The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

The story of the life and career of famed baseball player Lou Gehrig.

Director:

Sam Wood

Writers:

Jo Swerling (screenplay), Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay)

Stars:

Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright, Babe Ruth

Won 1 Oscar. Another 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gary Cooper	...	Lou Gehrig
Teresa Wright	...	Eleanor Gehrig
Babe Ruth	...	Babe Ruth
Walter Brennan	...	Sam Blake
Dan Duryea	...	Hank Hanneman
Elsa Janssen	...	Mom Gehrig
Ludwig Stössel	...	Pop Gehrig (as Ludwig Stossel)
Virginia Gilmore	...	Myra
Bill Dickey	...	Bill Dickey
Ernie Adams	...	Miller Huggins
Pierre Watkin	...	Mr. Twitchell
Harry Harvey	...	Joe McCarthy
Bob Meusel	...	Robert W. Meusel (as Robert W. Meusel)
Mark Koenig	...	Mark Koenig
Bill Stern	...	Bill Stern

Storyline

Biopic traces the life of Lou Gehrig, famous baseball player who played in 2130 consecutive games before falling at age 37 to ALS, a deadly nerve disease which now bears his name. Gehrig is followed from his childhood in New York until his famous 'Luckiest Man' speech at his farewell day in 1939.

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | husband wife relationship | hero | terminal illness | retirement | 

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Taglines:

It's the Great American Story!

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Genres:

Biography | Drama | Romance | Sport

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Released in 1942, there are exactly 4 black men and 1 black woman who appear on screen during the movie. Only the train porter and shoeshine man have lines.

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Goofs

After the wedding in Gehrig's apartment, the crowd of workers and family wave goodbye to Lou and Eleanor. As the couple leave, the worker sitting on a ladder painting the white wood beam raises his hand to wave goodbye. The man shoves his hand into the ceiling of the set, pushing the apparently solid ceiling inward, thus exposing the ceiling as nothing but fabric.

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Quotes

Lou Gehrig: Is it three strikes, Doc?
Clinic doctor: You want it straight?
Lou Gehrig: Sure, straight.
Clinic doctor: It's three strikes.

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Crazy Credits

The final opening credit card is shared by Director Sam Wood and Production Design by William Cameron Menzies.]

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Alternate Versions

A version broadcast on WPIX 11 in the 1980's left out several notable scenes. Among them:

• Lou Gehrig's encounter with "Myra" while at college and his subsequent outburst at the fraternity and Sam Blake (the following scene begins where Blake is trying to sell Lou on the Yankees)
• The scene where Lou walks into the Yankee locker room for the first time, sees the names of the other players and tries on his hat
• The scene where he receives his tuxedo in the mail and tries to explain it to his parents
• When Lou and Eleanor return home to a surprise party, the dialogue before they walk through the door where Mom Gehrig wonders "what's keeping Lou"
• The Veloz and Yolanda dance sequence

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Connections

Referenced in Seinfeld: The Wink (1995)

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Soundtracks

Ain't We Got Fun
(1921) (uncredited)
Music by Richard A. Whiting
Lyrics by Gus Kahn and Ray Egan
Played at the college dance and partially sung by Virginia Gilmore

User Reviews

Cooper's most likeable performance...a heartfelt tribute to a great man...

Gary Cooper may have won his Oscar for SERGEANT YORK--but I think he deserved it even more for PRIDE OF THE YANKEES. I've never seen him give a more heartfelt, natural and completely likeable performance than I have here. And Teresa Wright is glowing as his sweetheart.

It tells Lou Gehrig's story in a simple, straightforward manner with only an occasional bit of Hollywood corn, the kind so typical of the 1940s. But the main storyline is carried by Cooper and Wright with some great assist from Walter Brennan. Brennan drops a lot of his cornball mannerisms (the kind he uses he in all his Western roles) and plays it straight here--with excellent results.

But it's Cooper's achievement--no doubt about that. If the last twenty minutes of the film don't move you to tears, you're made of stone. Cooper gets across the panic and fear that hits him with the first signs of his illness--with a subtle show of facial expressions. He's really into his character here and gives one of the best performances of his career.

Knowing someone who died from this disease, I was especially moved at how the first signs of illness were shown here.

Douglas Croft does a fine job as the young Lou--and by the way, whatever happened to him? He played Ronald Reagan as a boy in KINGS ROW and did several other films in the '40s. And how come Dane Clark received no billing in the credits? He was only seen early on in the film but he had a line of dialogue as one of Lou's fraternity pals. He had no credit in Alan Ladd's THE GLASS KEY too--he's the man Brian Donlevy shoves through a plate glass window. A year later he was being given the star buildup at Warner Bros.

A great film and a wonderful tribute to Lou Gehrig.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 March 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lou Gehrig

Filming Locations:

Pelham Parkway, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Samuel Goldwyn Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1