grantss
The story of Lou Gehrig, one of baseball's all-time greats and one of its most tragic figures. We see him from his school days, to college days, to his start with the Yankees, to his emergence as one of baseball's true heroes.Great story, though not always well told. Can be quite clumsy at times and feel overly folksy or Hollywoodized. Some scenes are quite irritating they're so badly done.While Gary Cooper may seem perfect for the role, as understated, humble heroes are his forte, initially he doesn't fit, being to old for the role. It did seem weird, him obviously being at least mid- 30s-plus and kidding around with kids in their teens or early-20s.However, in the end, it all comes together in a movie that encapsulates Gehrig's life well (with a few poetic licenses along the way). Gary Cooper gives a solid performance as Lou Gehrig and Teresa Wright lights up the screen as his wife. Both of them received Oscar nominations. The final few scenes are incredibly emotional and provide a fitting finale.
Steve Pulaski
The Pride of the Yankees is a great sports film because it works as more than just a sports film, but also a compelling drama and a pleasantly romantic story of a larger-than-life baseball player who was tragically brought down by a crippling disease that eventually killed him at 37. Just two years before his death, Gehrig was every young boy's idol, an incomparable hitter and a terrifically talented ballplayer on all cylinders. It's only complementary to his legacy that he get one of the strongest sports films of the era to go along with his tremendous achievements.Gary Cooper plays Gehrig in a performance that would exhaust even a veteran like Cooper. Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz craft the role of Gehrig in a manner that emphasizes his impressive accomplishments and accolades, his love-life with his wife Eleanor (Teresa Wright), and the struggle with his diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (more commonly known in the modern-day as ALS). Cooper throws himself into the role of Gehrig in a way that shows off all these attributes with great nuance and character acting.Swerling and Mankiewicz are also very disciplined in the way they handle Gehrig's story of unabashed talent and persistency. He is such an easy figure to emptily bedazzle and decorate in meaningless awards that can be tossed around with little or no context. Given the time period when this film was made - in an age where cinema was largely resting its strengths on the shoulders of stars - this seems like the perfect film to be an oversimplified trainwreck, but thanks to careful writing and mindfulness regarding a scene or a time period's particular direction, the film winds up being anything but an oversimplification.The element of the film that will undoubtedly get downplayed the most, though it deserves a greater focus, is the relationship between Lou and Eleanor. Their marriage is frequently positioned as one that's romantic and loving, for good reason, as both parties consistently respect the intentions of one another. Conventional biopics would embellish this marriage's more hostile/theatrical exchanges of what path Lou should take once he discovers he is facing terminal sickness, but rather than make light out of arguments, Wood, Swerling, and Mankiewicz show how caring Eleanor was to Lou and how respectful and reciprocating Lou was to her intentions. Ultimately, let's not forget how unlikely this whole setup would've worked, regardless of writing, if Teresa Wright hadn't handled her role with such conviction, especially during the later scenes, where she can barely look at her ailing husband without her eyes welling with tears.Another emotional or heart-tugging element in the film comes with seeing the evolution of Gehrig's parents role in his life. In early scenes, Gehrig's mother (Elsa Janssen) would always affirm that Gehrig would grow up to be like his uncle, a wealthy engineer that would work to provide for himself and his family and be a valued member of society. When Gehrig ditches his academic aspirations for athletic ones, Wood is conscious to keep Gehrig's mother's initial disillusionment with her son's choice in perspective before gradually showing her change of heart that most mothers would undergo as they witness their son be an incomparable success and a community staple.The result is a film that's very romantic and thoroughly heartwarming, in addition to simply being a very well-edited sports biopic. The Pride of the Yankees' broad title suggests an all-encompassing look, or even history, into the renowned franchise, but its focus, while broad and far-reaching, profiles a wonderful life, and the film itself features tremendously engaging performances to compliment its story.Starring: Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth, Elsa Janssen, and Ludwig Stössel. Directed by: Sam Wood.
