Pride Of The Yankees

Pride Of The Yankees
1942 - Samuel Goldwyn Productions
Directed by Sam Wood



SYNOPSIS
Lou Gehrig (Gary Cooper) heads off to Columbia University to become an engineer, but his talent and passion for baseball has him on a different path. Soon he is playing alongside boyhood idol Babe Ruth (himself) for the New York Yankees. He finds love with Eleanor (Teresa Wright) and becomes a legend, but a mysterious illness cuts his tremendous career short.



MY THOUGHTS

One of the greatest sports films live up to the hype.

The biographical story is typically reverential of it's subject matter like many bio-pics of the era, though this one is different. Gehrig was in fact a level-headed, well-mannered gentleman just as he is portrayed, whereas films like the 'Spirit Of St. Louis' and 'The Benny Goodman Story' are altered to make their subject matter more saintly than they really were in real life.

Gary Cooper is excellent as Gehrig. The role suited his quiet, cool, upstanding screen image to a 'T' and received an Oscar nomination. He, however, does look WAY too old to be playing Gehrig as a college student and as a rookie. He does make Gehrig seem real and you definitely feel emotional when he delivers that final speech at Yankee Stadium.
Teresa Wright was also nominated for her role as his wife, and is great. Although his screen time is short, it was a great highlight to see Babe Ruth as himself. A few other real Yankees also are on hand as well.

It was great to see the late, great Yankee Stadium in action, along with Los Angeles' minor league ballpark, Wrigley Field, which filled in for some of the other American League parks (and later was home for TV's Home Run Derby and the debut season of the California Angels.)

The film is occasionally very cheesy. Some parts of the love story and the now cliche 'boy in the hospital' scene are so corny you're waiting with butter and the corn-on-the-cob tongs in hand while you watch.

Despite the flaws, the film is a great tribute to one of the greatest first baseman to ever play the game.