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16 out of 19 people found the following review useful: This Went Too Far The Other Way, 12 February 2007 Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States
This is what modern-day Hollywood does to most icons, to most of our "heroes." It, generally speaking, trashes them, emphasizing the bad in their lives over the good.While the 1948 Babe Ruth Story way over-sugarcoated Ruth's story, this new version portrays this sports hero - perhaps the most famous sports personality in American history - to the other extreme, of course. Why can't Hollywood just be neutral on these biographies? Show the good and bad, but be fair about it.If you read about Babe Ruth, it's astonishing to find out just how big a celebrity he was in his lifetime: literally bigger-than-life, and the fact so many people know his name and face over 90 years after he started playing Major League Baseball is a testimony to that. Much of what Ruth did was good stuff, especially with kids and charities, but he also had a crude, rough side to him and a life that had more than its share of sufferings. He was, indeed, and complex and fascinating human being. One thing that is outright lie: the plot line as written on the title page here saying ' {Babe) is unheroic to those who know him." No, all the old players said for years afterward how much they all liked Ruth, what a great guy he was and generous to a fault."Ruth's bad points should be pointed out, but this movie dwells too much on the unpleasant scenes which is probably one good reason why it wasn't a hit movie. Hollywood just doesn't get it: people don't want mostly negative stuff, especially about their heroes.Anyway, John Goodman did a fine job of playing Ruth. He didn't write the script, so I am not upset with him. Kelli McGillis is a pretty woman and also adds nicely to the film as Ruth's strong wife, "Clare." Also, the movie is still interesting, especially if you're a baseball fan. But, as a big fan, I would like to have enjoyed this movie and bought the VHS (now DVD) and viewed it many times .....but it's not fun to watch.
9 out of 10 people found the following review useful: The darker side of a baseball icon., 5 March 2002 Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK
Despite critical reviews, this is really an interesting movie. A different look at legendary home run slugger Babe Ruth. Very low budget and historically incorrect. A major league turn around from the William Bendix BABE RUTH STORY(1948). Rowdy and ribald and one of baseball's original heroes is shown drinking, cavorting, skirt chasing and deep in gluttony. The real "Bambino"? Not candy coated, but not honestly factual either. John Goodman is outstanding as the slugger of mammoth and mythical home runs. Kelly McGillis plays Clare Ruth. Also in the cast are Bruce Boxleitner, Joe Ragno and Peter Donat. Take it all in stride. It is only a movie and not engraved in granite.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Interesting Movie with to much exaggeration of the truth, 18 September 2005 Author: rmurch from United States
While I enjoyed the movie and John Goodman's performance, The Babe's weight was never near that of John and made him look like a lumbering athlete, which in fact he was not. While the Babe was not a role model, he was truly a hero ............. then and now.He did not make the comments about Lou Gehrig shown in the movie. His problem with Lou Gehrig had to do with a party his wife went to ahead of the when Lou got to the party and Gehrig was upset his wife might have been intimate with The Babe, which is doubtful. Ruth and Gehrig had been close friends until Lou got jealous.The Babe was not a bumbler on the ball field, only in life, due to his lack of class, which was caused by the lack of a loving family. He did have a great care for children, due his lack of having that during his upbringing. It was a good movie in terms of many things, but left those who have read the read biographies of The Babe, disappointed with how the so called facts were presented. The Babe will live on long after this movie, which I avoided for many years, due to figuring it was tainted ............. and it was, very tainted. I do have to say I still enjoyed most of the movie. Like many biographies to much poetic license was taken.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Storyline breakups and a 300 LB Babe?, 23 January 2004 Author: fridgeperry72 from Fishers, IN
The 2 biggest complaints I had were the sequence of events in the movie and the character that Mr. Goodman portrayed.It seemed that the movie attempted to show all events which dealt with Babe Ruth's life. Most actually seemed accurate, but the positioning of each event was off. For example, if Babe was so much against divorcing his first wife, why did he go ahead and marry Claire while still being married? The fact is, that he did not marry Claire until his first wife tragically died. This is not portrayed this way in the movie. Also, the movie suggested that Babe met claire as a rookie in Boston. He met Claire in New York in 1923. Does anyone actually think that Babe Ruth would have continued playing for the Yankees if he dangled his manager (his boss) off a moving train???As for the acting. Babe Ruth NEVER approached the weight displayed by Mr. Goodman. Babe hovered around 200-210 for the most part of his career although his weight did fluctuate. It was a truly sick thing trying to watch Mr. Goodman swing or run around the bases. The guy could barely fit into a uniform. I did think that Mr. Goodman really did well in his facial expressions, speech and overall demeanor of the Babe. It was the physical acting that was left to be desired.I would have liked the movie to concentrate more on Babe's lifestyle off the field. His womanizing (not enough in this movie), his appetite (not enough in this movie), and the fact he just was a social boob (i.e. couldn't remember names, had no manners). His on the field statistics speak for themselves.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Forget history, just have fun, 29 September 2002 Author: eggheadjon from titusville, pa.
