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Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) More at IMDbPro »

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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Sinatra & Kelly--They're 'Strictly USA!', 23 October 2002

Author: gaityr from United Kingdom

In TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME, Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly play Dennis Ryan and Eddie O'Brien, two best pals who work the vaudeville circuit during the baseball off-season, but play with the Wolves club in the summer, together with their peripheral sidekick Nat Goldberg (Jules Munshin). The arrival of their new manager, however, Ms K.C. (Katherine Catherine, if you please!) Higgins (Esther Williams), annoys the heck out of man-about-town Eddie but charms the socks off girl-shy Denny. It's pretty evident before long, however, that Katherine and Denny are falling in love, just as the oh-so-timid Shirley Delwyn (Betty Garrett) sets her sights on skinny runt Denny and refuses to take no for an answer until he gives in to her. But before the guys can really get their girls, Eddie becomes embroiled in a scam perpetuated by Joe Lorgan (played by everyone's favourite grouch/bad guy Edward Arnold), who wants to take the surewin Wolves out so that he can win big by betting against them. Can Denny still get out there and play in the final match to win the pennant for Ms Higgins' Wolves?

The answer, of course, isn't important (although it's pretty obvious!), but it's rousingly given, with a healthy dose of song and dance. The Sinatra/Kelly duo are on fine, seasoned form in the universally-known title song--perhaps their best song-and-dance collaboration out of all the three films, since one gets the distinct impression in the other numbers that Kelly is playing down to Sinatra's rather limited dancing abilities. In this number, one gets no such feeling--Sinatra more than holds his own and is almost as light on his feet as Kelly (a formidable feat for an amateur!). There's also the mandatory 'boasting about girls' number, 'Yes Indeed', and the triple act with Munshin ('O'Brien To Ryan To Goldberg') that gives a hint of why Munshin is retained for a beefed-up role in the Sinatra/Kelly film to follow this one, ON THE TOWN. We even get a Sinatra solo, with him crooning 'She's The Right Girl For Me' to Williams; and a Kelly dance number to 'It's The Hat My Dear Old Father Wore On St Patrick's Day'. However entertaining the above numbers are, honours for Best Number must be unreservedly reserved for Betty Garrett's earnest rendition of 'It's Fate, Baby'--her energy simply bounces off the screen as her Shirley chases Sinatra's Denny up, down and around the bleachers. The movements are simple but tightly-choreographed, and with Garrett's enthusiasm firing the whole enterprise, becomes the most memorable musical man-chase in film history. It's pretty obvious why Garrett was asked to reprise her man-hungry duties in ON THE TOWN--she's just so damn good at it! If possible, try also to watch the deleted musical out-takes, Kelly and Williams' 'Baby Doll' (one quickly understands why it was cut), and Sinatra's serenading of Garrett 'Boys and Girls Like You And Me'. Even though the right call was made in cutting them, they're both still great fun to watch.

Just about the only problem I can find with TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME, however, is the fact that, having seen all the Sinatra/Kelly collaborations, one gets the distinct feeling that this film is just filler for what is yet to come. It even inherits the basic plot of ANCHORS AWEIGH, having the innocent Sinatra character fall for a girl obviously meant for the worldly Kelly character before finding his own brassy gal. (This is finally discarded in ON THE TOWN, although the innocence of Sinatra's character and the worldliness of Kelly's character remain.) There are no surefire hits here--Sinatra's ballads don't compare to his songs 'I Fall In Love Too Easily' and 'Why Does The Sun Set?' in ANCHORS AWEIGH, or 'You're Awful' in ON THE TOWN. Similarly, however hard Kelly tries, his solo dance number just doesn't have that same magic he lends to most of his dances. A lot of the time it's Kelly's innovative dance sequences that rise above the film in which they're contained (see COVER GIRL, ANCHORS AWEIGH, etc. etc.); in this one, it seems submerged. It's good, but not amazing; amusing, but not particularly inventive. TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME is like the shift back to neutral gear between ANCHORS AWEIGH and ON THE TOWN--a break between the innovation and joy that suffuses the other two projects (even though the final effect is somewhat botched in ANCHORS AWEIGH). In other words, it's good enough entertainment, and certainly a film I wouldn't mind watching again. But with the calibre of talent present in this film, from Kelly to Sinatra to Garrett to Stanley Donen and Betty Comden and Adolph Green, you'd expect something... well, *better*. (Which you *do* get... a year later, in ON THE TOWN.)

