Bang The Drum Slowly

I think at some point in my life, I have watched almost every baseball themed movie ever made. I know I am probably wrong, because every now and then I come across one I have not seen.

I have a streaming service on my Roku called Classic Reels. It lists the films you can see by genre. Well down in the middle there is a listing of sports movies. The other day I was browsing and found a film called ” It Happened In Flatbush”.

The film is about a former player, Frank “Butterfingers” Maguire, whose error costs the Dodgers the pennant and his place in the lineup, and who is brought back seven years later to manage the team.

He takes charge of the team and cracks the whip getting them to become a contender. But he also falls for the team’s new female owner, and the players, tired of his drill sergeant tactics, circulate a petition to demand his ouster. But after a speech telling them how they owe it to their fans their best effort, the team rallies and wins the pennant.

The film was made in 1947, and is loosely based on the Dodgers 1941 pennant run, in which their manager was none other than Leo the Lip Durocher. Lloyd Nolan plays Maguire with Carole Landis, who was linked to Rex Harrison, and later commited suicide when he would not leave his wife. William Frawley, of I Love Lucy, and Robert Armstong as one of the players.

I enjoy movies like this. Made before all of the CGI stuff. Filmed in real ballparks for the most part with guys who have very few baseball skills.

But you could fast forward several years and this would almost be the same plot as Major League. Of course Major League had a lot more comedy in it.

But back when I was young, many movies were shown on TV and since this was before stations started making their own movies, they would have to go into the library’s of the major studios and purchase the rights to show the films.

I got a kick out of the films based on real players. Most had name actors playing someone usually younger, and much more athletic.

“The Pride of St. Louis” was about Dizzy Dean. Dan Dailey, who was usually a song and dance man, played Dean. A very young Richard Crenna, played his brother, Paul. JoAnne Dru was his wife.

The movie is pretty good, though much of it is pure fiction. But they get the important parts right, such as Paul’s career ending injury, and the line-drive off of his toe in the All-Star game that would eventually ruin Dizzy’s career. Making a small appearance in the movie as a radio announcer, Chet Huntley, of Huntley and Brinkley news team.

Another old baseball movie was “The Winning Team”. A biopic about Grover Cleveland Alexander. It starred Ronald Reagan, Doris Day, Frank Lovejoy, Russ Tamblyn. It also featured some real ballplayers, Peanuts Lowrey, George Metkovich, Jerry Priddy and Bob Lemon.

This movie is more of a drama than anything else, and much of the film is dedicated to what happened to Alexander after WWI with his constant battle with epileptic seizures and headaches. All this was caused by Mustard gas he was subjected to in the war. To deal with this he begins drinking, and alcohol also becomes a problem.

Most of the film is based on true events. The climax is when he is pitching in the 1926 World Series against the Yankees. Lovejoy plays Hall of Famer, Rogers Hornsby.

Some baseball films were just made for fun I have to believe. Alibi Ike, with Joe E Brown, Elmer the Great, also with Brown in the lead. Wallace Beery actually played The Mighty Casey in a 1927 silent film.

It is a shame to me that a film like “Pride of the Yankees”, the Lou Gehrig film with a great cast like Cooper, Teresa Wright, Walter Brennan, Dan Duryea, and several of Gehrig’s real life teammates like Ruth, Dickey, Muesel, Koenig, and Stern, was soon followed by a lame bio of Babe Ruth starring William Bendix.

Bendix was usually a supporting actor. He did have some solid actors around him like Charles Bickford and Claire Trevor. Mark Koenig also played himself in this movie. William Frawley was in this movie also as Jack Dunn, the owner of the Orioles who signed Ruth to his first contract. But most of the film is pure Hollywood except for the actual events that defined the Babes career. Unfortunately, Bendix had virtually no athletic skills.

Hollywood would repeat this blunder years later when “The Babe” was made, starring John Goodman. Jackie Robinson would play himself in the 1950 movie “The Jackie Robinson Story”. Ruby Dee played his wife.

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was a baseball musical starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams, Jules Munshin, and for those of you who were wrestling fans in LA in the late 50’s and 60’s, Richard Lane. Better known as Dick “whoa Nelly” Lane. He announced wrestling on KTTV in LA from the Olympic Auditorium.

Kelly and Sinatra are ballplayers, but they are also Vaudeville performers. Esther Williams is the team’s new owner, and Lane is the manager. She takes over the team and sets rules like curfew and things like that. In order to get around them, Kelly decides to romance her.

Kelly is the team’s star SS, with Sinatra as the team’s second baseman. Together with Goldberg, played by Munshin, they form the league’s best DP combination.

Ala Tinkers, to Evers to Chance. So it is Obrien, to Ryan, to Goldberg. Which is also one of the film’s better tunes. It is light, fun and an entertaining movie that showcases how good the actors are at singing and dancing, but who have few baseball skills.

The best baseball drama I have seen is “Fear Strikes Out”. The Jimmy Piersall movie. This is a straight drama, so I did not expect much in the way of baseball action. But the story of Piersall’s mental problems is a very compelling story.

Anthony Perkins, another non-athletic actor, played Piersall. His dad was played by Karl Malden. It makes a person question just how far a child with athletic skills can be pushed by an overbearing parent. The scene where Piersall finally snaps is very dramatic.

I saw Piersall play when he was with the Angels. And after he finally came back into the league, I think his way of dealing with the stress was to act a little bit weird. Running the bases backwards after hitting his 100th career homer attests to that.

“Bang the Drum Slowly” with DeNiro and Law and Order star, Michael Moriarity, was a fictional story about a star pitcher, who refused to sign his contract unless his third string catcher was signed too. The catcher, DeNiro, has been diagnosed with cancer that is terminal.

It chronicles their journey together that season, and how because the other catchers on the team are having really bad years, the backup becomes the starter. The manager was played by Vincent Gardenia, who also played the NYC detective in Death Wish. All the non-Florida scenes were filmed at Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium.

For the longest time, very few baseball related films were made. But in the 80’s, there were 20. 30 were made in the 90’s. Since 2000, almost 70 films and documentaries have been made, including one about Shohei Ohtani.

I still think Ken Burns “Baseball” is the definitive documentary about baseball. So enjoy a baseball film tonight!