As someone familiar with the historic record of Babe Ruth's life, the many "playings around" with the facts were noticeable. In some of the cases, presenting the story accurately wouldn't have changed the filmmakers' intent at all. Example: In the movie, Babe already is married to Clare when Dorothy dies in the fire. Dorothy died a couple of years before Babe got married. He was a Catholic, remember; they weren't living together.I'm still pretty sure the Baby Ruth candy bar was named for Grover Cleveland's daughter, not the Babe. I am old enough to have attended many ballgames in Forbes Field, and they didn't even try to make the park in the movie look the same. Where was the ivy?!In real life, Clare wanted Babe to retire after the 3 homers in Pittsburgh, but Babe had promised people he would appear in several more games. Nothing happened in those games, and, dramatically, having him quit after Pittsburgh made good sense for the movie.I'm also glad the picture ended when it did, not showing Babe in his last frustrating years waiting vainly for the Yankees to call him. We didn't need to see his - and Clare's - decline.I take serious issue with the critic here who apparently likes the William Bendix movie better. Keep in mind that was made while Babe was still alive. The Babe they presented there was so perfumed and sugar-coated as to be completely unrecognizable.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: The Babe 1992, I'm stunned to see it rated so low !., 4 March 2008 Author: JohnRouseMerriottChard from United Kingdom
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
OK you lot, just what is wrong with this film, I know I'm a limey mofo so my baseball appreciation is not on a par with many Americans, I mean I follow the Cleveland Indians purely because of the film Major League {oh and because a dear friend on this site is a fan}. Was the film inaccurate or something ?, a quick look at the films board would suggest that all the glorious moments in the film are true, John Goodman is great and seems to fit the bill, and for once Kelly McGillis doesn't drag a film down, I just watched this and I feel suitably stirred in a real good way.Did the Yank crowd really turn on him and he then went on to hit 60 ?, the two home run promise to the sick child ?, knocking the ball out of Forbes Park 3 times and then quitting ?, calling the shot after letting two go by to clinch the world series against the Cubs ?. Those are just some of the glorious moments in a film that portrays what obviously was a legend on the pitch and a messed up man off it.I really enjoyed it and I'm that interested in the man now I may well seek out a bio to read , 8/10 and the rating here is a disgrace in my opinion, unless I'm not privy to something of course !!.
