Of course, I would never say that The Pride Of The Yankees was the worst movie ever made about the sport of Baseball, but, then again, I'd definitely never admit that it was the best, either.
Yes. I do fully realize (much to my dismay) that this 1942 picture was clearly intended to be MGM's respectful homage to honour one of baseball's greatest and beloved stars, Lou Gehrig (who sadly died only one year before this film's release) - But, the thing is, I personally think that the revered memory of an idolized man like Gehrig certainly deserved so much better than the likes of this less-than-satisfying "rush job".
One of this film's biggest and most detrimental deficits was the casting of one of Hollywood's dreariest and utterly non-charismatic actors of the 30s & 40s, Gary Cooper.
Not only was Cooper (at 42) way too old for the part of playing a man 15 years his junior, but I also found Cooper to be such a totally forgettable non-entity in his part as Gehrig that it teetered on the very edge of being downright insulting and disrespectful.
Gary Cooper clearly didn't have the capacity to bring any reasonable depth or life to his floundering character. He just played his usual bumbling, "aw-shucks" self, and, believe me, it was actually pathetic to watch at times.
This film also suffered from sentimentality-overload, 1940's style. And, yes, again, I do realize that this film was intended to be a loving tribute to Gehrig (who I have nothing against), but, all of this schmaltzy sentimentality made him out to be a literal saint (who could swing a mean bat) and whose feet never once seemed to touch the ground.
Besides what I've already beefed about above - This film (with its gruelling 2 hour and 10 minute running time) contained not a single surprise. In fact, it often tripped over itself when it came to the likes of predictability.
The final blow that forced me to reduce this picture's overall rating even lower was the unnecessary focus paid to the portrayal of Lou's mother, played by the scenery-chewing actress, Elsa Janssen. This opinionated woman was insufferably overbearing.
As it appeared in this film, Gehrig was apparently so completely devoted to his mother that he was reduced to the point of being a frickin' "momma's boy". Even after Lou moved away from home and had gotten married, he still remained absolutely ruled by mommy-dearest's demands and the vicious strangle-hold of her apron strings.
As you can well-imagine, this intense focus on Lou's screwy attachment to his mother (which carried right through to the end of the story) grated on my nerves, big-time.
Perhaps after seeing this film for yourself, you will find your opinion of it to be much less harsh than mine. But, I just want to say that I did not hate this movie. I just thought that since it was meant to honour a sports hero of Gehrig's magnitude, then it certainly could've been a helluva lot more entertaining and enlightening in regards to presenting Gehrig as a real person (warts & all) and not just as the product of some cheap, Hollywood white-washing job.
Yes. I do fully realize (much to my dismay) that this 1942 picture was clearly intended to be MGM's respectful homage to honour one of baseball's greatest and beloved stars, Lou Gehrig (who sadly died only one year before this film's release) - But, the thing is, I personally think that the revered memory of an idolized man like Gehrig certainly deserved so much better than the likes of this less-than-satisfying "rush job".
One of this film's biggest and most detrimental deficits was the casting of one of Hollywood's dreariest and utterly non-charismatic actors of the 30s & 40s, Gary Cooper.
Not only was Cooper (at 42) way too old for the part of playing a man 15 years his junior, but I also found Cooper to be such a totally forgettable non-entity in his part as Gehrig that it teetered on the very edge of being downright insulting and disrespectful.
Gary Cooper clearly didn't have the capacity to bring any reasonable depth or life to his floundering character. He just played his usual bumbling, "aw-shucks" self, and, believe me, it was actually pathetic to watch at times.
This film also suffered from sentimentality-overload, 1940's style. And, yes, again, I do realize that this film was intended to be a loving tribute to Gehrig (who I have nothing against), but, all of this schmaltzy sentimentality made him out to be a literal saint (who could swing a mean bat) and whose feet never once seemed to touch the ground.
Besides what I've already beefed about above - This film (with its gruelling 2 hour and 10 minute running time) contained not a single surprise. In fact, it often tripped over itself when it came to the likes of predictability.
The final blow that forced me to reduce this picture's overall rating even lower was the unnecessary focus paid to the portrayal of Lou's mother, played by the scenery-chewing actress, Elsa Janssen. This opinionated woman was insufferably overbearing.
As it appeared in this film, Gehrig was apparently so completely devoted to his mother that he was reduced to the point of being a frickin' "momma's boy". Even after Lou moved away from home and had gotten married, he still remained absolutely ruled by mommy-dearest's demands and the vicious strangle-hold of her apron strings.
As you can well-imagine, this intense focus on Lou's screwy attachment to his mother (which carried right through to the end of the story) grated on my nerves, big-time.
Perhaps after seeing this film for yourself, you will find your opinion of it to be much less harsh than mine. But, I just want to say that I did not hate this movie. I just thought that since it was meant to honour a sports hero of Gehrig's magnitude, then it certainly could've been a helluva lot more entertaining and enlightening in regards to presenting Gehrig as a real person (warts & all) and not just as the product of some cheap, Hollywood white-washing job.