It's not a bad movie. But its sentiments are faster than its reflexes. By the time it tries to uncoil a home-run swing, the ball has already vanished.
Overview
A chronicle of Babe Ruth's phenomenal story--from his hard knock beginnings at a Baltimore orphanage, to his meteoric rise to baseball superstardom and his poignant retirement from the game. His amazing career included seven American League pennants, four World Series championships, two tempestuous marriages and a wild lifestyle that earned him numerous suspensions.
Director and cast
- Arthur Hiller Director
- John Goodman as Babe Ruth
- Kelly McGillis as Claire Ruth
- Trini Alvarado as Helen Ruth
- Bernie Gigliotti as Al Capone
- Randy Steinmeyer as Ty Cobb
- James Cromwell as Brother Mathias
- Michael McGrady as Lou Gehrig
- Richard Tyson as Guy Bush
- Joseph Ragno as Miller Huggins
- Ralph Marrero as Frank 'Ping' Bodie
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Goodman should have been perfect for the title role: like Ruth, he's a regular Joe of hugely irregular proportions in appetite and accomplishment. Too bad Hiller and Fusco cut him down to size.
It doesn`t matter that these things really happened, because the thin staging and sentimental exaggeration make them seem extremely phony in any case.
An honestly unheroic view of a hero, with a grand-slam performance by John Goodman.
What could have been the Raging Bull of baseball movies becomes the nibble of a mouse on the legend of a giant.
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