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Damn Yankees! (1958)

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25 comments in total

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Who's Got The Pain?... Certainly not me after watching this!, 17 April 2001

Author: Ashley (classicfilmbroad@aol.com) from North Carolina

I bought this movie not knowing what to expect. The only things I knew were that I LOVED Bob Fosse's choreography from films I had seen previously (Sweet Charity, Cabaret) and I loved to hear Gwen Verdon sing (Sweet Charity soundtrack). This movie was in no way, shape or form a waste of my 14 dollars and 99 cents! Ray Walston (reprising his Broadway role) is delightfully evil as the Devil himself (cleverly disgusing himself as a "Mr. Applegate") who has a warped mind and twisted sense of humor, which is evident in his song "The Good Ol' Days." Tab Hunter is superb as Joe Hardy (or "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo."), the man who sells his soul to become the best long hitter there is, and help his favorite team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant and beating the "damn Yankees." To me, the real star here though, is Gwen Verdon as the seductress, Lola. Not only can this woman act wonderfully, but she has a beautiful singing voice (with a throaty, grainy yet girlish quality) and she is an absolutely FANTASTIC dancer (she's the living embodiment of Fosse's work)! She is the most wonderful dancer/singer/actress ever to grace the Broadway stage and films... it's such a shame they didn't let her play Charity in 1969's Sweet Charity (though Shirley MacLaine did do a good job in the role). She has absolutely become my hero, role model, and favorite actress of all time. Go Gwen! Go Damn Yankees!

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9 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
THE "OTHER" NAUGHTY LOLA (You GO, Gwen!), 29 October 2004
Author: Harold_Robbins from United States

All I'm going to do here is rave about a Broadway Legend. We have to be grateful for film, because otherwise some of the theater's greatest performers would exist only in memory. The film version of the 1955 Broadway smash is definitely Gwen Verdon's most memorable screen appearance - as the movie of CALL ME MADAM is probably the closest film approximation we have to what Ethel Merman was like on-stage, so DAMN YANKEES is for Gwen Verdon. No other film performance captures her presence and sparkle, the incredible movements her body was capable of - she's at her best here, and viewers familiar only with the comic roles she played later in her career will be amazed at this consummate musical comedy performer. She's completely infectious and delightful, even when she's not singing or dancing - the lady had PRESENCE, and she displays enough vulnerability to make us like a character who doesn't always do very likable things. She's elegant as she matter-of-factly explains her work methods in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" and has a whopper of a dance duet with Bob Fosse called "Who's Got the Pain?" (they weren't married yet, but she was already becoming his favorite instrument of dance; his was a cameo appearance added to the film - on stage Verdon's partner was another of the show's characters - if you listen closely you'll hear Tab Hunter say "That was wonderful, Fosse!" at the number's conclusion). And she looks gorgeous in a series of colorful costumes, although in her signature number, "Whatever Lola Wants..." the costume grows skimpier and skimpier as she increases her efforts to seduce Tab Hunter. In THE BLUE ANGEL Marlene Dietrich's "Naughty Little Lola" used a chair as a prop to sing about "Falling in Love Again," (which would resonate decades later as Liza Minnelli sang about "Mein Herr")- in DAMN YANKEES Verdon uses a locker-room bench, and this "other Naughty Lola" ends up almost as scantily dressed! A word about Ray Walston's Mr. Applegate: He is NOT a nice guy!

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7 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Could Anyone Move Like Gwen Verdon?, 5 November 2005

Author: drednm

The superb Gwen Verdon sings and dances and mugs through this very good adaptation of the smash Broadway musical. Verdon is a cross between Shirley MacLaine and Carol Burnett with a dash of Carol Haney (another Bob Fosse protégé) tossed in. She's a total delight and one of the best dancers EVER! Here she plays Lola, the temptress used by the devil (Ray Walston) to lure Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter) from going back to his wife and breaking his satanic deal in which middle-aged Joe becomes a 22-year-old baseball star and catapults the Washington Senators to 1st place.

Tab Hunter replaces Stephen Douglass from the Broadway show. The rest of the cast recreates their parts for the movie. Verdon, Walston, and Russ Brown (the manager) all won Tony awards. Hunter seems rather stiff and uncomfortable through much of the film (though he looks great) but that's the part of Joe.... Hunter is, however, just terrific in the "Two Lost Souls" number with Verdon. He sings, dances (not too bad) and seems to be having a ball. Verdon is just astounding in this number and laughs all the way thru it. Great song.

Verdon is also a showstopper in "Whatever Lola Wants" and "A Little Brains, a Little Talent." It seems these songs were written for you and no one else can do them the way she does. Verdon, like Ethel Merman or Carold Channing, was a total original. The voice is slightly nasal; the inflection is odd. But it works. And her dancing is totally awesome.

