleveland", it definitely is one of the worst baseball movies of all time.