12.15.09 | Jon Morgereth | Movie PollsPrint this Post
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What’s Your Favorite Baseball Movie?
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31 Responses to “What’s Your Favorite Baseball Movie?”
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Pride of the Yankees is still the best Baseball film in my opinion and it was based in fact anyway.
it happens every spring
Should have included a League of Their Own. Close second to the Natural.
Barry in Canada
voted for The Natural but surprised 8 Men Out got so few votes ... the baseball scenes are realistic and the story is straight from history
The best ice/snow movie was "Dr. Zhivago," not even listed!
C'mon guys...Field is my favorite movie of all times. I drove out to Iowa twice to see it. I remember the first time I saw it, it was such a shock, I almost couldn't catch my breath at the end. No contest here!
"The Pride of the Yankees" was the best Hollywood 'Treatment' of a baseball story. It came across better as a love story than a hard-nose baseball action movie. What really turned me off about this film was the way Lou Gehrig's, "Luckiest Man on the face of the Earth" speech was so shamelessly twisted and mutilated. In real life, this phrase did not come at the end of his speech. But Hollywood did it that way to make for a typical, run-of-the-mill tear-jerker ending. There was an incredibly courageous and dignified life after baseball for Lou Gehrig that, had it been included in the film, would have shown even far more greatness in this man than the sugar-coated fluff offered up in "The Pride of the Yankees." It was with incredible courage and dignity that Lou and Eleanor Gehrig lived out the last months of his life.
"The Rookie."
Not a baseball film per se, but it is a large part of the film- The Naked Gun. For my money, the best baseball film ever made.
You are asking people, 95% of which never saw the film OR Jimmy Pearsall play, to rate the best (that's what your poll really is) base ball film. "Fear Strikes Out" is the best film about a base ball player
(and I am a tried and true Yankee fan,) while all the other's are pretty good films in their own right. Except of course for "Angels in the Outfield." Anyone who picks that should be taken to a baseball game, no, make that an entire homestand, so they can (hopefully) see what baseball is.
My personal favorites are " It Happens Every Spring" and "Kill the Umpire" with William Bendix
I aggree with Dan and Bobby T. It happens every spring with Ray Miland and Bill Bendix is a great baseball film for kids of all ages.
A League of Their Own belongs on this list! I could watch it once a month for the rest of my life -- and I'm working on it. I also do not understand the low rank for Eight Men Out. It's really good cinema, with a great cast of character actors, in addition to being well grounded in fact and focused on an extremely important period in baseball history. The top three on this list are pure Hollywood -- all enjoyable of course, but also over the top melodrama.
Field of Dreams was one of the Best Baseball/Feel Good movies of all times and is one of my most favorite movies of all time. I have watched it hundreds of times and never get tired of it. Of course I have seen Major League, Pride of the Yankees, A League of Their Own and some of the others quite a few times as well, and never get tired of them either..
What about Mr.Baseball?
It may not be the best, but "For Love of the Game" certainly belongs on the list, as do "A League of Their Own" and "The Rookie", all miles above "Angels in the Outfield", either version. Tough call, but I have to pick Bull Durham for it's combination of look at the minor leagues and entertaining story.
Why don't you include the movies: Take me Out to the Ball Game or The Stratton Story? Those are two of my favourites.
Definitely could add "League of their own" - well done movie. How about The Sand Lot? Not the best but could sit on this list.
Don't forget, with Pride of the Yankees, you get a two-fer: not only a great story about the Iron Horse and a great interpretation of Baseball's Gettysburg Address, you also get to see the immortal Babe Ruth appearing as himself. Great Picture!
This is where Hollywood is a major league failure. After all these decades they rarely get it right with baseball. Field of Dreams is ruined with the typical "political" speach with emoting at the town meeting, plus the morons have Joe Jackson as a righty. (Then for years following we've had to listen to Costner brag about what a great ballplayer he really could have been...)
Bang The Drum Slowly and Pride of the Yankees are beautiful stories about life- baseball just happens to be there.
Eight Men Out was excellent, but the real truth is extremely unknown and controversial with baseball historians who have really dug in and tried to gather facts and details (there are few).
I went with The Natural, even though the altered the book a bit (isn't that Hollywood?). I did like It Happens Every Spring- wouldn't that make a great remake?
Still, the very shallow pool to pick a good baseball movie from is disturbing. I guess we have too many sissy directors. No shortage there.
I'm glad someone remembered to mention The Stratton Story. Jimmy Stewart was great in the part. Also, the actual footage of Joe DiMaggio hitting a home run off young Stratton was a plus to the film. One correction for "Grumpy Old Man"...Bill Bendix wasn't in "It Happens Every Spring" . That was Paul Douglas. Another good baseball flick was "The Jackie Robinson Story". Really showed what he had to endure when he first came up.
As a Little League coach for over 15 years THE BAD NEWS BEARS was well written and well cast. It was 101 minutes of "been-there-done-that". Not about famous people, or with famous stars, it was about baseball as played by thousands of youngsters. The greatest sporting event of the year is still the Little League World Series. Look there for sincerity, honesty, and a love of the game.
Best and funniest baseball movie of all time was made for HBO with William Peterson and Virginia Madsen. It was "Long Gone" - If you can find it and watch it you'll agree with me!
For the Love of the Game
Granted, I thought "Fear Strikes Out" to be a great film as film goes. However, it is not a baseball film. It is a film about the struggles of a boy and his overbearing father.
But I could not get past the scenes at Fenway Park. The Red Sox all had on their home jerseys except Jimmy Piersall (Anthony Perkins) who was wearing something completely different. He wore the same jersey in every scene. Kind of like he slept in that uniform.
"It Happens Every Spring", while a fantasy with cheating involved is one of the best baseball movies! The story still holds up after more than 60 years. Ray Milland is great leading the cast, including beautiful Jean Peters as the love interest, character actor Ed Begley as the team owner, and the underrated/unappreciated Paul Douglas as the "sidekick"! I love that they usually show it around opening day. I rate it a full 10!
"The Natural" by far. Realistic baseball scenes,
great story and great acting. Second favorite was "Pride of the Yankees" but it had a little too much hollywood fluff.
"The Natural" was by far the best. It had great acting and story plus the baseball scenes were realistic.
There must be a male dominant problem here. I mean Field of Dreams was good, so was Pride, but A League of Their Own is a classic up there with The Color Purple which cast a lot of women. It seems that if there are a bevy of women cast, the film fails.
This attitude sucks, really. Girls ROCK!
Lets face it, they were all great movies, even though some were left out, it comes down to personal preference.
The Sandlot