Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949)

92% of critics liked it
(12 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(4,277 ratings)

So baseball pictures never make money, eh? Try telling that to MGM, which raked in a box office gross of $4 million on their 1949 baseball musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Set in 1906, the film concerns the adventures and misadventures of The Wolves, a champion ball club. The team's success is… More So baseball pictures never make money, eh? Try telling that to MGM, which raked in a box office gross of $4 million on their 1949 baseball musical Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Set in 1906, the film concerns the adventures and misadventures of The Wolves, a champion ball club. The team's success is contingent upon the double-play combination of "O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg." But while Goldberg (Jules Munshin) lives to play baseball, O'Brien (Gene Kelly) and Ryan (Frank Sinatra) would rather pursue their off-season vaudeville career. Both erstwhile song-and-dance men decide to stick around on the baseball diamond when they mutually fall in love with the Wolves' new owner, the lovely K.C. Higgins (Esther Williams). Though O'Brien wins K.C. for himself, Ryan is compensated with the aggressively affectionate Shirley Delwyn (Betty Garrett). Gambler Joe Lorgan (Edward Arnold), who has bet heavily against the Wolves in an upcoming Big Game, woos O'Brien away from the team with promises of a big role in an upcoming musical comedy. Having let down K.C. and the rest of the team, O'Brien vows to redeem himself by playing in the crucial game. Lorgan gets wind of this, and orders his henchmen to do away with O'Brien. Hoping to shield his buddy from harm, Ryan beans O'Brien with a pitched ball, thereby incapacitating the prodigal player. The crooks are vanquished, and K.C. forgives O'Brien. But upon learning that Ryan had knocked him out, O'Brien charges onto the diamond, thirsting for revenge. Believe it or not, this action results in no fewer than two winning home runs! We offer you this detailed synopsis because it's likely that you'll be too entertained by the film's musical numbers to pay any attention to the story. Outside of the title number and Gene Kelly's solo "The Hat My Father Wore on St. Patrick's Day," the picture's best songs are contributed by Betty Comden, Adolf Green and Roger Edens. Take Me Out to the Ball Game is so delightful as it stands that one can only wonder what the film would have looked like had MGM's first choice Kathryn Grayson--or the studio's second choice, Judy Garland--played the Esther Williams role (In a similar vein, the Frank Sinatra character was originally to have been played by real-life Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher!) ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: Busby Berkeley
Written By: Harry Tugend
Genres: Drama, Musical & Performing Arts, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1949 Wide
On DVD: Sep 19, 2000
Studio: MGM Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

, TIME Magazine
A lazy Technicolored cinemusical aimed squarely and accurately at the summer box office.
Variety Staff, Variety
There is no pretense that Ball Game is anything more than a romp for Kelly's virtuosity.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
It must be said, too, that Mr. Kelly and his side-kick do right nicely by a brisk thing called "Yes, Indeedy," as well as the title song.
Don Druker, Chicago Reader
The plot is typical fluff -- Kelly and Sinatra join Esther Williams's baseball team at the turn of the century -- but the production values are, as always, worth the price of admission.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
An enjoyable, snappy period baseball musical comedy.
David Cornelius, DVDTalk.com
It's brilliant music, and the comedy is a snap.
Tom Milne, Time Out
What matters is the stylish ebullience, and the excellent score by Roger Edens, Adolph Green and Betty Comden.
John Urbancich, Sun Newspapers of Cleveland
The American pastime was never more fun.
, Film4
Light-as-air Technicolor comedy in which Kelly and Sinatra star as major league players who can hold their own on the dance floor as well as on the pitch.

Read all 9 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Jennifer X

Oh my god Esther Williams is SO annoying, no wonder Gene Kelly was hard on her in rehearsal or whatever. Whenever she's off the screen I breathe a sigh of relief, but then she and Gene Kelly have to get together, and then I just want to die inside.
jay n

Considering the talent both in front of and behind the camera this is a surprisingly bland albeit colorful musical. Everything is bandbox pretty but there is an uninspired air to the whole enterprise. They do manage to get Williams in the pool once even though the theme of the movie… More
Considering the talent both in front of and behind the camera this is a surprisingly bland albeit colorful musical. Everything is bandbox pretty but there is an uninspired air to the whole enterprise. They do manage to get Williams in the pool once even though the theme of the movie is baseball.
AJ V

This is a very fun and funny romantic musical baseball movie starring Sinatra and Kelly.

Cast

            Frank Sinatra as Dennis Ryan

            Esther Williams as K.C. Higgins

            Gene Kelly as Eddie O'Brien

            Betty Garrett as Shirley Delwyn

            Edward Arnold as Joe Lorgan

            Jules Munshin as Nat Goldberg

            Richard Lane as Michael Gilhuly

            Tom Dugan as Slappy Burke

            Dorothy Abbott as Dancer

            Harry Allen
            
            Murray Alper as Zalinka

            Richard Beavers as Wolves' Team

            The Blackburn Twins as Specialty

            Jack Boyle
            
            James Burke as Policeman

            Edward Cassidy as Theodore Roosevelt

            Sol (Saul) Gorss as Steve

            Wilton Graff as Nick Donford

            Mack Gray as Ganster Henchman

            Edna M. Harris as Fan

            Si Jenks as Sam

            Gordon Jones as Senator Catcher

            Henry Kulky as Burly Acrobat

            Joi Lansing as Girls on Train

            Isabel O'Madigan
            
            Eddie Parkes as Dr. Winston

            Gil Perkins
            
            Jack Rice as Room Clerk

            Frank J. Scannell as Reporter

            Almira Sessions
            
            Bob Stephenson
            
            Charles Sullivan
            
            Dick Wessel as Umpire

            Sally Forrest as Dancer

            Douglas Fowley as Karl

            Jackie Jackson as Child

            Hubie Kerns Sr.
            
            Esther Michelson as Fisherman's wife

            Charles Regan as Henchman

            Virginia Bates
            
            Eddie Cutler
            
            Peter Kooy
            
See full cast