Pride of St. Louis (1952)
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43% of users liked it
(17 ratings)
Pride of St. Louis is the story of one of baseball's most colorful characters, Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean. While playing amateur ball in 1928, Dizzy (Dan Dailey) is hired by the St. Louis Cardinals. He spends a year or so playing with the Cards' Texas farm team, during which time… More Pride of St. Louis is the story of one of baseball's most colorful characters, Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean. While playing amateur ball in 1928, Dizzy (Dan Dailey) is hired by the St. Louis Cardinals. He spends a year or so playing with the Cards' Texas farm team, during which time he woos and wins department-store clerk Pat Nash (Joanne Dru, who ironically was the real-life aunt of pro baseball player Pete LaCock!) Once in the majors as a pitcher, Dean is joined on the Cards lineup by his younger brother Paul (Richard Crenna), whom the press nicknames "Daffy." Through a combination of spectacular ballplaying and zany publicity stunts, Dizzy and Daffy become nationwide favorites. Their popularity really soars after they help the Cardinals win the 1934 World Series. After this triumph, things begin to go downhill for Dizzy, who endures several injuries and finally "loses" his pitching arm. Dean is rescued from a binge of self-pity by his old friend Johnny Kendall (Richard Hylton), whose dad is a brewery executive. Johnny convinces his dad to sponsor a series of St. Louis Browns radio broadcasts, and to hire Dizzy as a play-by-play announcer. Ol' Diz gets in a lot of trouble with local schoolteachers because of his eccentric grammar ("he slud into third base," etc.) but things eventually turn out A-OK. Pride of St. Louis takes any number of liberties with the facts, but the real Dizzy Dean didn't care so long as 20th Century-Fox ponied up a huge sum of money for the rights to his life story: "Jeez," he said at the time, "they're gonna give me 50,000 smackers just fer livin'!" Future NBC news commentator Chet Huntley shows up in one of the closing scenes as sportscaster Tom Weaver. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- Harmon Jones
- Genres
- Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- May 2, 1952 Wide
- Studio
- Twentieth Century Fox
Critic Reviews
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
If you don't like baseball, you probably won't like this pic.
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John A. Nesbit, Old School Reviews
A potentially good film is trimmed down to a tolerable mediocre one, and Diz and the Cardinals deserve better.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Dan Dailey
as Jerome Herman "Dizzy" Dean
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Joanne Dru
as Patricia Nash Dean
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Richard Hylton
as Johnny Kendall
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Richard Crenna
as Paul Dean
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Hugh Sanders
as Horst
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James Brown
as Moose
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Leo Cleary
as Mgr. Ed Monroe
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Stuart Randall
as Frankie Frisch
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William Frambes
as Herbie
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Damian O'Flynn
as Johnnie Bishop
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Cliff Clark
as Pittsburgh coach
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Fred Graham
as Alexander
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Billy Nelson
as Chicago manager
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Pattee Chapman
as Ella
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Richard Reeves
as Connelly
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Johnny Duncan
as Western Union Boy
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John K. Butler
as Waiter
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Freeman Lusk
as Doctor
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Jack Rice
as Voorhees
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Al Green
as Joe [uncredited]
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Philip Van Zandt
as Louis
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Victor Sutherland
as Kendall Sr.
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Frank J. Scannell
as Chicago 3rd Base Coach
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Larry Thor
as Announcer
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John Wald
as Announcer
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Hank Weaver
as Announcer
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Jack Sherman
as Announcer
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Tom Hanlon
as Announcer
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Chet Huntley
as Tom Weaver
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John Doucette
as Benny
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Harris Brown
as Hotel Clerk
- Kathryn Card
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George McDonald
as Roscoe
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Robert Nichols
as Eddie
- Jon Mikl Thor
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Kenny Williams
as Castleman
- Jerry Wald
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John R. McKee
as Delaney
- James Brown (II)
