Pride of the Yankees
Gary Cooper shines as ‘The Luckiest Man’ in this flawed, but heartfelt tribute to one of baseball’s all-time greats.
PRE-GAME ⚾️
Welcome back to Balls on Film! 👋🏻
I hope everyone has had a good week. Apologies for the slight delay this week. I’ve not been quite as active on Substack and social media over the last few days as I usually am due to some family and work commitments. I’ve got a ton of great newsletters and posts to catch-up on too! I’ve got a lot of reading to do over the weekend now, which I’m very much looking forward to.
A couple of posts that I did get a chance to read recently focus on two shows that I’ve been watching. First up,
over at takes a look at Apple TVs Presumed Innocent, which I’ve been absolutely hooked on. You should take a read, and also subscribe to Liam’s work.
I’ve shared
here before, but this past week, wrote one of the best things I’ve read on here in a while with her tribute to the ‘Forks’ episode of The Bear, which is probably my favourite episode of the whole show so far. It’s a lovely piece which is well worth your time. It made me want to go back and watch it all over again.
I’m excited to also share that I’m going to release the first edition of The Clubhouse beginning July 23rd. The Clubhouse will be a separate edition of the newsletter, that will be sent out on Tuesdays. It will be where I’ll review any sports-adjacent movies that don’t fall under the ‘Sport’ tag on iMDB, but that feature sports just enough to be covered here. The Clubhouse will also be where I’ll review and revisit some sports tv shows too, beginning with The Big ‘Ted Lasso’ Rewatch, which I’ll kick off at launch. I’ll also share any other non sports-related recommendations there too. Basically, if you enjoy the Halftime section of these weekly posts, The Clubhouse is going to be a much bigger version of that with sports tv and sports-adjacent movie stuff included. The Tuesday edition of the newsletter will initially be free to all subscribers, but will be for paid subscriptions going forward. This Friday edition where I try to cover every sports movie ever made will always remain free to read for everyone, and no sports movies will be covered in The Clubhouse. I’m excited to expand Balls on Film, and hope you’ll join me in The Clubhouse when it opens on July 23rd.
FIRST HALF ⚾️
The sports world recently marked the 85 year anniversary of Lou Gehrig delivering his infamous ‘Luckiest Man’ speech at old Yankee Stadium. On July 4th 1939, he broke the news of his health condition to the world and brought global attention to ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Just three years later, Pride of the Yankees was released. It felt like the right time to revisit this important, but flawed film.
For those unfamiliar with the film or Gehrig’s life, Pride of the Yankees tells the story of the legendary New York Yankees first baseman and chronicles the rags-to-riches journey from his humble beginnings as the son of German immigrants in New York City, to becoming one of baseball’s most legendary players. It follows both his professional career as well as his personal life, and health issues. The film concludes, as you know, with Gehrig’s farewell speech at Yankee Stadium where he famously declares himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” despite his terminal illness.
The strength of the film unquestionably lies in Gary Cooper’s performance. Despite his total lack of baseball knowledge or experience, Cooper delivers a sincere, warm and compelling portrayal of Gehrig - particularly in the second half of the film. Cooper was 41 when this was released, so trying to buy into him as a twenty-something year old early on is certainly a stretch, but he grows into older Gehrig perfectly. By the time the end credits roll, you’ve forgotten about the iffy early stuff and become totally captivated by him.
Cooper’s performance ends up being so good in fact, that it slightly alleviates my main criticism of the movie - that there just isn’t enough baseball. In fact, the whole middle portion of Pride of the Yankees is downright boring and unfocused. Sure, it’s not a traditional sports movie. We’re not building to a big game or watching a rivalry intensify, but if you’re going to make a film about one of the sport’s all-time great players, give us some more on-field stuff. After the first 20 minutes or so, much of the film just feels like random mundane moments from Gehrig’s life before we suddenly arrive at the quick build up towards what everyone knows is coming. I appreciate the way in which they portrayed the relationship between him and his wife, but the film spends far too long meandering here. Pride of the Yankees is a love story more than it is a sports movie, but having a bit more of an insight into Gehrig the baseball player would have helped the film’s second act feel like less of a slog.
Speaking of Gehrig’s wife, Teresa Wright is fantastic as Eleanor, and her charisma leaps off the screen. She definitely helps elevate the middle portion of the film and stops it from verging into falling asleep territory.
The film also features Babe Ruth as himself, which is a pretty surreal thing to see. And you know what? He’s actually….pretty good! Despite not being a great actor, ‘the Great Bambino’ commands attention whenever he’s on screen. The scene where he and Gehrig visit the sick kid in hospital is a standout. There was apparently quite a lot of friction and animosity between the two, none of which is explored here. But then, it would have been weird to do so with Ruth playing himself.
Pride of the Yankees is an important, but flawed film. It simply tries to cover too great of a time period in the film’s running time. It’s also a bit unfocused, and parts of the story feel rushed while others drag on too long - and some baseball stuff is just ignored completely. The strength of the film lies in the performances though, and a final 20 minutes that will wreck you emotionally and make you forgive its shortcomings.
