Damn Yankees
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Movie Reviews of Damn Yankees
Movie Review: Fine Showcase for a Terrific Gwen Verdon
Summary: 4 Stars
Joe Hardy is a fanatic, middle-aged Washington Senators baseball fan who makes a pact with the devil. In exchange for his soul (although there is a small escape clause). he'll become a 22-year-old savior of the Senators, the greatest long ball hitter in history, and he'll lead the team to a pennant. Later, young Hardy shows signs of yearning for the wife he left behind, so the Devil sends in Lola, his vamp supreme. But thanks to Joe's integrity, the escape clause, and after a number of song and dance numbers, things are put right for both Joe and the Senators.
The movie is an almost exact replica of the 1956 Broadway hit. Tab Hunter moved in as the young Joe, but everyone else reprised their stage roles -- and that's the reason to see or buy the DVD. Ray Walston plays Applegate, the devil, with barely contained glee. He's sly, unethical, untrustworthy and very funny. Best of all Gwen Verdon plays Lola, and she hits a home run with every number. She was a great dancer and a magnetic stage presence. I saw her do her stuff on stage once and it's a great memory. She had her big break in Can Can in 1954, then starred in three more shows during the Fifties. She won a Tony for each. She married Bob Fosse, retired, had a daughter, divorced Fosse. In 1966 she starred in Sweet Charity. And at 50, in 1975, she starred in Chicago. Believe me, she hadn't lost a thing. She was not the starlet type. She had a grainy, slightly smoky voice, and a personality that could range from gamin to raunchy. She could bring innocence to the most suggestive lyrics. As you can tell, I'm a fan.
The score for Damn Yankees is, in my view, better than average but not a classic. It includes "Whatever Lola Wants," "Two Lost Souls" and "Heart." Fosse did the choreography and dances with Verdon in one number, "Who's Got the Pain." It's a clever, fast routine and is a great showcase for them both.
Movie Review: Nice preservation of the Broadway show
Summary: 4 Stars
When Warners brought Adler and Ross's "Pajama Game" and "Damn Yankees" to the screen, they make a wise choice: they brought most of the shows' original Broadway casts with them, substituting just two photogenic major studio contract players (Doris Day for Janis Paige in "Game" and Tab Hunter for Stephen Douglass in "Yankees") in leading roles. In Day's case it was probably an improvement; Hunter's not great but he's no embarrassment. Stanley Donen (on loan from MGM?) teamed up with the great stage director George Abbott for the films, and (thankfully!) Bob Fosse restaged his original dance numbers. Naturally there had to be some cuts - risque material ("The Game" in "Yankees", "Think of the Time I Save" in "Pajama") was excised - and the shows were tightened. But the spirits of the original shows were better captured than in most Hollywood transfers. The new DVD of "Yankees" arrived today and it's regrettable that there are no bonuses and there's no stereo track (unlike MGM and Fox, Warners apparently didn't believe much in multichannel recording at the time). But the show, though a little dated, is still great fun. Anyone who knows Ray Walston merely from "My Favorite Martian" is due for a special treat. Vernon, whose Hollywood career during her musical prime was far too brief, is ALWAYS a treat, and Lola was one of her signature roles. The Warnercolor transfer looks pretty good for a film nearly 50 years old. I remember Warnercolor veering a little to the dark side of the color palette but that seems to have been compensated for here.Movie Review: "Yankees" Hits a Solid Double
Summary: 4 Stars
The film version of the stage musical "Damn Yankees" is decidedly a mixed bag. If I could nutshell it I would describe it as a musical Mephistopheles by way of "The Natural". It offers a terrific snapshot of America in the fifties when baseball was king (and the Yankees won 8 pennants and five World Series), McCarthy-era journalism, and the state of the Broadway show at that time. The downside to the film is it's main story offers up too many worn-out baseball cliches. The film just barely transcends it's stage origins. Tab Hunter, affable fellow that he seems, is a tad on the bland side. During Gwen Verdon's showstopping "What Lola Wants" sequence I could swear she was performing to a statue. On the plus side Ray Walston offers up a deliciously devilish Applegate with a dollop of dark humor thrown in. Superlatives are not enough to describe Verdon's contribution to this film. Every time she's on screen she grabs the gusto and just emits effervescent sauciness. The songs here are generally good. Bob Fosse's choreography is just jaw-dropping. Fifty years on the film holds up fairly well(and the Yankees are losing but it's still early, damn it).Movie Review: Strange digital audio output
Summary: 4 Stars
Love Gwen Verdon so for this reason alone I recommend this typical fifties movie musical. The "Two Lost Souls" number showcases Verdon's dance capabilities even moreso than her "Whatever Lola Wants" signature song. Tab Hunter is just fine in his portrayl of Joe Hardy. My only carp is that not only is the soundtrack in monaural but when you play it through your digital input on your receiver the sound is routed to the center channel speaker only. I checked my DVD player display and noticed the audio is listed as Dolby Digital 1.0. Now I've seen Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2 channel but never Dolby 1.0. Needless to say, hearing the entire movie playing through only the center speaker was a drag so I switched the output from digital to the analogue outputs of my tv and only then got monaural sound from my two front speakers which was a definite improvement. The soundtrack of the movie on CD is in stereo. It's a shame that WB couldn't have used these stereo tracks for the DVD release.Movie Review: God Bless Those Damn Yankees
Summary: 4 Stars
If you have any love for GOOD Broadway theatre, you will love this movie. It not only contains quite a few of the original Broadway stars (Ray Walston and Gwen Verdon just to name two) but quite a number of the supporting cast as well. In other words, this casting is a dream. And to be honest with you, Tab Hunter, in one of is earlier works hard at playing Joe Hardy and quite nearly pulls it off.
The singing and the wonderfull dancing really pull this show upwards. Especially when you can see Gwen Verdon dancing with her real life husband, choreographer Bob Fosse in the "Who's Got the Pain?" number. A real show stopper.
This in one DVD you will play, again and again every time you want to remember what the Golden Age of Broadway was like, or just want to get a great taste of good theatre transfered to the screen. Get it and enjoy it!