Just Pals (1932) User Reviews

Batting Lessons

[boblipton · 6/10 · 4 December 2022]

When one of the boys in a sandlot game of baseball strikes out, Babe Ruth gives him a batting lesson.

It's one of five short instructional films that Ruth made in the year 1932 for Bryan Foy, playing off of Ruth's enormous popularity and love for boys. This sort of short subject was popular in the era. Bobby Jones made two series for Warner Brothers on how to golf, and other sports figures did much the same. They were popular, instructional, put some money in the pockets of the players, and made exhibitors happy.

Ruth was past his prime by this point, but he never really looked like the modern idea of a sports figure; Ty Cobb, when a writer insisted he say something nice about Ruth, admitted "he runs pretty good for a fat man."

Fun Ruth Short

[Michael_Elliott · 21 September 2017]

Just Pals (1932)

*** (out of 4)

A young boy isn't that good at baseball and the local kids are teasing him about it. Babe Ruth decides to take the young kid to a field and teach him some fundamentals. Ruth made a number of shorts during his short time in Hollywood and for the most part they were mildly entertaining for what they were. They followed the Bobby Jones format shown in his "How To Golf" series but of course the sport here is baseball. For the most part this was entertaining enough and certainly worth watching for baseball nuts who want to see and hear Ruth teaching the sport. There's nothing ground-breaking here but it's a fun way to kill nine-minutes.

One of the Babe's better films.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 1 December 2022]

Considering that Babe Ruth was probably the most famous American in the 1920s and 30s, it's not surprising that he made a few films....mostly shorts as well as a few appearances in full-length films (such as Harold Lloyd's "Speedy").

Babe goes to an orphanage to visit the kids and he's asked to umpire a game. It ends with Freddy striking out and the other kids treating him badly as a result...blaming him for their losing. However, being a regular sort of guy, Babe takes the kid on as a project....giving him advice and helping him practice to become better. How does it end? See the film.

While often famous folks seem to do 'nice' things more as a photo opportunity than anything else, this schmaltzy film works because Ruth's real life love of kids is well documented. I think it might be because Babe grew up a rough boy in and out of one of Baltimore's orphanages...and he just seemed to have a soft spot for kids.

For me, this is a sweet film...especially since Ruth only made a few films. It's also among his best shorts and is well worth seeing...especially as a historical curio. I also liked the final scene...it was pretty cute.