Crazylegs

Elroy 'Crazylegs' Hirsch stars as himself in this biopic. Joan Vohs plays his loyal wife, and Lloyd Nolan plays his high-school coach and narrates. And the players of the Los Angeles Rams play themselves.

It's not unknown for people to play themselves in their biographical movies. Jackie Robinson did, Babe Ruth made a career out of playing the Bambino, and Audie Murphy highlighted his career by playing himself. Hirsch had a minor career as a movie actor about this time. Director Francis D. Lyon keeps his dialogue short and moves the camera off him quickly so he doesn't have to challenge his acting abilities, save near the end, when he gives an inspirational locker-room speech to his team mates.

In fact the movie seems to be mostly clips of Hirsch accepting awards, and newsreel shots of his gridiron accomplishments, with more narrating by in-movie sports commenters. It's not surprising, therefore, that it was nominated for a Best Editing Oscar, or that Lyon was the director; he had begun as an editor, and won an Oscar before he turned to directing.

This is a basic biography of eventual football Hall of Farmer Elroy Hirsch. It details some of the inures he had to overcome before joining the Los Angeles Ram. The biographer is pretty straight forward. The film is made more interesting due to the historic footage of Crazy Legs going back to his days as a university player. Many of the great players from that time are in this film especially those on the Rams, black players like Deacon Towler and Tank Younger, Hofers like Tom Fears and Norm Van Brocklin. This film is way better than expected and should be of great interest to football fans. Review too short. Your kidding.

Hokey film in which famed football player Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch plays himself in the story of his own life. The tone of the whole thing is that cheesy rah-rah Americana popular in those post-WWII years, but there's something sort of endearing about the film and it goes down easy enough. A large part of that is due to Hirsch himself, who wasn't a professional actor but who exudes a genuine earnestness that's disarming.

The film is full of footage from Hirsch's actual games spliced in amongst the fictional scenes, which probably accounts for the film editing Oscar that Cotton Warburton received for this otherwise obscure movie.

Grade: B.

Elroy Hirsch starred in football in the 1940s and 50s. He plays himself in this biopic, detailing his challenges in overcoming injuries and switching positions from running back to receiver. What elevates the film are two factors. One is the brilliant film editing. Not only do you get to see solid montages of Hirsch training and competing, there's real film of Hirsch playing in the actual games. The other plus is Lloyd Nolan's performance as Hirsch's high school coach. The coach continues on as a mentor and friend for Hirsch throughout his career. Nolan even narrates the film. It's a good watch. The 90 minute length is just right.