Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Babe Blu-ray Movie Review

The Sultan of Swing and a Miss.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman September 18, 2017

It's hard to make a bad baseball movie. The Babe isn't a bad baseball movie, but it's a decidedly mediocre one, a choppy biopic about a figure who is larger than life that plays with decidedly small ambitions. It's a serviceable telling of the tale of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the best baseball player of his day, the game's first true slugger, the all-time home run king for several decades, and a legend quite unlike any other the sport has ever seen or probably ever will witness. But for a figure of such stature, public awareness, and plenty of material -- real and debated myth alike -- to explore the film never feels grounded. It simply chugs along from one character moment to the next, cobbling together a crude life story that never feels like it gets into the man, either off the field -- where it spends most of its time -- or on it and the impact he made on the game when he wasn't batting or brawling with fans while intoxicated.

Calling his shot.

A young Baltimore lad named George Ruth is taken to an orphanage where he's burned by a stigma of being "incorrigible." He's not particularly good at anything and is often derided by his fellow orphans, but one day it's discovered that he can smack a baseball farther and harder than anyone else. The Baltimore Orioles come calling, hoping to take the now young adult in an effort to salvage their abysmal season. Ruth (John Goodman) eventually lands with the Red Sox where his star grows. But when the team's owner finds himself in debt following a flop of a stage production, he's sold to the New York Yankees where his stardom explodes and home run balls fly over the fence at a rate never before seen in the game. The film follows Ruth's exploits on and off the field, exploring his natural talent, lust for women and food and drink, and penchant for getting himself into trouble both in uniform and around the city.

The Babe should have been so much more, though the film shows flashes of that potential. James Cromwell discovers The Babe's bat. John Goodman, one of the most reliable actors in the business, plays the lead. The character's legend precedes him. And yet the movie stumbles more often than it shines. The problem is that it's merely a highlight reel, a compilation of well-known moments from Ruth's life and career that, together, tell the story but not with any kind of narrative significance. The film shows the character, but it doesn't explore him. It wades through a collection of famous snapshots that, in isolation, are a joy to see come to life on the screen but that collectively offer little reason to care either about the character or the movie. Whether Ruth is blasting home runs, fighting with fans, throwing money around, courting women, or trying to pick up the pieces he's left in his wake, none of it resonates. Director Arthur Hiller, who had previously directed Love Story and Taking Care of Business (a film that also folds in some baseball), has put together more than a few quality films, but here stumbles with what should be gimme material about one of the most revered sports figures in history.

As the film cuts from one iconic Ruth moment to the next -- blasting homers, Red Sox owner Harry Frazee (of whom it could be said was the Bob Nutting of his time) selling the slugger to the rival Yankees, visiting a sick child and mashing two taters for the boy in the next game, calling his shot in the World Series, or finishing off his career with three dingers at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field -- John Goodman efforts to bring the character to life. While hardly the best performance of his revered career, the actor creates a fair sense of being for the man, emoting the basics of cockiness and confidence on the field, swagger on the street, and a charitable heart, but also quick to anger and inebriated with some frequency. Goodman has big shoes to fill -- literally -- but the movie's structure, and the character's wayward approach to life, never allow him to get into a rhythm. Goodman is merely charged with recreating moments, not inhabiting the man. He fills out the role effectively, even convincingly at times, but his midlevel work seems more a reflection of a shaky script and film's structure than anything else, like a lack of effort on his part.

The Babe Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Babe hits a foul ball on Blu-ray thanks to Universal's visually bland 1080p transfer. The presentation comes courtesy of a very aged source. Colors are flat, details never soar, speckles appear here and there, some noise reduction is apparent...it's hardly first-rate stuff. Colors are faded and the image takes on a diffuse appearance featuring frequent blown-out highlights. Color punch comes rarely, and even when red clothes, for example, appear on-screen, there's not much nuance or eye-opening vibrance. Details don't fare particularly well but, on the flip side, aren't necessarily egregious. The image is very flat and inorganic. Facial textures are lacking but do yield a little more than the most cursory definition. Period clothes, particularly heavier fabrics, often deliver adequate tactile definition but rarely does any texture stand apart. Grain intensity fluctuates, practically gone in many shots but thicker and, sometimes, sloppier in others. A few nighttime blacks hold up well enough, though they're a bit soupy rather than crisp and accurate. Flesh tones generally reflect the movie's flatness. Minor compression issues crop in as well. This is certainly not a home run transfer.

The Babe Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Babe's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack fares about as well as the 1080p transfer, meaning effective but hardly impressive. Music by itself generally finds a pleasing enough cadence and presentation, certainly lacking polish but offering enough spacing and instrumental clarity to please. But as the film begins and it blends with some other elements, the entire thing becomes a disappointing jumble of unkempt sound. Around the 78-minute mark, as Babe is struggling and the fans are getting on him, the raucous ambient din lacks precision but at least offers decent spacing. A few more intensive sound effects, like the ball cracking off the bat, are good enough to get the point across. Dialogue is suitably clear with adequate front-center imaging.

The Babe Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Babe contains four enjoyable vintage Babe Ruth short films and a trailer. No top menu is included; extras must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu.

• Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Slide, Babe, Slide (480i, 9:31): A train ride turns into a quick game with some kids on the side of the tracks. Ruth corrects their mistakes.
• Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Just Pals (480i, 9:30): Ruth attends another game and tutors a struggling player.
• Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Perfect Control (480i, 8:28): Ruth interrupts class to teach some kids how to pitch.
• Babe Ruth Sport Featurette: Fancy Curves (480i, 8:36): The Bambino coaches some ladies in the art of the game.
• Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:25).

The Babe Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Babe isn't a failure of a film, but it's a disappointment all the same. It capably captures Ruth's life highlights, but the film is hardly a Ruthian effort, not narratively, not structurally, not in John Goodman's performance. The picture lacks cohesion and a sense of dramatic intensity, happy to simply throw memorable moments at the screen in a chronological order. Universal's Blu-ray is very reflective of the film, offering midlevel video, mediocre audio, and a few throwaway extras. Worth a look at a rock-bottom price.