The Babe tells the story of legendary baseball player George “Babe” Ruth (John Goodman) between the years of 1902 and 1935. When he was just 7 years old, Ruth was dropped off at Saint Mary’s Industrial School for Boys in Baltimore, his father labeling him as incorrigible. Ruth’s mother was sick, and his father didn’t want anything to do with his son. And so, for the next 12 years, Ruth was taken care of by Brother Mathias (James Cromwell), and the other brothers. Despite being much heavier than most boys his age, or athletes in general, Ruth had natural ability for baseball. And so, when a scout found Ruth, Brother Mathias saw this as a way out for boy. And so Ruth soon found himself in Boston, playing for the Red Sox, where his pitching skills and ability hit homers quickly won over the fans. When his roommate/teammate Jumpin’ Joe Dugan (Bruce Boxleitner) asks him how he’s able to hit the ball out of the park so often, Ruth just tells him that he likes to hit homers.

Ruth had spent most of his life at St. Mary’s, so this whole world was new to him. He was like a wide-eye kid in a candy shop, and with his salary he was able to buy anything he wanted. Ruth didn’t know anything about proper etiquette, had an eye for the girls, and liked to eat and drink to excess—things that would later get him in trouble. When he first sets his eyes on waitress Helen (Trini Alvarado) at a diner, it is love at first sight for Ruth. Helen rejects his advances, but eventually agrees to a date. However, once again she says “No” to his advances, telling him that she is saving herself (even kissing) for marriage. But that doesn’t stop George from sneaking a kiss, and he eventually wins her over. (This was actually kind of creepy and hard to watch in today’s climate—it hardly felt playful and romantic.) While they want to settle down and have a family, Ruth’s partying lifestyle is not very conducive to married life. Ruth way be able to win over the crowds with his homers and wild behavior, but his womanizing and excessive ways don’t sit will with Helen or the team owners, who somehow have to learn to live with the bad in order to take advantage of the good.

The Babe follows the ups and downs of Ruth’s baseball career and personal life over the length of his time in the majors. He is a very unusual and complicated man, who is both loved by his fans but also a bit of a despicable person at times. His lack of love as a child has definitely taken a toll on him. He is constantly seeking out the family, love and approval he never had, and often doesn’t quite know how to express his love. You can even see this in how he often refers to the male authoritative people in his life as Dad, and the women as Sis.

I am not a big sports person, but I had obviously heard of Babe Ruth. However, this film didn’t really give me a deeper understanding of the man behind the legend. Instead, it felt more like a catalog of his greatest hits (literally), trying to depict all of the iconic moments of Ruth’s 20+ year career, connected by silent film-like newsreels to jump ahead in time to the next big moment. It covers all the big moments like him promising a sick child that he’ll two hit two homers for him, his trade to the Yankees, or him calling out his shot ahead of time at the World Series. But when you take away these moments, the film ends up being a lot of Ruth hitting homers, pitching, getting into fights, hitting on women, and getting drunk. The film doesn’t do enough to show me why I should care about this man (unless, of course, I was a fan of one of the baseball teams he was playing for). In fact, I found myself often repelled by his attitude and behavior at times. With a star like John Goodman, it shouldn’t be difficult to win me over! Goodman does a good job with the material he was given (though him playing a 19-year-old at St. Mary’s was a little unbelievable), but this was certainly not my favorite performance of his. He helps to add a little bit of humanity and likeability to this complex man who can also be a bit cocky and unbearable at times. That said, I think the film does do a really good job of recapturing the look and feel of the era in which it takes place.

The Babe had previously been released on Blu-ray by Universal a few years ago. That release included 35 minutes of vintage Babe Ruth shorts plus the film’s theatrical trailer, but unfortunately, none of that bonus material has been carried over to Mill Creek’s re-release. Like many of this month’s other Retro VHS releases, this disc is barebones, just offering a basic menu with Play and Subtitle On/Off selections, and no supplemental material. This re-release features the same audio and video presentation as the previous Blu-ray, which unfortunately is pretty underwhelming. As the film opened, the picture was very flat, with dull faded colors. I assumed this was because it was an early flashback, but this is how much of the film looked. The picture was a bit uneven overall. It could go from a beautiful outdoor scene, to an indoor scene with what looked like a white dream-like film on top of it. The stereo audio track provides somewhat clear dialogue throughout, but the sounds of the crowds and the games are all blended in together. It is missing that exciting and immersive kind of soundtrack you get in more-modern sports films.

The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a standard Blu-ray keepcase, with a Retro VHS slipcover that makes the release look like a classic VHS rental tape. The details on these slipcovers are really fun, and the design even extends to the spine as well, allowing these discs to displayed like a collection of VHS tapes on your shelf.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:55:38)

• 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
• Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
• Subtitles: English SDH

Extras:

This release contains no bonus material.

Final Thoughts:

The Babe takes a look at the ups and downs in the 20+ year of baseball legend Babe Ruth. However it is more of a highlight reel, stringing together the iconic moments from Ruth’s career rather than giving a deeper exploration into the man behind the legends. John Goodman does the best with what he is given, but he has had far more memorable performances. The release is barebones, eliminating all of the bonus material that had been included on previous home video releases, and includes the same somewhat-dull presentation from the previous Blu-ray release. The film may be worth a look for for fans of Ruth or Goodman, or of baseball in general.