It’s more of a romance film, and a story about the great American dream than it is a sports movie - yet as you watch, you can see how it laid the groundwork for so many sports biopics that have followed it. It’s also an important story that brought a great deal of attention to ALS, and continues to do so today. It’s a classic that everyone should see, but not a perfect film by any means.
A Lou Gehrig series is reportedly in the works at Apple TV+. I really can’t wait to see what they do with the story with much more time to work with.
Pride of the Yankees is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, where I watched this for review.
HALFTIME ⚾️
Let’s take a break for halftime. Grab some refreshments and settle in for the second half.
What’s everyone been watching this week? I actually went back and revisited all three Beverly Hills Cop movies on Netflix, so that I can watch the new one this coming weekend. I’ve not seen them in such a long time, but the first two have more than stood the test of time. I was surprised at how little action there was in the first film too. I remember it very differently than when I watched it as a kid, but revisiting now, it’s more police procedural with a dash of humour than action movie. I’m one of the few who actually prefers the second film. The plot might not be quite as interesting, but Tony Scott’s direction is fantastic, and the chemistry between the three main characters feels more established. It’s Eddie Murphy at his best. As for the third one, the less said about that the better…
I saw MaXXXine this past week too, and enjoyed it very much. Admittedly, I was late to the party with this trilogy and only watched X and Pearl for the first time recently. Based on everything I’d heard about X, I guess I just expected something more, but I found it…fine? It was perfectly serviceable, if a bit forgettable. Pearl, on the other hand, bored me to tears. Mia Goth’s performance aside, I don’t agree with the overall consensus that it’s better than X. It just felt a bit unnecessary to me. I found MaXXXine very entertaining though. It was easily the most fun of the three films, and I adored the aesthetic and stylistic choices. Mia Goth is again great and Kevin Bacon turns in an all-time creep performance. I very much enjoyed it.
You know what I didn’t love about seeing MaXXXine though? The appalling behaviour of others at the cinema. I’m about to go full old man yells at cloud here, but when did we stop being able to behave in public spaces? I honestly don’t remember the last time I went to see a movie and didn’t encounter some kind of disturbance. Whether it’s people using their phones, taking photos of the screen, constantly talking or eating VERY loudly, it seems to happen all the time now. At MaXXXine, two people were actually using CBD vape in the screen and the whole place stank of it. Where do I sign up for asshole-free, phone-free cinema screenings? Anyone?
A quick reminder: if the newsletter isn’t going to your inbox, and going to junk mail instead, please be sure to locate the mail in your junk folder, and mark it as not spam. Alternatively, just reply to any email from me with a quick hello, and it shouldn’t happen again! 😊
Now, let’s get back out on the field.
SECOND HALF ⚾️
Let’s jump into some awards and bonus content.
BEST SCENE 🏆
There’s no debate here. It’s the speech at the end of the film. It’s such a heartbreaking and powerful climax to the film, despite the fact that you know it’s coming the entire time. The final shot, where Gehrig disappears into the darkness of the hallway is haunting stuff. Apparently the studio wanted to change it to something a bit more schmaltzy, but I’m glad it remained as is.
BEST LINE 🏆
Lou Gehrig: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth... play ball!”
MVP AWARD 🏆
It has to be Gary Cooper. Even though it’s tough to look past his age in the earlier portions of the film, his portrayal of Gehrig is so moving that it’ll bring tears to your eyes. If it doesn’t, there’s quite frankly something wrong with you.
IMDB TRIVIA HIGHLIGHT 🏆
Gary Cooper was not a fan of baseball at all, and required extensive coaching in order to look even passable on a baseball field. He had never played the game before, even as a child, and had never even seen a baseball game in person until he was hired for the film.
BEST LETTERBOXD REVIEW 🏆
Letterboxd reviews for this sort of swing between people who either love it or hate it, but this comment certainly made me chuckle.
BONUS FEATURE 💿
There is so much additional content around this film to devour. It’s a YouTube rabbit hole worth going down. Here’s the speech, if you’ve never seen it.
No complete film or audio of the speech exists, so this feature that uses voiceovers and animation to fill in the gaps and present it in its entirety is wonderful:
And finally, this touching tribute to baseball’s ’Iron Horse’ himself:
I actually got to see Gehrig’s game-worn jersey, game-used bat and Monument Park tribute recently on a trip to Yankee Stadium, which was very cool. If you’re a baseball fan, Monument Park is well worth a visit for sure.
POST-GAME ⚾️
That just about brings things to a close for this week, folks. As always, let me know what you thought of the film, and tell me what you’ve been watching in the comments.
Earlier this week, I received a comment from reader
on the Challengers review, who said that I should watch and review Escape to Victory. I’ve never seen it and don’t actually know much about it, but since you asked - I’m going to make it next week’s film.See you then!
~James
Thank you for the shout out. Much appreciated. I really enjoy Balls on Film, and I'm looking forward to the Clubhouse.
Gimme some Friday Night Lights goodness James! I love that film and I love the series even more.