As a standalone film, without the perspective of its being a test run for the next vehicle in the Sinatra/Kelly oeuvre, TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME is undeniably pleasant entertainment... and unabashedly patriotic at that. It celebrates two of the greatest, truly American institutions--vaudeville and baseball. And as the song 'Strictly USA' proudly proclaims, that's something well worth celebrating--along with its two lead actors, both themselves American treasures and legends. In fact, watch the film for them. They're both as charming and funny as ever, with Sinatra taking pratfalls in Denny's misguided belief that he's a tough guy, and Kelly hamming it up a lot more than usual, but still giving off that charm that's simply unique to him. The plot's not much, and even the songs and dances aren't all that memorable (excepting Garrett's 'It's Fate, Baby' and the final tongue-in-cheek reprise of 'Strictly USA'), but it's still colourful, vibrant, and funny... the way all MGM musicals are. It's a fun night out at the movies, with a few old friends you know and love... you couldn't really ask for more than that!

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8 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Baseball and Vaudeville, 28 September 2006

Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Gene Kelly took this idea to Arthur Freed about an original musical which would combine two big loves of his, baseball and the dance. The story would be based on Al Schacht and Nick Altrock who played ball during the regular season as pitcher and catcher and then in the off season toured in vaudeville. So Take Me Out to the Ballgame was born. In fact the song Take Me Out to the Ballgame was written during that era of Theodore Roosevelt.

But instead of a battery, the story revolved around a double play combination of Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin. Right in the same Teddy Roosevelt era the famous double play combination of Tinkers to Evers to Chance was doing great things for the Chicago Cubs. So it seems natural that a nice novelty number of O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg seemed in order for this film.

Vaudeville and baseball are not complete strangers either. During the previous century Michael 'King' Kelly, colorful star catcher and base stealer for the Cubs toured in vaudeville. Rube Marquard the number two pitcher for the New York Giants in the second decade of the last century married musical comedy star Blossom Seeley and toured with her as part of her act before they broke up.

In fact the original idea in Take Me Out to the Ballgame was to have Leo Durocher play the Jules Munshin part. Of course it would have been a lot different role then. Durocher hung out with a lot of show business types, one of his best friends was George Raft. That got him in some trouble, but that's a story for another film.

Kelly and Sinatra essentially play the same roles they did Anchors Aweigh. Sinatra doesn't get as many good numbers as he did in that film, but he does have a very nice ballad, The Right Girl for Me who he thinks might be Esther Williams as he sings it to her. Of course Betty Garrett gets in the picture and she has some different ideas.

Esther Williams was not kind to Gene Kelly in her memoirs. She gets only one brief dip in a pool in a one piece bathing suit that was just being popularized at the time of this film by Annette Kellerman. Of course Esther later played Annette Kellerman in another film. She had a lot of trouble with the dance numbers because as she explained it, the muscles one develops for swimming are not the same as those needed for dance and she was really as she describes cruelly razzed by Kelly and Stanley Donen. She grew to dislike him intensely.

Kelly's best number is The Hat Me Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day, a nice Irish jig number that he does with style. Busby Berkeley directed the film, but the kind of mammoth musical number that typifies his work is only seen in the ensemble song, Strictly USA.

The plot involves some gamblers trying to fix the pennant race against the heavily favored Brooklyn Wolves, Kelly and Sinatra's team. Edward Arnold is the number one fixer. As we well know, gambling and baseball weren't strangers back in the day. Players were hardly paid what they are today and in the days before Kennesaw Mountain Landis became the first Commissioner, fixes were talked of in hushed tones. Kelly gets tricked and tempted.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame, the first good musical film on baseball, a harbinger for Damn Yankees and nice entertainment.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Fun baseball musical with Sinatra, Kelly and Williams, 5 November 2002

Author: funkyfry from Oakland CA

Pleasant turn of the century story of 2 baseball player/vauldevillians (Sinatra and Kelly) whose soft lives are shaken up when go-getter Williams inherits their franchise and takes up an active, controversial, management.