Ray Walston seems to have been typecast in weirdo roles after Damn Yankees and My Favorite Martian. He was a better actor than these roles allowed him to show. Russ Brown is solid as the manager, Jean Stapleton plays the friend (and sings), Rae Allen is Gloria (the reporter), Shannon Bolin is the wife, Jimmie Komack is the goofy ballplayer, Nathaniel Frey is Smokey, Bob Fosse has a cameo in "Who's Got the Pain," and Robert Shafer plays old Joe.

Good songs by the same team that did The Pajama Game. Many of the songs were hits of the later 50s. My only beef is that most of the songs are truncated (I had the Broadway soundtrack) and at least one "I Thought About the Game" is used only as background music. Verdon's "A Little Brains, a Little Talent" is cut in half as is Bolin's "Six Months Out of Every Year." Certainly worth a look to see Broadway superstar Gwen Verdon in her prime and Tab Hunter at his hunkiest.

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8 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Good, soul-searching musical., 4 February 2003
Author: movibuf1962 from Washington, DC

This is another film which would probably be better rated if it wasn't so slavishly compared to its stage original. It does its job just fine, thank you, but you must remember that stage and film are two different media in terms of what is allowed to be shown to the masses in the first place. In the conservative, postwar 50's there was very little controversy shown (or allowed to be shown) in the film and TV media; a Faustian book made into a film musical probably scared the Hays moral office to death! That said, the Abbott-Donen collaboration does a more than competent job of telling the story, and scores an extra base hit in my opinion by retaining most of the Broadway cast of the show in the first place. The casting rumors are legendary: I've read that the studio tried to get Cyd Charisse and possibly even Marilyn Monroe for Lola (assuring box-office returns), but the producers were smart enough to know that the role needed a real dancer-singer-actress combination. In short, it needed Gwen Verdon exclusively. And it got her. If you're still not convinced, take a second look at the exquisite midnight cafe' number, "Two Lost Souls."

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Stagy but entertaining, 25 November 2001
Author: tommypet3

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?

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
"Miles and Miles and Miles of Heart", 15 November 2007

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Damn Yankees was one of two Broadway shows written by the team of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, the other being The Pajama Game which got made into films almost immediately upon the cessation of the Broadway run. Damn Yankees ran in the 1955-1957 season for 1019 performances and both Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston continued their roles from Broadway.

However the protagonist Joe Boyd/Joe Hardy part, the middle aged real estate salesman who is a fanatic baseball fan of the lowly Washington Senators, was played by Tab Hunter in the Joe Hardy persona. As in that other Broadway film My Fair Lady it was felt that one of the leads should go to a bona fide movie name in that case Audrey Hepburn in this one Tab Hunter.

In his memoirs Hunter said that he was apprehensive about taking over a musical lead because he admitted he was no singer. But the arrangements were certainly done to accommodate his limited range and he acquits himself well. He certainly does look well in the baseball scenes and even keeps up with Gwen Verdon.

Gwen Verdon like Mitzi Gaynor came along in the Fifties just when Hollywood was slowing down with the making of musicals due to the decline of the studio system. Gwen did such other leads on Broadway as Sweet Charity, New Girl in Town, and Redhead, but only with Damn Yankees was she allowed to go to Hollywood and repeat her stage performance. Gwen like Mitzi was a fabulous dancer and in the Thirties and Forties she would have become acclaimed film name.

Ray Walston got his career break in the part of Mr. Applegate the devil's identity for this film. Back when I was a lad and first saw Damn Yankees in the theater, I was enthralled by Walston's performance and became a fan until the day he died. Walston plays the devil like a spoiled child and there might just be some theological justification for that.

The big hit songs from Damn Yankees was Gwen Verdon's seduction number and dance, Whatever Lola Wants. Few people ever on stage and screen could move like her.

The second and even bigger hit was Heart, sung her by Russ Brown and some of the other actors playing hapless Washington Senator players under their eternally optimistic manager Brown. The song was a big million seller for Eddie Fisher who was at the height of his vocal career then.

Damn Yankees the film was released in 1958. In 1960 the original Washington Senators played their last year in Washington, DC. For the poor fans of the Senators it was a double blow. The team was just beginning to jell as a contender and in 1965 they did in fact in their new home in Minneapolis/St.Paul as the Minnesota Twins did win the American League pennant as the Yankee dynasty crumbled at last.

In their place came another new Washington Senator franchise which continued in the second division ways that Washington knew so well and that fans like Joe Boyd were used to. They played their last season in the capital in 1971 and the capital was without Major League baseball until 2005 when the Montreal Expos moved and became the Washington Nationals. I'm afraid we may never see the name Senators attached to a Washington team again. The Texas Rangers have the name copyrighted.

