The Babe [HD]

Truth Stretching, and All-Out Fabrication
I saw this movie as a kid when it came out and liked it, but since then it has gone through something of a critical reevaluation. Goodman is an entertaining actor, but there are just too many factual errors, and they arguably detract too much from the film's quality.

As was noted elsewhere by other reviewers, Goodman's Ruth does not represent a great athlete. Ruth was not overweight growing up, nor in his early days as a ballplayer. Ruth's weight did fluctuate, but few to this day know that Ruth had 123 career stolen bases, and actually led the Yankees in steals one year (1923). Goodman's character was unreasonably slow, and at the end was portrayed as unable to run the bases even on a home run. This might work as light humor, but it certainly is not fact. Also of note, Goodman was a natural born right-hander that had to learn how to bat and throw left-handed like Ruth for the purpose of acting in this film. This makes Goodman look awkward, and even less like an athlete on...

Good baseball movie, but not what it should have been
Probably the most famous baseball player of all-time, Babe Ruth should definitely have had a movie done about him, and "The Babe" is a decent effort, but is not without flaws. First, there are many inaccuracies in this movie, but I won't go into that too deep. At the end of the movie (1936), The Babe is spitting up blood during the game between the Braves and the Pirates, but Ruth did not pass away from cancer until 1948. Certainly Ruth did not have cancer in 1936.. There's many other things, but I don't need to list them all.

But the thing that really bothered me about this movie is that Ruth is portrayed as nothing more than a bumbling idiot while he was with the Red Sox. While this is good for a few laughs, it really took away from my enjoyment of the first half of the movie. I'm thinking "THIS guy is Babe Ruth??" However, as soon as Ruth is sold to the Yankees, he becomes much more intelligent and doesn't act like a complete dumba$$ all of the time. At this...

HISTORICALLY ACCURATE? NOT A CHANCE....BUT A SORT OF FUN BASEBALL MOVIE TO WATCH LATE AT NIGHT
Babe Ruth is arguably the most well known baseball player in history. He was most certainly one of the greater players to play the game. The stories and legends surrounding both is playing and his personal life could fill volumes; and indeed do. It has gotten now to the point that it is difficult to separate truth from fiction. All that being said though, even after you discount the myth portion of his life, Babe Ruth was still and all a fascinating man and baseball player.

Now the movie being reviewed here cannot in any shape or form be classified as a historical documentary. If a person wants that sort of thing, then it is best to find one of the many, many fine biographies written about Ruth. No, for the most part this film is an extremely fictionalized version of Ruth's life and Ruth's game. The errors in this film are beyond counting. The portrayal of Ruth's life; while based on loose interpretations of fact, are quite off the mark in most cases.

But...

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