Solid story packed with good jokes and believable, if broad, characterizations. Kelly comes with some very impressive dancing as always, and Sinatra croons some pleasant tunes. Williams and Garrett are great as the boys' love interests -- here many of the good jokes are typified by Sinatra's dry speech on the agressive methods he's used to catch Garrett -- when in fact the audience has seen HIM relentlessly pursued by hellcat Garrett! Good show.... but lacks substance (this would be one of the last musicals not to show the influence of Rodgers and Hammerstein's more highbrow tone).

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
In my opinion one of the better MGM musicals., 8 November 2006

Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands

There are a couple of reasons why this movie is in my opinion better than the average MGM musical movie.

One is the story. Of course it features a love-story but the movie takes an original approach and takes a couple of nice turns with the love-story. Who is falling in love with who always remains a surprise in the movie.

Another reason is an obvious one; Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Not only are they great genre actors but they're also great together. Especially Kelly delivers one fine performance. The female cast is also impressive by the way, with Esther Williams as the female lead.

Another important reason why this movie is so great is the cheerfulness of the whole movie. The songs are cheerful and never really too sappy or just plain awful. The movie has some great comedy moments and is also definitely helped by its fun main characters.

The movie sort of pays a great homage to the early days of baseball in America. The settings and premise work out fine for the genre and make the otherwise still somewhat formulaic storyline still come across as original.

The production values are also good and everything combined makes sure that this is a good pleasant bright musical comedy that is perfect to kill some time with and have a good time with at the same time.

8/10

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Funny film with lots of great dancing!, 26 June 2000
Author: Rose-35 from PA

I thought Sinatra and Kelly were great in "Anchors Aweigh". I had no idea they could be even better together. This is such a funny film with great dance numbers from Kelly and singing from Sinatra. Plus having Esther Williams isn't too bad either. If you feel like having a good laugh and watching something that doesn't include someone saying the 'F' word every 2 minutes, then this is for you.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
All it needed was Betty Garrett..., 30 December 1999

Author: Tommy-92 from Baltimore, Maryland

The first half of this movie had its moments, but I didn't particularly enjoy it. It does indeed have many resemblences to On the Town, which came after it, only this time in a baseball field at the turn of the 20th century. The "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" number was okay, and so was Frank Sinatra (playing a young naif again!) crooning to Esther Williams. But all it really needed was Betty Garrett to come in and give it a big energy boost. Her "Fate" number, sung as she chases Frank around the bleachers, was the first number to really grab my attention, (repeated in a taxi cab in On the Town). Then came the clambake, with "Strictly USA" and Gene Kelly's "St. Patrick's Day" number to keep the energy level up and the nodding-off level down. (By the way, yes, Gene and Stanley Donen were in charge of the musical numbers. Busby Berkley directed the rest of the film.) From then on, it wasn't too bad, especially the clever little vaudeville number at the end, penned by Betty Comden and Adolph Green along with the rest of the songs, (except the title one, of course). So, all the movie needed was Betty Garrett to really get off the ground. Interesting.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Energetic, amiable and lots of fun to watch..., 29 November 2006

Author: Neil Doyle from U.S.A.

For me, the only drawback to TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME is the fact that I read the ESTHER WILLIAMS biography and in it she expresses what I can only describe as contempt for the way GENE KELLY and his director pal Stanley Donen unfairly treated her on the set of this very entertaining little musical.

Seems that neither one of them was impressed with her popularity as a swimming star (big at the box-office) and out of spite and jealousy razzed her about why on earth she was appearing in a musical at all. Obviously, their first choice for the part (I forget who it was), was unavailable and MGM decided to give her the part of the baseball manager who is the romantic interest of both FRANK SINATRA and GENE KELLY.

Well, watching it without knowing these facts, you can sit back and enjoy the film the way it was meant to be. Actually, Esther acquits herself well in both the acting department and whatever else she does, including a brief swimming scene, and it only makes the treatment she received seem even more unfair as the film unwinds.

Sinatra and Kelly rehash their roles in ANCHORS AWEIGH, with Sinatra again mooning over the girl while Kelly at first resents her before falling in love. For added fun, JULES MUNSHIN is another ball player who gets to strut his stuff once in awhile.

It's all prettily Technicolored in the way that only MGM could do when it came to musicals and it's easy to see that Kelly and Sinatra could kick up their heels in dance routines the way they did in ANCHORS AWEIGH and ON THE TOWN.

And speaking of ON THE TOWN, BETTY GARRETT as a fun loving gal who chases Sinatra around a ball park, seems to be doing a rehearsal for her role in that film.