Still the Nationals in the other league are doing their best to hold up the Washington tradition of first in war, first in peace and last in now the National League East. Washington saw three pennants in 1924, 1925, and 1933 and one World Series winner in 1924.

They might just need another Joe Hardy to move the team. Let's hope someone doesn't have to make an arrangement with Mr. Applegate to make it possible to beat those Damn Yankees.

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2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
The best damn musical, period!, 12 July 2002

Author: jazmaan from Santa Monica, CA

If you ask me - and I'm a "jazz" man as you can see from my moniker - Damn Yankees is the best musical ever. The subject matter is classic, the story is entertaining, the music is scintillating, and the lyrics are clever to the Nth degree with layers upon layers of internal rhyming that reveal new intricacies with each listening.

Okay, the movie has some weaknesses. Anybody BUT Tab Hunter would probably have been better as Joe Hardy. Also one of the best numbers from the play, "I Thought About The Game" was cut because it was considered too lewd for the movie.

But that's quibbling. Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston lift this movie into the upper echelons of all time greatest musicals.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Steeeeeeeriiiiikkke!, 8 December 2004
Author: Poseidon-3 from Cincinnati, OH

If nothing else, this film version of the hit Broadway play allows viewers to see some of what made Verdon famous. Unfortunately, there isn't a great deal else that's memorable. When retiree Shafer has had his fill of the poorly-playing Washington Senators baseball team, he sells his soul to the Devil (who comes to earth in the human form of Walston) and transforms into a young, super-hitter (Hunter) who can help them win the pennant. He's bright enough to insert an "out clause" in his agreement, so Walston brings up temptress Verdon to make sure he doesn't take that opportunity when the time comes. Meanwhile, Shafer's wife frets over where he's gone, kept company by a pair of flighty sisters who keep their noses firmly planted in everything. In translating this to film (utilizing a larger number than usual of the original cast), the directors somehow managed to dull things down and give the film an aura of stagnation when it ought to be bursting with energy and vitality. Shafer's (purposefully?) drab house, with the planet's ugliest wallpaper, always looks just like a set. Ditto Walston's sparsely furnished lair. The locker room is nearly always filmed from the same angle, as it would have been seen from a theatre audience. Hunter is drop-dead gorgeous with a deep tan, cropped blonde hair and a charming. boyish grin. He is given very little to do, though. He hardly sings, tries to hold his own briefly in a group dance number, and (most dastardly of all) remains fully clothed while other, uglier baseball players take their shirts off or parade in a towel! Even Walston shows more skin than Hunter! Walston puts a lot of details and thought into his, by now, familiar role, but never really comes alive as much as one would like. It's difficult to believe that the Devil would choose this face and body to inhabit on earth. He also has remarkable trouble getting around (taxis?) Verdon (who doesn't even get to show her face until 45 minutes in) is remarkably vivid and captivating with several strong dance numbers. However, she looks far older than her 33 years (sometimes resembling an aged Greer Garson!) and has a surprising lack of chemistry with both Hunter and Walston. Only an idiot would say she's wrong for the part, but she may have been wrong for the film version. Attractive as she is, she just isn't the type of looker that would lure men to their doom. Other cast members include an authentically leathery Linville as the crusty baseball coach, Bolin as Shafer's drab wife, Allen as a loudmouthed reporter and Stapleton doing a head start on her Edith characterization from "All in the Family" and sporting what may be the ugliest hairdo in cinema history. There are a couple of numbers that stand out. One on a baseball field has inventive choreography with lots of dust getting kicked up. Verdon and choreographer (and future husband) Bob Fosse go for it in a variety show mambo. There's also a nightclub sequence with lots of the signature Fosse tableaux and moves. It's interesting to see his style developing and note the roots of his later, even more challenging, work. No one in the film can carry a tune particularly well. Vibrato is unheard of as various singers attempt to hold their shaky notes. Allen sings her entire song under the notes. So many times, viewers complain about films not being faithful to the source musical, but in this case, some more Hollywood tweaking may have helped! Sadly, a lot of gimmicky bits that may have been funny or new in 1958 are rather tiresome now, though it is amusing to see Walston put in coin after coin after coin into a pay phone in order to call Hell.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
You Gotta Have Heart!, 5 February 2006

Author: theowinthrop from United States

This musical, when revived about a decade ago with Jerry Lewis as Applegate, was referred to as a fable for the Eisenhower Years. It is set in a faintly comfortable period (once the McCarthyite Persecutions were finished), because the concept of this musical was the preoccupation of the American public with the national pastime of baseball, and it's singular domination (between 1947 and 1962) by the New York Yankees. Although the Yankees had had other periods of greatness, with Ruth, Gehrig, "Murderers Row" in the late 1920s and early 1930s, they had to share the domination of the World Series with other teams in that period (the Philadelphia Athletics, the Detroit Tigers, and the St. Louis Cardinals, to name three). But the Yankees in this period started with Joe DiMaggio, entered into the period dominated by Mickey Mantel, Whitey Ford, Billy Martin, Yogi Berra, Phil Rizzuto, Don Larsen, Roger Maris, and presided over by Casey Stengel. They did not always win (one memorable defeat was by their perennial enemy the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1955), but they won so often that to non-baseball fans it was monotonous to follow the sports news: you knew what should finally happen.

