Damn Yankees! (1958)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Directors:

George Abbott
Stanley Donen

Writers:

Douglass Wallop (book)
George Abbott (play) ...

Release Date:

6 March 1959 (Finland)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Sport

Tagline:

It's a picture in a million! Starring that girl in a million, the red-headed darling of the Broadway show, Gwen Verdon!

Plot:

Film adaptation of the George Abbott Broadway musical about a Washington Senators fan who makes a pact...

Plot Keywords:

Broadway Musical | Devil | Baseball | Superstar | Hearing

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Tab Hunter	...	Joe Hardy
Gwen Verdon	...	Lola
Ray Walston	...	Mr. Applegate
Russ Brown	...	Benny Van Buren
Shannon Bolin	...	Mrs. Meg Boyd
Nathaniel Frey	...	Smokey
James Komack	...	Rocky
Rae Allen	...	Gloria Thorpe
Robert Shafer	...	Joe Boyd
Jean Stapleton	...	Sister Miller
Albert Linville	...	Vernon
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
William Adams	...	Yankees team owner

Also Known As:

What Lola Wants (UK)

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Gwen Verdon won the Tony for Best Actress (Musical) in 1956 for "Damn Yankees!" for the role she recreated in the film version. Russ Brown won the 1956 Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical and Rae Allen was nominated for the 1956 Tony Award Best Featured Actress in a Musical and both roles were recreated in the movie version by the same actor.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the time depicted, major-league baseball players almost never had jersey numbers higher than the 50s... yet several players have numbers in the 60s and 70s, a practice rare until the 1980s. High numbers on a major league uniform ordinarily indicated someone invited to spring training who had little chance of making the club... and if such a player did make the club (possible with the usually-dreadful Washington Senators), the player got a lower number.

Quotes:

Mr. Applegate: Have a nice trip?
Lola: Perfect. The plane crashed in Cleveland.
Mr. Applegate: Good. Now about that job in Chicago.
Lola: Just dandy. I got the old boy to embezzle 100,000 dollars and lost it for him at the race track. Then his wife left him and he took to drink. I told him I was through and he jumped out the window... twenty second story.
Mr. Applegate: That's high enough, that's fine.
Lola: I wanna try the Empire State Building on this next one.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Scout (1994)

Stagy but entertaining

The smash hit Broadway musical Damn Yankees was transferred to the screen with all but one of its original Broadway cast, its original director, and its original choreographer intact. This has both good and bad consequences. The good is that the great performances of the cast and the dynamic, sexy choreography of a young Bob Fosse are preserved for posterity. Although top billing is given to the one non-Broadway holdover, Tab Hunter, the real star of the film is the incredible Gwen Verdon recreating her spellbinding, Tony-winning turn as Lola. With comic timing, energy, sex appeal and incredible dancing ability to spare, it's impossible to succumb to her charms when she takes the stage... er, screen in her numbers "A Little Brains, A Little Talent," "Who's Got the Pain" (In a delightful pairing with Fosse himself), "Two Lost Souls," and especially the classic "Whatever Lola Wants," and, as another reviewer noted, it's amazing that this didn't lead to a longer and more rewarding movie career. She had a brilliant career for years after on Broadway but it still is a shame that more of her work wasn't preserved. Ray Walston is hammy but devishly (Sorry about the pun) delightful as Applegate, and the supporting cast, including Jean Stapleton, is all fine. Nobody can really sing, but they inject the performances of their songs with such zest, energy and sweet sincerity that it doesn't really matter. The only problem is that, even though George Abbot, the original Broadway director, is paired witht he more cinematically knowledgeable Stanley Donen, everything is very stagey and there isn't much effort to open the action out. But when Verdon is working her magic, it's pretty hard to care, so that seems like a stupid quibble. So kick back, relax and enjoy Damn Yankees. It may not be the most inventive movie musical ever, but it's got a little brians, a little talent, plenty of heart, and Gwen Verdon. Who could ask for anything more?