{"id":12666,"date":"2025-07-30T22:53:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T02:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12666"},"modified":"2025-07-30T22:53:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T02:53:45","slug":"the-babe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/07\/30\/the-babe\/","title":{"rendered":"The Babe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Babe<\/strong> (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some sexual situations, alcohol use and drunkenness)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Arthur Hiller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Fusco\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elmer Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Haskell Wexler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 17, 1992 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Goodman, Kelly McGillis, Trini Alvarado, Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Donat, James Cromwell, J.C. Quinn, Joseph Ragno, Richard Tyson, Ralph Marrero, Bob Swan, Bernard Kates, Michael Grady, W. Earl Brown, Elizabeth Greenburg, Ralph Foody.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $17.5M (US)\/$19.9M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0I didn\u2019t see 1948\u2019s The Babe Ruth Story, but it\u2019s considered one of the worst movies ever made. I did see The Babe<\/strong>, the 1992 biopic starring John Goodman (Roseanne) as the baseball great. It didn\u2019t get stellar notices either. It\u2019s flawed, no doubt, but I liked it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Arthur Hiller (Outrageous Fortune), The Babe<\/strong> tells the story of Babe Ruth, one of the greatest baseball players to ever grace the diamond. He could hit the ball like nobody else. In his words, he liked to hit home runs. He was a god in the park. Off of it, he was more of a monster. According to the movie, he was a rude, loud, boorish pig who couldn\u2019t control his appetites for booze, women and food. He continuously cheated on his first wife Helen (Alvarado, Little Women). He had an explosive temper, routinely bullying and threatening others. He was like a big kid who always had to have his own way. Say it ain\u2019t so, Bambino.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Babe<\/strong> follows Ruth from childhood to retirement. He grew up an unwanted child, abandoned by his father at a Catholic-run reform school where he was labeled \u201cincorrigible\u201d. It was there where he first displayed his ability to knock the ball out of the park. It was this gift that got him an early release from the school when Baltimore Orioles manager Jack Dunn (Quinn, Barfly) \u201cadopted\u201d the 19YO to play for his team. He\u2019s quickly sold to the Boston Red Sox and eventually to the New York Yankees. He becomes one of the most popular baseball players of his time, holding the record for most career home runs for several years until Hank Aaron broke it in \u201974.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Off the field, Babe was what we now call a train wreck. His wild and reckless ways ended his first marriage and got him suspended more than once. He would eventually remarry to former Ziegfeld Follies star Claire Hodgson (McGillis, The Accused). She calmed him down a bit, but the damage was already done. He was no longer respected by the game he loved so much. It didn\u2019t love him back.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Goodman is a good actor, but he\u2019s completely miscast as young Babe. He was 39 when he filmed The Babe<\/strong> and looks it. He does not pass for a young man. He\u2019s better as older Babe, looking completely tired and worn down by his wild lifestyle. McGillis does quite well as Claire, a more grounded woman who\u2019s been around the block a few times and knows the score. Alvarado is also good as na\u00efve Helen, a classy and educated young lady completely lacking in common sense. Why does she stay with somebody who treats her badly?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Hiller, working from a screenplay by John Fusco (Young Guns I & II), hits all the major bullet points like Babe promising a seriously ill boy two home runs in his next game and calling his shot in the 1932 World Series. It also shows his friendly rivalry with fellow legend Lou Gehrig (McGrady, Hocus Pocus). What he doesn\u2019t do in capture the joy of the game. For some reason, there is no joy in Babe-ville. Quite the opposite, The Babe<\/strong> is depressing as hell. Is Hiller trying to de-mystify baseball or what? Where is the joy that comes from sitting in the bleachers chowing down on hot dogs and peanuts while watching ball field heroes do their thing? Even Babe doesn\u2019t look all that happy. He puts on a good front, but he\u2019s actually a miserable and unpleasant individual. Again, this is according to this movie, but who ever said it was the gospel truth? Biopics are known for taking dramatic license with the facts when they don\u2019t suit the intended narrative.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I will say that The Babe<\/strong> scores when it comes to recreating the time in which it\u2019s set (1902 to 1935 when he quit mid-game). The cars, costumes and interiors all look authentic. As for the depressing tone of the film, I can only surmise that Hiller was going for realism. It\u2019s admirable, I suppose, but that\u2019s not what baseball fans want from a movie about one of their heroes. Why destroy the legend? Like I said, I liked The Babe<\/strong>, but I think a better film could be made about Babe Ruth. It\u2019s been more than 30 years, so maybe another filmmaker would like to take another swing at the Sultan of Swat?\"\"<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Babe (1992)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Universal\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 115 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (language, some sexual situations, alcohol use and drunkenness)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Arthur Hiller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Fusco\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Elmer Bernstein\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Haskell Wexler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 17, 1992 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: John Goodman, Kelly McGillis, Trini Alvarado, Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Donat, James Cromwell, J.C. Quinn, Joseph Ragno, Richard Tyson, Ralph […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/The-Babe-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12666"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12683,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12666\/revisions\/12683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}