Babe Ruth becomes a baseball legend but is unheroic to those who know him.Babe Ruth becomes a baseball legend but is unheroic to those who know him.Babe Ruth becomes a baseball legend but is unheroic to those who know him.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
Joseph Ragno
- Huggins
- (as Joe Ragno)
Robert Swan
- George Ruth Sr.
- (as Bob Swan)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen interviewed during production of the film, John Goodman noted the irony of having to lose weight to play the part of Ruth.
- GoofsThe film portrays Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig as being enemies from the start. That is, in fact, not the case. When Gehrig first joined the Yankees, he and Ruth got along famously. They would often go on fishing trips and barnstorming tours together in the off season. The Ruth-Gehrig Feud did not start until after Gehrig had married Eleanor Twitchell in 1933.
- Quotes
Johnny Sylvester: You are the best, you are the best there's ever been.
- Crazy creditsWe All Miss You Ralph ["Ralph" = Ralph Marrero, who died before the film's release]
- SoundtracksMuskrat Ramble
Written by Kid Ory (as Edward Ory) and Ray Gilbert
Performed by Steve Jensen and The Bistro Band
Featured review
Glossy biopic with a standout lead
John Goodman steamrolls his way through this film, with just about everyone else pushed into the background.
Purists no doubt will cane this film for historical inaccuracies. Heck, I'm from another country and know jack about baseball, but 15 minutes on the Internet was enough to show me that the film took serious short-cuts with Babe's life and career, not to mention a number of errors and distortions of fact.
Does this matter? Well, yes, probably. But you have to feel for the filmmakers. How do you condense a 20-year sporting career, not to mention a study of a complex and flawed individual, into a couple of hours of cinema? It's not easy, and the film suffers from events that are merely touched on Example 1: Ruth is introduced to mobsters in a speakeasy, but this seems to lead nowhere. The obvious question is: what happened next?. Example 2: The conflict between Ruth and Lou Gehrig is not portrayed accurately, and its resolution is not shown at all.
An excess of sentiment also hurts the film. There are moments that look like cliched scenes from countless other sporting movies - especially the sick kiddie in hospital extracting a promise of 2 home runs from Ruth, who dutifully delivers, and the same kiddie, now fully recovered and grown up, showing up at Ruth's swansong. It's emotionally manipulative film-making and I regret to say it works, but it also pulls this film back from greatness.
All up, just above average, unlike its subject matter.
Purists no doubt will cane this film for historical inaccuracies. Heck, I'm from another country and know jack about baseball, but 15 minutes on the Internet was enough to show me that the film took serious short-cuts with Babe's life and career, not to mention a number of errors and distortions of fact.
Does this matter? Well, yes, probably. But you have to feel for the filmmakers. How do you condense a 20-year sporting career, not to mention a study of a complex and flawed individual, into a couple of hours of cinema? It's not easy, and the film suffers from events that are merely touched on Example 1: Ruth is introduced to mobsters in a speakeasy, but this seems to lead nowhere. The obvious question is: what happened next?. Example 2: The conflict between Ruth and Lou Gehrig is not portrayed accurately, and its resolution is not shown at all.
An excess of sentiment also hurts the film. There are moments that look like cliched scenes from countless other sporting movies - especially the sick kiddie in hospital extracting a promise of 2 home runs from Ruth, who dutifully delivers, and the same kiddie, now fully recovered and grown up, showing up at Ruth's swansong. It's emotionally manipulative film-making and I regret to say it works, but it also pulls this film back from greatness.
All up, just above average, unlike its subject matter.
helpful•63
- mar9
- May 6, 2001
- How long is The Babe?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $17,530,973
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,011,205
- Apr 19, 1992
- Gross worldwide
- $19,930,973
- Runtime1 hour 55 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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