Goethe's Faust and baseball are winningly combined in Stanley Donen's lively 1958 musical adapted from George Abbott and Douglass Wallop's Tony award-winning stage production (based on Wallop's novel The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant) about an aging Washington Senator's fan named Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) who sells his soul to the devil (Ray Walston, reprising his Broadway role) to ensure a pennant victory over the "damn" Yankees. The devil accomplishes this by turning Boyd into ace ballplayer Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter), whose record-breaking batting average and virtuoso fielding bring the team to the brink of seasonal victory, before he's forced to make a choice between sticking with baseball or going back to his loving wife (Shannon Bolin). Naturally, the devil dangles a few carrots in front of Hardy, including the vamp Lola (Gwen Verdon, also from the Broadway original), whose sensuous number "Whatever Lola Wants" is one of the song highlights, along with "(You Gotta Have) Heart" and "Who's Got the Pain?" (a song and dance number with Verdon and a young Bob Fosse). Also look for Jean Stapleton (Edith Bunker from All in the Family) as one of Boyd's wife's friends. Nominated for an Oscar for its score, Damn Yankees bows on DVD in a sparkling digital transfer with solid Dolby Digital mono sound, but--unfortunately--no extras beyond the trailer. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)
Damn Yankees
Warner, 111 min., not rated, DVD: $19.98 Volume 20, Issue 1
Damn Yankees
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