The Pride of the Yankees

Director: Sam Wood Sam Wood

Overview

This film chronicles the life of first baseman Lou Gehrig. The story begins as young Lou Gehrig dreams of becoming a professional ballplayer. While in college, Lou becomes a star athlete and is signed by the New York Yankees. In 1939, Lou discovers that he has a fatal neurological disease.

Product Details

Release Date:	11/10/2020
UPC:	0883929727353
Original Release:	1942
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	2:08:00
Sales rank:	949

Special Features

Six Featurettes: ; The making of The Pride of the Yankees; The man behind the Iron Horse; What he left behind; Always - the story behind the song; Lou Gehrig's Disease: the search for a cure; Curt Schilling: a legend on a legend; English SDH subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Gary Cooper	Lou Gehrig
Teresa Wright	Eleanor Gehrig
Walter Brennan	Sam Blake
Dan Duryea	Hank Hanneman
Elsa Janssen	Mom Gehrig
Ludwig Stossel	Pop Gehrig
Virginia Gilmore	Myra
Ernie Adams	Miller Huggins,Miller Huggins
Pierre Watkin	Mr. Twitchell
Babe Ruth	Himself
Bill Dickey	Himself
Harry Harvey	Joe McCarthy
Addison Richards	Coach
Robert W. Meusel	Himself
Mark Koenig	Himself
Bill Stern	Himself
Hardie Albright	Van Tuyl
Edward Fielding	Clinic Doctor
George Lessey	Mayor of New Rochelle
Vaughan Glaser	Doctor in Gehrig Home
Douglas Croft	Lou Gehrig as a Boy
Rip Russell	Laddie
Frank Faylen	Third Base Coach
Jack Shea	Hammond
George McDonald	Wally Pipp
Gene Collins	Billy
David Holt	Billy (age 17)
David Manley	Mayor Fiorello La Guardia
Max Willenz	Colletti
Jimmy Valentine	Sasha
Anita Sharp Bolster	Sasha's Mother
Robert Winkler	Murphy
Spencer Charters	Mr. Larsen
Rosina Galli	Mrs. Fabini
Billy Roy	Joe Fabini
Sarah Padden	Mrs. Robert
Janet Chapman	Tessie
Eva Dennison	Mrs. Worthington
C. Montague Shaw	Mr. Worthington
Jack Stewart	Ed Burrow
Fay Thomas	Christy Mathewson
Lane Chandler	Player in Locker Room
Edgar Barrier	Hospital Doctor
George Offerman Jr.	Freshman
Dorothy Vaughan	Landlady
Patsy O'Byrne	Scrubwoman
Matt McHugh	Strength Machine Operator
Bill Chaney	Newsboy
Pat Flaherty	Baseball Player
Mary Gordon	Maid
Francis Sales	Cab Driver
Dane Clark	Fraternity Boy
Tom Neal	Fraternity Boy
Lorna Dunn	Clinic Nurse
Anita Bolster	Sasha's Mother
Vinton Haworth	Actor
John Kellogg	Fraternity Boy
Ted Offenbecker	Freshman
Veloz & Yolanda	Specialty Dancer
Ray Noble and Orchestra	Actor
Leigh Harline	Composer
Ray Noble	Composer

Technical Credits

Jo Swerling

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Paul Gallico

Sam Wood	Director
Jo Swerling	Screenwriter
Herman J. Mankiewicz	Screenwriter
Samuel Goldwyn	Producer
Jack Cosgrove	Special Effects
Ray Binger	Special Effects
Thomas T. Moulton	Sound Effects
Paul Gallico	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Historically, only a few baseball movies have done well at the box office, mostly because audiences are lukewarm to portrayals of heroes of the diamond. Sam Wood's The Pride of the Yankees, however, is an exception, and an improbable one: neither producer Samuel Goldwyn nor star Gary Cooper knew anything about baseball, and it seemed unlikely that anyone was going to pay money to see a story in which everyone knew the outcome. Goldwyn may not have understood the sport (he thought players got promoted up through the bases, from first base to third, and couldn't understand why Gehrig was such a great player if he was "only" a first baseman), but he understood the public better than almost any other producer. The poignancy of Gehrig's story -- he became a sports hero out of a modest upbringing only to see fate strike him down, and then accepted that fate with heroic stoicism -- might've played well at any time, but the fact that America was heading into a war in which people with would be sacrificing themselves made the material even more topical. Though Cooper threw with the wrong hand -- requiring the film to be flipped, so that players had to run from home to third and wear uniforms with reversed numbers -- he portrayed Gehrig with perhaps even more dignity than the real man possessed, and his romantic scenes with Teresa Wright as Gehrig's wife were warm and honest. Director Wood's understated, unpretentious telling of the tale captured the subject of baseball but also provided a snapshot of Americans in general, and how we wanted to think of ourselves on the eve of World War II.