The Great American Pastime

Anyone expecting Little Big Leagur or the Bad News Bears or even Moochie And The Little League will be gravely disappointed. The Great American Pasttime is a pleasant but strictly sub par family comedy about a lawyer with wife and son who decides to coach a Little League team. This was the 50s and the idea of the Little League baseball teams for kids was fairly new.

Tom Ewell is our harrassed and harried protagonist with wife Anne Francis who upon hearing his son's team needs a coach volunteers. He's a lawyer and that kind of training doesn't fit you for athletics.

This was the staid 50s so the concept of sports rage hadn't taken hold. Still just about every father feels he could do a better job, but note none of them volunteer.

There's some romantic rivalry as Francis doesn't like the idea of Ewell spending time with widow Ann Miller and her son ho is one of his players. Clueless Tom makes a hash out of that.

The 50s saw many idiot fathers on the big and small screen/ Rerll was only one of them.

This is certainly NOT a movie that will change your life or overwhelm you with big stars, action or exotic locales! However, considering how modest the pretensions are, this is actually a very nice family film that is worth a look. In many ways, this film reminds me of films like MR. SCOUTMASTER and THE PRIVATE WAR OF MAJOR BENSON--all are amiable enough films about a man being mismatched with kids--along with rather predictable results. Some will no doubt be unimpressed, but I actually like a film like this on occasion--just a bit of old fashion fun with Tom Ewell and the rest of the cast.

By the way, Mr. Ewell was just fine in the film, but considering he had a gorgeous wife like Ann Francis, I don't know why all he ever seemed to think about was baseball!!

Bruce Hallerton (Tom Ewell) wants to spend more time with his son Dennis. He signs them both with Little League baseball. Coaching turns out to be less fun than he imagined. His wife Betty (Anne Francis) gets jealous of beautiful single parent Doris Patterson (Ann Miller).

The trailer seems to be selling Tom Ewell after his great turn in The Seven Year Itch. I think they missed the star of that movie. Anyways, I wouldn't mind spending more time on the field with the kids and less time with the adults. This needs to be The Bad News Bears. It's not. I can't tell who's who with the kids. They are barely characters. This is more about the adults and they are not that fun. There are a few comedic moments, but it's far too few. Anne Francis is impossibly beautiful with her hair all done up. I don't actually like Bruce and the couple is very 50's. I'm just waiting for the movie to turn the focus on the kids.

In the mid- to late-'50s, Tom Ewell made a series of movies opposite the bombshell sex symbols of the era: Marilyn Monroe, Sheree North, Anne Francis (this movie), Jayne Mansfield and Dina Merrill. Ewell was in his late 40s, and the oldest of the actresses was in her late 20s, and most were younger. Every time I see one of these movies, with Ewell as "the Everyman character" and his co-star as the Dream Goddess, I think "Oh no, not another one!" And I also think of a line from a documentary about older actresses (y'know, >29) in Hollywood: "Women must always be beautiful, while men can have a face like a foot!" Tom Ewell *is* that man.

The ONLY reason to watch this movie is Anne Francis. She's very good, funny, I would even say perfect as a 1950s housewife. In fact, I plan on seeing more of her movies she made after that one. Tom Ewell is just not a good comedic actor, IMO. I didn't find him funny in this or Seven Year Itch. Oh, and the dog. The dog in this is also pretty funny, w/o really doing much. Was it the director or actor's dog? So bizarre, but welcome. 😊 As a baseball movie, there's not a lot there for a little league movie - they could have done so much more with the kids playing ball (and failing, ala Bad News Bears), but I guess it's not their movie.