Summing up: Good summer entertainment, light as a feather stuff from the studio that knew how to make musicals.

Trivia note: On a cable interview several years ago, Donen was still bitter about Williams and made snide remarks about her abilities to an audience that giggled at his comments.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Cherish it, 21 November 2002
Author: jaykay-10

Was it a mere 50 years ago that every major studio - but particularly MGM - was routinely producing several musical comedies every year? These were "entertainments" in every sense of the word: fast, funny, colorful, escapist. Some were low budget, others were elaborate; some had major stars, others featured lesser talent. There seemed no reason to believe that such an appealing type of picture would not be produced indefinitely. With so many to choose from, we could afford to discriminate between the truly great ones and those, such as "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," which didn't offer the most outstanding scores or scripts. Now, however, they are to be cherished for their very existence and for a style of excellence that neither today's filmmakers nor performers can duplicate. The passing years have transformed more than a few of the second-tier musicals into treasures. By no means artifacts, they are fresh, and enormously appealing. This picture is a prime example.

(Better than remembered: Gene Kelly's comic mugging, Frank Sinatra's dancing, Betty Garrett's energetic high spirits.)

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
"Sinatra Gets Garrett, Kelly gets Williams", 5 December 1999
Author: Michael Coy (michael.coy@virgin.net) from London, England

"Take Me Out To The Ball Game" and "On The Town" were both made in 1949, and they both follow MGM's house formula pretty closely. The same three heroes are in uniform again (Kelly, Sinatra and Munshin), and Betty Garrett is once more pursuing Frankie aggressively, while Munshin is the comedian and Kelly the skirt-chaser.

The action is set in the first decade of the 20th century. Ed O'Brien (Kelly) and Dennis Ryan (Sinatra) are song-and-dance men in the winter and star players for 'The Wolves', a major league baseball team, during the summer. K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams) is a rich and beautiful young woman who buys the club and becomes involved in the personal lives of O'Brien & Ryan.

Baseball is the ideal setting for a nostalgic movie of this kind, and not just because it provides a team matrix in which to slot the male stars. Baseball has a venerable history to it, so the film can be set convincingly in the past. Kelly very nearly pursued a career as short stop with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and 'The Wolves', with their overwhelmingly Irish ethnicity, are fairly obviously based on the real-life Boston Redsox.

Busby Berkeley directs in a restrained, conservative style which suits this middle-of-the-road family entertainment. Esther Williams is terrific as Katherine. She sings, she dances, she acts - and yes, she even gets to swim! Sinatra crooning a romantic ballad to Esther is one of cinema's more unlikely permutations, but it happens here.

The songs are serviceable but little more, though the lyrics are sometimes amusing, pushing metre and rhyme into interesting contortions:

"I've gone and studied up on my astrology, I'm really knowledge-y!"

The only memorable song is the title number, but that dates back to the early 1900's. A clam bake on Giddy's Landing is all-American fun and gives scope for a big production piece. Notice how Berkeley makes the most of a cramped set by filming the chorus line at an oblique angle.

If this likeable but inconsequential film has some enjoyable moments (I liked the unsporting opponent tagging out the unconscious Ryan), it also contains a few curious editing decisions. At the end of the big number at the clam bake, there is a rapid forward-reverse 'hiccup', more usually seen in pop videos. In the latter part of Kelly's solo on the wharf, the scene strangely shifts to a new set. Both Shirley and O'Brien have distracting shadows across their faces in the protracted dancing on the wharf.

The end comes a little suddenly and without proper resolution, and then we get the rather oddly tacked-on vaudeville sequence. It all works, but with considerably less polish than its sister movie, "On The Town".

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Betty Garrett and a few choice numbers make this a decent musical, 15 June 2008

Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

Not one of the great musicals of the classic era, to be sure, but a fairly enjoyable one. The plot is nothing special, with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra as ball players both smitten by their new owner, Esther Williams. Another woman, Betty Garrett, shows up about midway through the picture so each of our stars can have a girl. Much like in On the Town, a film made later the same year with Sinatra and Kelly, Garrett steals the show. If she had shown up a tad earlier, it might have been an even better movie. Besides Garrett, what makes the film worth watching are the musical numbers. Not all of them are memorable, but a few are, notably "It's Fate" as sung by Garrett. "Strictly USA" and "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg" are also very good.

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