Cinematic Disasters - The Babe Ruth Story

 

Alright, a brand new Cinematic Disasters. Only this time it's a movie about one of the most iconic baseball players and his "true" story. You'll soon find out why I put true in quotation marks.

The Babe Ruth Story is a biographical sports film about the iconic baseball star Babe Ruth, with production being done by Roy Del Ruth Productions and distribution was done by Allied Artists. Bob Considine and George Callahan wrote the screenplay with Roy Del Ruth directing.

The story is, George Herman Ruth Jr. was once just an ordinary kid but by the time he turned 18 he's incredible baseball skills are discovered. Soon he called "Babe Ruth" and before we know it he won't be just another baseball player, he'll become of the legendary baseball stars.

My Thoughts

Oh boy...where do we even begin? Let's start off with William Bendix as Babe Ruth. First let me give you a side-by-side.

William Bendix (left) and Babe Ruth (right)

Yeah you'll notice this two don't even come close to looking alike. But even if we can ignore that Bendix's performance is way off. Movie Babe Ruth is childlike, kind of bumbling, and can be an innocent simpleton. But the Babe Ruth in real life had a far more complex and flawed personality. I guess they didn't want to showcase that flawed personality what with Ruth's rapidly declining health from esophageal cancer. But come on, you could've showed some of his flaws.

Now let's get into some story elements or lack there of. What I mean is this movie focuses so much on his baseball career that it's easy to forget that Babe Ruth has a personal life. We don't spend that much time with his friends and family. The filmmakers completely skip over his wife Helen, and what love interest we do get with Claire it's barely mentioned. Hell, there were times I forgot Babe Ruth and Claire are suppose to be a couple in this movie. I know more about Babe Ruth saving a dog's life then his marriages!

Then we have the tone of this movie. It's so squeaky clean and sugar coated it's actually insulting then uplifting. When making a biopic you're suppose to tell us the story of the person behind the fame. We as an audience both from 1948 to now want to see how our idols overcame struggles. And Babe Ruth had a lot of issues to touch upon. There was his womanizing, his temper issues, heavy drinking, among other things in his life. What's funny is they could've easily had these issues in the movie and still give us an inspiring, uplifting tale but the production was being rushed because Babe Ruth was dying from his previously mentioned cancer and wanted this out while he was still alive. So both Hollywood (and Ruth's estate) gave us a tribute that made Ruth a quirky hero without any scandal they felt could tarnish his legacy. I get it was only for good intentions (or hopefully good intentions) but the problem is we have a movie that's so polished that it feels like it's talking down at us because apparently the filmmakers thought nobody could handle any "adult" subject matters.

Now let's get into the baseball scenes...there's none of them! No I'm seriously we get no baseball in this baseball biopic. Sometimes we'll see Ruth up to bat and then cut to somebody saying "Oh wow! Did ya see that swing! That was amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" A matter of fact most of Babe's games are told through newspaper transitions! No I'm serious, we don't get to see a single game we get newspaper clippings. How exciting! And when it's not baseball scenes that we barely or don't get to see, it's scenes like how Babe Ruth got arrested for starting a bar fight and how it took twenty-four policemen to arrest him. Well at least the movie did actually if even slightly touched on the anger issues thing, too bad we didn't get to see it!

Lastly let's touch upon how the movie portrays Babe Ruth. Yes I mentioned how his personality in this movie is nothing like his real personality but there's also the other thing. What's the other thing? Well...apparently...Babe Ruth is Jesus Christ. Not only does he go out of his way to save a dog's life but he can cure a paralyzed kid by saying "Hiya kid" but he can also cure a boy's cancer by winning Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. I shit you not this actually happened in the movie! Babe Ruth is so great at baseball he can perform miracles! That's why I was putting true in quotation marks folks. This brings the movie from frustration to unintentionally hilarious.

So that was The Babe Ruth Story. Oh boy, if you want advice on how not to make a biographical movie here's your guide. It's just so bad as a biopic, a sports movie, and as a Babe Ruth film. If you want to know the story of Babe Ruth then either watch the flawed-but-much better 1992 film The Babe starring John Goodman or watch some documentaries. Watch this if you just want a good laugh.

My final rating is, So Bad, It's Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 11th for my review of the newest Netflix survival thriller movie, Thrash. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.