User Profile
Just about everything. I used to say "except hockey", but since the Olympics it's no longer true.
» View Ray Cunneff's profile
» Send Private Message
Search
Blog Viewer
Ray's Rants
Tuesday, June 05 2012 - 04:02 PM
A New 'Best' List
We had some fun a while ago with the ‘Best TV series’ list, which morphed into westerns and science fiction.
Well, while watching a movie on HBO this weekend, I got to thinking about the ‘Best Baseball Movies’. Oddly enough, there are only about a half-dozen films that immediately come to mind and then you’re left with “The Bad News Bears”. So here’s my top six (in order):
“Bull Durham”
“Moneyball”
“The Natural”
“Field of Dreams”
“Eight Men Out”
“Bang the Drum Slowly”
Many will probably include “The Pride of the Yankees”, but I haven’t seen it in decades. “A League of Their Own” might also qualify just for Tom Hanks’ “There’s no crying in baseball!”
Ray Cunneff says...
Here are some others that have made ‘best’ lists, not all of which I’m familiar with:
“61” (Maris and Mantle try to break Babe Ruth’s HR record)
“The Rookie”
“The Stratton Story”
“Major League”
“The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Movie Kings”
And I suppose no list should overlook “The Naughty Nineties” in which Abbott & Costello performed their classic “Who’s On First?” routine, now enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
(
send private message
)
Martel says...
Babe Ruth with William Bendix,Bendix was an old family friend a great guy.
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
William Bendix also starred in “Kill the Umpire”, which was a big hit in its day (1950).
( send private message )
PKShaw says...
What about “Angels in the Outfield”? Must be good – they made it twice.
( send private message )
AV Town Crier says...
PK
Congrats on your re-appointment to the Planning commission (as of tomorrow’s City Council meeting). You do a great job!
( send private message )
Sovereignty Soldier says...
The Babe
John Goodman as Babe Ruth
( send private message )
avbornbred says...
The Natural is my favorite. The two version of Angels in the Outfield are both good. Jimmy Stewart in the old movie where he played a pitcher who lost a leg was a classic, but tge name slips my memory. Getting old sucks.
Field of dreams is also a classic. MoneyBall very well done.
(
send private message
)
avbornbred says...
HEY PK. GOD BLESS YOU. KEEP UP THE HARD WORK!
( send private message )
avbornbred says...
James Stewart: The Monty Stratton Story. A tear jerker
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
In going through online lists of ‘best baseball’ movies, I kept coming across a film that I’d never heard of, “For Love of the Game” (1999). It’s doubly odd because, in addition to “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams”, this is the third in a Kevin Costner baseball trilogy.
He plays a Hall of Fame pitcher, throwing the game of his life in what he also knows will be the last of his career. It sounds like a very internal, even melancholy, film but it’s turned up on several ‘best’ lists.
Some others I’d forgotten about:
“Fear Strikes Out”
“The Rookie”
“Cobb”
“The Jackie Robinson Story”
“Don’t Look Back (Somethin’ Might Be Gaining On You)”
“Fever Pitch”
(
send private message
)
mattkeltner says...
I’m surprised nobody mentioned “61*” — the 2001 film directed by Billy Crystal which was about the interaction between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
I’m not big on baseball or most sports, but I though this one was particularly interesting because of the way it depicted the little-known tumultuous psychological relationship between Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.
Great movie!
(
send private message
)
No Spin says...
“Damn Yankees” with Ray Walston, Gwen Verdon, Choreography by the immortal Bob Fosse, not only one of the best baseball movies ever, one of the VERY few Stage musicals adapted for the big screen that did NOT suck…
( send private message )
Martel says...
Ray another one I remembered was The Man With One Bat and Two Balls
( send private message )
Martel says...
Matt Ray did mention it,the story of Mantle and Maris,who I was lucky enough to see play many times.
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
“Damn Yankees” was the only musical to make several of ‘the best’ lists (although offhand I can’t think of another baseball musical).
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
A quick Google search shows there have been a few Broadway attempts at a baseball musical, most recently “The First” about Jackie Robinson. Another recent attempt was off-Broadway “Johnny Baseball” about the Boston Rex Sox. But none has had the success of “Damn Yankees”.
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
If we’re pretty much exhausted baseball films, that’s another idea for a ‘best’ list, best movie musicals. I give special kudos to a musical that was never done first on stage and one of my all-time favorites, “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers”.
( send private message )
Ray Cunneff says...
I suppose, technically, “An American in Paris” falls into that same category although George Gershwin wrote the music in 1928 and it was recorded several times before it was used in the 1951 film.
( send private message )
Martel says...
Oklahoma
Chicago
Showboat
Evita
West Side Story
Grease
( send private message )
Martel says...
Singing In The Rain
Robin and The Seven Hoods
Guys And Dolls
I dont have a favorite I love them all
( send private message )
No Spin says...
West Side Story, which we have produced twice and IF I can find a Maria and a Tony, we will produce again, is BY far the best Movie Musical.. Took very few liberties, stayed very close to the original stage script EXCEPT:
Guys sang “America” with the girls
Not in the Stage version
Riff Sang “Krupke” with the guys
Not in the Stage version
Riff did not sing “COOL” in the movie but DOES in the stage version
were the biggest differences
(
send private message
)
Ray Cunneff says...
“Carousel”
“Kismet”
“Cabaret”
“The King and I”
“Funny Girl”
“All That Jazz”
I love “Rent”, although the Broadway version is much better than the movie.
And we shouldn’t forget “The Wizard of Oz”.
(
send private message
)
Ray Cunneff says...
I’ve never understood why there has not been a movie version of “Follies”, one of my favorite Broadway shows.
But there is quite a good movie version of “Phantom of the Opera”, with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum, that not many have seen.
(
send private message
)
AV Town Crier says...
What about the Marx Brothers ‘Big Store’ ‘The Coconuts’ ‘Animal Crackers?’
( send private message )
Would you like to comment on this blog post? Login to talk back!
AV Town Crier says...
What about Alibi Ike from 1935 starring Joe E. Brown? Great comedy and introducing Olivia de Havilland.
( send private message )