So the background of this baseball era is important to understand the musical (one of the few times the actual historical background of the time the musical was created becomes that important). Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) is a fanatical baseball lover and fan of the woebegone Washington Senators (the saying for many years about the Senators was, "First in war, first in peace, and last in their league."). The team had only one great moment: in 1924 they won the World Series when the team had one of baseball's greatest players on it - Walter Johnson. But it never really was in competition again after that. But Boyd is a fan, and he makes the mistake of being willing to sell his soul to allow the Senators a chance to win the series again. Enter Mr. Applegate (a.k.a. the Devil) played fiendishly well by Ray Walston. He offers Joe a contract that will make Joe the greatest baseball player of all time - and lead to the world series - in return for his soul. Hesitant at first, Joe agrees. He is transformed into Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter), and proceeds to try to join the Senators (with Applegate as his agent).

The Devil can never be trusted in any agreement. Applegate hopes to cause a wave of hope and hysteria by the anti-Yankee baseball public, letting Joe lead his team to the World Series. He plans to pull the rug from underneath the team at the final moment. Unfortunately Joe is a good salesman on his own, and has insisted on an escape clause for himself. Applegate has to accept it for the sake of his own plans. The escape clause is there because Joe loves his wife Meg (Sharon Bolin) and does not want her to be hurt. So Applegate decides to recruit his best female agent, Lola (Gwen Vernon) to vamp Joe and make him forget Meg. But Joe is too faithful, and succeeds in overcoming Lola's "irrisistable" personality (as she sings, "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets" - except here). Lola, shaken by the experience, becomes a type of groupie for Joe - and eventually starts a mini-revolt on her own against Applegate.

The score of the show is memorable. Besides the key song "Heart" (sung by the Washington team players), and Lola's "Whatever" number, there is also "Two Lost Souls", "Goodbye Old Girl" and Walston's wonderful "Those were the good old days!" (when he fondly recalls all the tragedies he created in the history of mankind - including the day Jack the Ripper was born). Walston was not nominated for any awards for the movie performance*, but his Applegate is one of his best film performances, with his Gillis in SOUTH PACIFIC. He had played both on Broadway first, so we are lucky to have his film performances here.

*(But won the Tony Award for the role on stage.)

Stanley Donan co-directed this film with George Abbott. Abbott was usually a stage director (he had done the musical on Broadway). There is a moment when it is apparent that he is directing. There is a small dance done by one of the three ball players in the "Heart" number, and the close-up of the player as he smiles shyly and steps forward is out of place in the film - but would have worked on stage.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
**** 1/2 Baseball was never this much fun, 17 February 2000
Author: Bil-3 from Toronto, Ontario

Baseball was never this much fun in a movie. Ray Walston is hilarious as the devil (here known as Mr. Applegate) come to earth to seduce disgruntled Washington Senators' fan Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) into entering a Faustian pact with him: Joe gets to become the greatest baseball player ever on earth in exchange for his immortal soul. It's a done deal, and Joe instantly becomes young and handsome Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter); unfortunately, Joe is still attached to his wife and wants to continue living with her, so Applegate enlists the services of master seductress Lola (Gwen Verdon), and whatever Lola wants, Lola gets. Verdon's performance in this role is so fantastic you'll be mortified that she didn't get the opportunity to show off on the big screen again until "Cocoon" in 1985. Bob Fosse's choreography here is top-notch, and all of Richard Adler and Jerry Ross' songs (taken from the Broadway musical with only two songs cut and a new one added) are excellently performed. Hunter is infectiously charming as the young Joe, and though he seems a little stiff at times, his wide-eyed innocence is much better than some would give him credit for. The film's only shortcoming is direction by George Abbott (who directed the original play) and Stanley Donen that misses a few steps thanks to some awkward editing. It's no real fault though: these actors could ride comfortably over any bump in the road. Look for choreographer (and Verdon's then-husband) Fosse making a cameo in the "Who's Got The Pain?" number. If you like it go and rent Abbott and Donen's previous success with an Adler and Ross musical, "The Pajama Game".

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