lugonian
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (Samuel Goldwyn/RKO Radio, 1942), directed by Sam Wood, taken from the opening credits underscoring to "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," could very well be a historical account about the New York Yankees. Instead, according to the opening tribute by journalist Damon Runyon, "its the story of Lou Gehrig." (Born Henry Louis Gehrig (1903-1941), one of the greatest baseball players of all time). An original story by Paul Gallico details Lou Gehrig's life, first starting him as a boy (Douglas Croft) of twelve in New York City. He's introduced as a son of German immigrants whose father (Ludwig Stossel) is a janitor and mother (Elsa Janssen), a cook at Columbia University whose ambition is for her son to grow up like their Uncle Otto to become an engineer. Even at an early age, Lou's talent for baseball is proved effective as he bats with the neighborhood kids hitting the ball to a point of smashing a store window at a very far distance, costing his mother to come up with $18.50 to replace it. As a young man working his way through school as a waiter, studying to become an engineer, Lou (Gary Cooper), a baseball athlete for Columbia University, is discovered by sportswriter, Sam Blake (Walter Brennan), who eventually signs him as player for the New York Yankees. Though Mama Gehrig is very much against this, her son's newfound success turns her into a baseball fan. After slipping on a pile of baseball bats in his first game in Chicago, Lou is teasingly called "tanglefoot" by pretty spectator, Eleanor Twitchell (Teresa Wright) seated by her father (Pierre Watkin). Following a brief courtship, they would soon marry. As time progresses with Blake and Hank Hannerman (Dan Duryea) watching and reporting first baseman Gehrig making baseball history from the press box, "The Iron Man" as he would be called, would not only rank along with Babe Ruth (Babe Ruth) as one of the greatest sports figures, but become a true pride of the Yankees. All this would change after Lou faces something that would put an end to his powerful sixteen year career.In one of the finest sports movies ever made, THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, became producer Samuel Goldwyn's only biographical film, and one of his most admired. Gary Cooper, having already won his Academy Award as Best Actor playing SERGEANT YORK (Warner Brothers, 1941), an American war hero, gets another home run here by the Academy once again for his portrayal of an American sports hero, Lou Gehrig. Being more of a personal and private life story of Lou Gehrig than on his development as a baseball player, it's all wonderfully told during its 128 minutes. Though historians may find several faults of mention, including a scene or two where Cooper writes or bats right handed rather than Gehrig's oft-mentioned left, or placing few factual characters in the wrong time frame, the acting, the story and direction make up for such errors. With time away from some Yankee game re-enactment, there's time out for humorous moments by Babe Ruth and his baseball buddies, musical entertainment featuring a tango dance from the Moon Terrace Cabaret performed by Veloz an Yolanda as conducted by Ray Noble and his Orchestra. There's also female vocalist on platform singing the classic Irving Berlin tune, "Always," that to become the Gehrig's personal love songAside from Teresa Wright's sensitive portrayal during its second half, and Walter Brennan, sporting glasses and mustache, as the sports writing friend, no scene comes close to Cooper's heartfelt closing speech on that historic Tuesday, July 4th, 1939, day at Yankee Stadium that would not only stay in memory long after the film is over, but prove his Lou Gehrig to be "the luckiest man on the face of the earth."Even if THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES strays from the truth at times, it's every sports buff's dream to actually get to see such baseball legends of the past portraying themselves, Bill Dickey, Mark Koenig and Robert Meusel. There's no one more recognizable than Babe Ruth at bat on the field, taking part in the story as well. Aside from Ruth having appeared in several motion pictures dating back to the silent era, it's little known fact that Gehrig appeared in a feature length motion picture himself, interestingly a "B" western titled RAWHIDE (20th-Fox, 1938) starring Smith Ballew, (Who?), a bit of trivia not included in the film. Aside from the major actors, others participants worth noting are Virginia Gilmore (Myra Tinsley); Ernie Adams (Miller Huggins), Hardie Albright (Van Tuyl), and sports announcer Bill Stern appearing as himself.THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, having been a long time movie favorite on New York City's Yankee station of WPIX TV, Channel 11 (1970-1995), has in later years been shown in the colorized format. Distributed to home video and later DVD, it's cable TV history consists of American Movie Classics (1992-1998) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: March 30, 2003), and few others. Nominated for Academy Awards: Best Actor (Cooper); Best Actress (Wright); and Best Picture, the legend of Lou Gehrig rests mostly on this motion picture retelling, not for just a while, not for just a day, not for just a year, but always. (****).
