Damn Yankees (1958)

Boring, long, and too preachy.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

What we have here is the original Broadway cast with the exceptions of Tab Hunter and Bob Fosse.Hunter is nowhere near as good as Stephen Douglass whom he displaced, but that's Hollywood!It's a miracle that Gwen Verdon was retained. She's terrific! Other than Miss Verdon's casting, however, this film version seems to fall short of the stage musical in many respects.Admittedly, we still have a couple of tuneful songs, plus a few very witty lines, and the sometimes inventive direction of George Abbott and Stanley Donen.Harold Lipstein's Technicolor photography is also a pleasing asset.

A Washington Senator fan makes a pact with the devil to make him young so that he can play against those Damn Yankees.A truly great opportunity for Tab Hunter to perform in the leading role and he comes through with a genuine performance. The devil is the wonderful Ray Walston; he was always devilish by nature so that is why he is so good in the role.The true accolades go to Gwen Verdon, as the temptress Lola. Who can forget her infamous "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets."Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets......I'm no exception to the rule. I'm irresistible you fool.Give in.Verdon repeats her Broadway role and is a master at it. No wonder she won the Tony Award so many times.

"Damn Yankees" is not a musical I'm particularly fond of. It's all American pervasiveness what with the baseball milieu and the ever reliable good vs. evil theme seems somewhat calculated. Apart from two or three pleasant songs, the score is not really of much interest. Still, it certainly could have fared better on the screen, despite some of the legendary talents involved.Hollywood has often wrestled with the decision whether or not to cast original Broadway stars in screen adaptations of hit musicals. It's not an always an easy choice. There's an apparent unfairness in overlooking those who contributed so much to a musical's success. But the studios have more often than not been right in their choices. Sensational stage stars are not always as magical on screen. The most controversial case was of course Audrey Hepburn chosen over Julie Andrews for "My Fair Lady", which in retrospect, seems to me to have been a smart choice. Gwen Verdon's status as a stage performer is legendary. While we should be grateful for "Damn Yankees" in allowing us an opportunity to witness Verdon's talents; on screen there's much lacking. My immediate impression was that she was too old for the role. I was stunned to find out she was only 33 at the time. Despite the sexy moves, it's a little hard to swallow her so called seductive powers. Verdon would come into her own on the screen in her latter years. As intriguing as it is to imagine a screen version of "Chicago" with Verdon and Chita Rivera reprising their original roles, one cannot help but wonder how kind the big screen would have been to them.At the time there was apparently opposition in the casting of Tab Hunter who it was hoped would lure teenage audiences. Co-director Stanley Donen is quoted as calling Hunter a triple threat; can't sing, can't dance, can't act. While he was not much of a dancer, he turned in a convincing and touching performance and certainly was physically perfect for the part. As to his vocals, they are in no way inferior to the others on display. Verdon has an attractive rasp, but the others are uniformly mediocre.There are a couple of enjoyable dance sequences, but at this point, Bob Fosse was still early in his career and his choreography is nowhere as inventive as his later works.There are many points of interest especially for fans of the musical, but "Damn Yankees" remains ultimately a second rate screen musical.

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 her 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.