A waste of 90 minutes of my life

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Plot--Players on a professional baseball team try to hold together even as their team is taken over by a strong-willed young woman (Williams). Meanwhile, two players (Kelly and Sinatra) are attracted to the new owner, while a ruthless gambler (Arnold) manipulates them for his benefit. Lively, colorful musical from MGM's golden period. Kelly and Sinatra's dance numbers light up the screen even though the musical selections are largely undistinguished. This was Sinatra's career low period and he does look like he needs a good meal, which the movie parodies. Still his voice entertains, while his soft shoe is almost as good as Kelly's. It's a typical light musical plot of boys and girls meeting up, but then things get too serious near the end and go somewhat off track. Meanwhile, Mermaid Williams looks luscious in her gowns and even gets wet in a brief pool sequence. Still she manages the dance numbers, and without a back- stroke, no less. Williams may add glamour, but Garrett adds real spark. I just wish she got more screen time. On the other hand, the comical Munchin appears a matter of taste, failing to add much to the Kelly-Sinatra combo.All in all, the Busby Berkeley musical shows earmarks of that golden period, even if it doesn't quite obtain front rank status.

I never caught this movie in its entirety when it aired on TCM, so I pulled out my DVD of the film and gave it a try. It is basically a typical (but wonderful) MGM movie musical of that era that centers around a baseball team called the Wolves, where Kelly, Sinatra, and Munshin are the star players ("O'Brien to Ryan to Goldberg"). Esther Williams' character becomes suddenly more involved with the team than they'd like, and Betty Garrett's Shirley falls hard for Sinatra's Denny Ryan.All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and found myself humming along to the tunes, and chuckling at some of the funny dialogue. Naturally, Esther has a short swimming scene (I expected as much), Frank falls for Gene's girl initially and then changes his mind, and Betty Garrett is absolutely adorable. Look out for Jules Munshin (whom you will recognize as the exasperated waiter in "Easter Parade; 1948").Recommended if you need to smile and put your mind on hold. But then that is true of most of the MGM musicals of the Dream Factory era.

The Wolves baseball team gets steamed when they find they have been inherited by one K.C. Higgins, a suspected "fathead" who intends to take an active interest in running the team. But K.C. turns outs to be a beautiful woman who really knows her baseball.There were many MGM musicals, and there were a few pairings of Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly. Allegedly, Sinatra at this time had bad box office success, except when paired with Kelly. I can see why. Kelly is really the stronger of the two in this film, and Sinatra would not come into his own until his later tough guy movies in the 50s and 60s.This should not be seen as a classic, but it was a good showpiece for Esther Williams, who seems to be largely forgotten these days (2015). Who even remembers her as a swimming mermaid?

You would think that any musical starring Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra has to be superb, but 'Take me out to the ballgame' is proof that even megastars are capable of the occasional misstep. The only catchy number in the entire film is the title track, and I guarantee that you will not leave the theater humming any of the others.The big problem with 'Take me out to the ballgame' is that the writers decided at the outset that the principal characters, Eddie O'brien (Kelly) and Dennis Ryan (Sinatra), would be more entertaining if they were portrayed as a bunch of buffoons instead of actualized human beings. Sinatra in particular is portrayed as Kelly's spineless buddy, who immediately crumples to the ground whenever socked (many times quite lightly) in the head. It's quite deflating to see an icon who usually plays manly roles, reduced to a certified wimp, but unfortunately that's what happens here.The plot takes quite a long time to pick up. O'brien and Ryan are the stars on the fictional major league baseball team, the 'Wolves', circa early 1900s. During the off-season, they're vaudevillians, which accounts for all the song and dance routines throughout the film. The big joke which constitutes the inciting incident of the film, is that the Wolves are taken over by a new owner, K.C. Higgins, who (wouldn't you know it) is a woman (played by Esther Williams). Before she reveals her identity, O'brien and Ryan speak disparagingly of the new owner in her presence, with the team's manager playing a little game of Charades in a fruitless attempt to get them to shut up.The film's first act involves O'brien devising a scheme to 'break camp'—the players have a 10 o'clock curfew and risk a $50 fine if they're found outside their hotel room during the late hours. O'brien eggs Ryan on to ask Higgins out on a date and he ends up serenading her with a romantic song. O'brien's plan is ask two other girls out for himself and Goldberg (Jules Munshin), the third member of the dynamic infield combination of O'brien to Ryan to Goldberg (an obvious play on the Dead Ball era's famed 'Tinkers to Evers to Chance'). O'brien makes it clear that once the three couples find themselves out on the town, he'll have free reign to go after Higgins himself. Unfortunately for O'brien, Higgins sees through his ruse and ends up fining him the $50 for breaking the players' curfew after he too serenades her past the 10 PM deadline.Because of this, O'brien basically sours on Higgins and it's not until a plot development late in the second act of the film, that O'brien begins pursuing the team's owner again. Meanwhile, Ryan falls for the ditzy Shirley (Betty Garrett) who basically has been stalking the hapless ballplayer all over the ball park. Why Ryan falls for the goofy Shirley is never really explained, unless of course you realize that Ryan is just as silly as the girl who has fallen in love with him.It's not until the midpoint that we're introduced to the true antagonist of the story, Joe Lorgan, a slick gambler played by Edward Arnold. Lorgan lures O'brien into a scheme, offering him double his salary if he rehearses for a vaudeville show he's producing. Lorgan's true intent is to tire O'brien out so he's no longer able to play effectively on the ball field and then he can bet $20,000 on the Wolves' opponent during the final playoff. Higgins mistakenly comes to believe that O'brien's poor play on the field at the crucial hour is due to her rejection of him rather than exhaustion from all the rehearsals. But when Lorgan confronts O'brien with Higgins present, and reveals that he's been rehearsing every night, she benches him for not only breaking curfew but basically betraying her.O'brien won't be undone and conscripts a bunch of kids to root for him to be re-instated during the final playoff game. Higgins relents and it looks like O'brien will be back in, but Ryan, fearing that the gamblers will do his buddy harm, beans O'brien with a real baseball during their vaudeville routine before the game. Lorgan sends his two henchman into the clubhouse, posing as physicians, who rough him up even more, as he lies unconscious after being beaned by Ryan. O'brien only wakes up after Higgins whispers in his ear that Ryan is getting all the glory while he's off the field. O'brien's jealousy propels him to hit the winning home run but ridiculously continues to chase Ryan even after they've both crossed the plate! If this isn't silly enough, Kelly and Sinatra sing one last number but step out of character, pronouncing that Kelly has gotten Williams and Sinatra, Barrett. The little chemistry between Kelly and Williams is borne out by Williams' account of her experience on the set. According to Williams, she was treated poorly by Kelly, who felt uncomfortable because she was taller than him.In the end, it's the poor script that sinks 'Take me out to the ballgame'. Should we really care about characters who can do nothing more than engage in a petty rivalry while prancing about in a series of base slapstick routines? If there is one saving grace, it's the excellent work of the costume department. It's a joy to see such colorful costumes that evoke the bygone era of our national pastime.