The Babe Summary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Arthur Hiller
Genres: Drama
Rating:
John_Goodman is cast as the Sultan of Swat, whose excesses -- especially drinking -- and private demons can (in this context) be excused in view of his genuine love of baseball. The facts never get in the way of a good story for screenwriter John_Fusco; we're even offered the umpteenth rehash of "Little Johnny", the largely fanciful tale of the invalid boy who promises to get well if Babe hits him a homer (as in Pride of the Yankees, the cured Johnny makes return a appearance as grownup). The most amusing fabrication is the casting of narrow James_Cromwell as the Babe's orphanage mentor Brother Mathias, who in real life weighed 300 pounds. Many of the characters are composites, notably Bruce_Boxleitner's Jumpin' Joe Dugan. At least Ruth's two wives--Trini_Alvarado as Helen, who suffers Babe's many peccadilloes and dies under strange circumstances, and Kelly McGillis as Claire, who keeps Babe on a very short leash-are depicted with a modicum of accuracy. The baseball sequences are well handled (though there could have been less slo-mo) while Elmer_Bernstein's charmingly old-fashioned musical score is right in tune with the film's approach to its subject. The_Babe is rated PG; had this been the whole truth and nothing but, and R rating would probably have been in order. Hal Erickson, Rovi
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