Barnes & Noble

For some, director Sam Wood's The Pride of the Yankees is the ultimate baseball movie. For others, it's the ultimate test for a heart of stone. Only a robot could keep a dry eye after hearing Gary Cooper, as ill-fated New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig, announce his retirement with the words, "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Gehrig, of course, was the Iron Horse whose record 2,130-consecutive-game streak stood for decades (Baltimore's Cal Ripken finally broke The Streak in 1997.) At the tender age of 37, Gehrig succumbed to the lethal nerve disease, amyotrophic lateral aclerosis (ALS), which now bears his name. The film richly depicts Gehrig's New York childhood, his playing days at Columbia University (he never actually hit one through the window of the athletic office, as depicted in this film), and his years as a Bronx Bomber. Cameo appearances by Yankee legends Babe Ruth, Bob Meusel and Bill Dickey make the Yankee years all the more satisfying. And while writer Herman J. Mankiewicz (who wrote Citizen Kane and produced several Marx Brothers movies) may have piled on the schmaltz, Cooper's unique charm knocks it out of the park. Charles Salzberg

Barnes & Noble

The life and career of baseball’s "Iron Man," Lou Gehrig, are vividly dramatized in this moving 1942 biographical film, a box-office smash that earned 11 Oscar nominations and renewed respect for its star, Gary Cooper. The tall, lanky Cooper isn’t a perfect physical match for the powerfully built Gehrig, but he brings enormous dignity to the character and plays the erstwhile Yankee superstar for what he was: a quiet, modest individual who constantly strove for (and achieved) perfection in his chosen profession. Wholesome Teresa Wright is perfectly cast as Lou’s beloved Eleanor, the adoring sweetheart who kept him humble during the years of fame and remained by his side when he was crippled and eventually killed by the debilitating disease that now bears his name. Babe Ruth, the legendary Sultan of Swat, portrays himself in this stirring cinematic tribute, which takes occasional liberties with the truth but captures Gehrig’s essential nobility. Cooper’s re-creation of Lou’s memorable retirement speech ("Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth...") is still an incredibly moving scene and (unintentionally, of course) a stern rebuke to the petulant, pampered prima donnas who dominate professional baseball today. One of the greatest films ever made about our national pastime, Pride of the Yankees celebrates a man who wasn’t just a great ballplayer but a great American as well. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

"It's box office poison," producer Samuel Goldwyn is said to have exclaimed when he heard the idea of filming the life story of fabled first baseman Lou Gehrig. "If people want baseball, they go to the ballpark!" The story begins before World War I, when young Lou Gehrig (played as a boy by Douglas Croft) begins dreaming of becoming a professional ballplayer. Lou's immigrant parents (Elsa Jansen and Ludwig Stossel) insist that the boy attend Columbia University to become an engineer. While in college, Lou (played as a man by Gary Cooper) becomes a star athlete, and, with the help of sports journalist Sam Blake (Walter Brennan), he is signed by the New York Yankees and joins their big-league lineup in 1925; real-life Yanks Babe Ruth, Bill Dickey, Bob Meusel and Mark Koenig play themselves. He also meets and falls in love with Eleanor Twitchell (Teresa Wright) (an event that actually happened in 1933) and earns the nickname "The Iron Man of Baseball" because he never misses a game. In 1939, Lou discovers that he has a fatal neurological disease called amytrophic lateral sclerosis (now known, of course, as "Lou Gehrig's Disease"). On July 4, 1939, an emotional Lou Gehrig, a scant two years away from death, bids farewell to 62,000 of his fans and friends at Yankee Stadium. Allowing that he might have been given a bad break, he concludes his speech with "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Deftly weaving basic facts with yards and yards of fancy, screenwriters Jo Swerling and Herman J. Mankiewicz serve up one of the most entertaining and inspiring baseball biopics. A more accurate but less dramatic adaptation of the same story, A Love Affair: The Eleanor & Lou Gehrig Story, was produced for television in 1977. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 883904102984
• Source: MGM (VIDEO & DVD)
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English, Español, Français
• Subtitles: English, Español
• Time: 2:08:00
• Sales Rank: 2,127

This DVD is also available as part of a box set:

• Grand Slam Dvd Giftset
• Gary Cooper Star Collection

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