6 out of 10 people found the following review useful: People expected too much from this film, 20 August 2003 Author: Chris Headley from California
"The Babe" was a wonderful film. If critics want to nitpick it by commenting on the "authenticity" of the film like saying that all the games were played on the same field just re-organized, and making negative comments about about the film portraying the "dark side" of Babe Ruth, etc, I guess that's fine, but give the film what it deserves. First of all, John Goodman did an amazing job.The truth is that Babe was a very confused person. He is probably baseball's greatest legend, but he did have some serious problems with women and alcohol. His childhood was a mess in many ways. He didn't know how to be married or to be a Father to a child. Everyone has issues. Accept the documented facts that he was not an angel. He had a huge heart and loved to do things for people. He also had his own demons to overcome and most of us do. I know that the film added a few things that may or may not have happened and I know that many things were left out, but unfortunately this is the way it has to be in ALL films like this. There is NO way to capture every single thing that the Babe ever did in less than 2 hours. They just have to do the best job they can with the time they have to work with.This film was genuinely uplifting and to all who only saw the negative side of this film, shame on you. John Goodman is a huge Babe fan and even he felt that this was an acurate portrayal of the Bambino. The film is inspiring, positive for the most part and it's made me feel good every time I've seen it.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: This Really Isn't A Bad Movie, 3 June 2008 Author: TheGame2k2 from United States
Arthur Hiller directs this movie, which is based on the life and career of Babe Ruth.The story is very simple it is just about Babe Ruth. Telling the story of his childhood in an orphanage (St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys). It tells the story on how he played for the Red Sox, the Yankees, his homerun records. But I think what makes the movie even more interesting is the story about his personal life. His drinking and eating problems, and the problems from his first marriage.John Goodman gives a very good performance as Babe Ruth, while John Goodman is a big man, it does look like he put on some more weight towards the end of the movie. Kelly McGillis as Claire Hodgson is very good. Trini Alvarado gives a great performance as well as Helen Woodford Ruth.The movie was made on a relatively low budget, which is pretty obvious when you watch the film. All of the baseball games are filmed in one stadium just modified to make it look different for each game. The low budget also makes it seem rather short in a lot of ways. The story about Babe Ruth's battle with throat cancer and his death are completely left out, even though the movie does hint towards the cancer towards the end of the movie. They also reuse a lot of the same actors to play different baseball players.If you can look past all of these things, you'll see a really good movie. They did a lot on a low budget and i think it is a lot better then what most people say about it. But one negative about this movie is that it doesn't feel like a finished movie. When you get to the end of the movie, you expect it to go on longer but because of that it is a little disappointing.Overall, a good movie but with an unfinished feel to it, it doesn't really live up to all the expectations. But it is still worth the watch.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Glossy biopic with a standout lead, 6 May 2001 Author: mar9 from Newcastle, Australia
John Goodman steamrolls his way through this film, with just about everyone else pushed into the background.Purists no doubt will cane this film for historical inaccuracies. Heck, I'm from another country and know jack about baseball, but 15 minutes on the Internet was enough to show me that the film took serious short-cuts with Babe's life and career, not to mention a number of errors and distortions of fact.Does this matter? Well, yes, probably. But you have to feel for the filmmakers. How do you condense a 20-year sporting career, not to mention a study of a complex and flawed individual, into a couple of hours of cinema? It's not easy, and the film suffers from events that are merely touched on Example 1: Ruth is introduced to mobsters in a speakeasy, but this seems to lead nowhere. The obvious question is: what happened next?. Example 2: The conflict between Ruth and Lou Gehrig is not portrayed accurately, and its resolution is not shown at all.An excess of sentiment also hurts the film. There are moments that look like cliched scenes from countless other sporting movies - especially the sick kiddie in hospital extracting a promise of 2 home runs from Ruth, who dutifully delivers, and the same kiddie, now fully recovered and grown up, showing up at Ruth's swansong. It's emotionally manipulative film-making and I regret to say it works, but it also pulls this film back from greatness.All up, just above average, unlike its subject matter.
The Babe is very inaccurate, 17 September 2009 Author: ahlstrom61 from Hong Kong
The best part of "The Babe" with John Goodman is his excellent imitation of Babe Ruth's mannerisms and speaking. Goodman particularly handled Ruth's verbal style. This film suffered quite a bit from its emphasis and interpretation of Babe Ruth's character and life. I know people that knew Babe Ruth, and while they said he went out and drank regularly, they said he was rarely out of control they way he was depicted by Goodman in the film. Nor was he sloppy and horribly overweight like John Goodman was in the film. The Babe didn't get particularly heavy till his last 2-3 years in the major leagues, and even after retiring continued to play in exhibitions around North America. Some others asked if he really hit 3 homeruns in his last game with the Boston Braves. That is also not correct and was incorrectly depicted in the film (Ruth dropping his hat in front of the Braves owner). He did hit three homeruns in one game in his final season in old Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, but it was not his final game. This film focused almost solely on Ruth's lack of personal discipline and immaturity, which was not a problem for him after 1925 when he was fined and admonished by his Manager Miller Huggins. From 1926 to 1932, Ruth had perhaps the finest run of offensive seasons of any Major League hitter - this was not even mentioned in the film, and his banner years of 1923 (when he hit .393) and 1927 (60 homeruns) were barely mentioned; I think the film spent less than one minute on his 60 homerun year. All in all, this film was very disappointing, particularly to Yankee fans and to those who were acquainted with Babe Ruth. The TV movie about Babe Ruth (which included Pete Rose as Ty Cobb) was a much better film.
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