A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story (1978)
** (out of 4)
Made-for-TV film about how Eleanor (Blythe Danner) and Lou Gehrig (Edward Herrmann) met, fought and eventually fell in love. The film takes place as an elderly Eleanor is at Yankee Stadium telling her story to a reporter and this is when we flashback throughout her life. I was really disappointed by this film for a number of reasons but perhaps the biggest is the fact that they tried something different and didn't do anything with it. I say that because most movies would have had Lou as the #1 thing but this film actually makes him second and places the wife as the lead story. It would have been interesting seeing Lou's life from the eyes of his wife but this rarely happens. Instead the film deals with a lot of boring melodrama that never really adds up to anything and after a while you start to wish that Lou really was the main focus. I guess the point of the film was to show that the baseball great, known as the Iron Man, had a strong supporting character at home in his wife. The problem is that there are simply so many scenes that just come across flat, lifeless and without a bit of energy and after a while the entire thing becomes quite boring. I'd also question some of the directorial choices like the now legendary speech that Lou gave after being forced to retire. The way the speech is shown here was just a complete mistake and this wonderful, iconic moment is left without much passion or soul. Danner at least manages to deliver a strong performance, which is one plus going for the film. I also thought Ramon Bieri was pretty good as Babe Ruth and we got nice support from Jane Wyman as Eleanor's mother and Patricia Neal is very memorable as Gehrig's mother. Not for a second did I buy Herrmann in the role of Lou and this here was a major mistake with the picture.
** (out of 4)
Made-for-TV film about how Eleanor (Blythe Danner) and Lou Gehrig (Edward Herrmann) met, fought and eventually fell in love. The film takes place as an elderly Eleanor is at Yankee Stadium telling her story to a reporter and this is when we flashback throughout her life. I was really disappointed by this film for a number of reasons but perhaps the biggest is the fact that they tried something different and didn't do anything with it. I say that because most movies would have had Lou as the #1 thing but this film actually makes him second and places the wife as the lead story. It would have been interesting seeing Lou's life from the eyes of his wife but this rarely happens. Instead the film deals with a lot of boring melodrama that never really adds up to anything and after a while you start to wish that Lou really was the main focus. I guess the point of the film was to show that the baseball great, known as the Iron Man, had a strong supporting character at home in his wife. The problem is that there are simply so many scenes that just come across flat, lifeless and without a bit of energy and after a while the entire thing becomes quite boring. I'd also question some of the directorial choices like the now legendary speech that Lou gave after being forced to retire. The way the speech is shown here was just a complete mistake and this wonderful, iconic moment is left without much passion or soul. Danner at least manages to deliver a strong performance, which is one plus going for the film. I also thought Ramon Bieri was pretty good as Babe Ruth and we got nice support from Jane Wyman as Eleanor's mother and Patricia Neal is very memorable as Gehrig's mother. Not for a second did I buy Herrmann in the role of Lou and this here was a major mistake with the picture.