Kill the Umpire

I saw this film over 20 years ago for the first and only time on an old reel to reel projector. I have been unable to find anyone who can produce it in video form, but if I could I would surely make it a part of my collection. It is one of the best baseball films ever made. William Bendix gave a great performance and the chase scene at the end was a classic. I hope that somehow it can be found to be in circulation. I love the old classics of the 30's, 40's and 50's. This was a fun film.

This is a really a funny movie, something Director Lloyd Bacon produced by the carload back in "the classic era." Bacon's movies were fast-moving and entertaining, and this was no exception. If you liked William Bendix in his mid-1950s TV show, "Life Of Riley," you'll like this film.

Bacon had an especially good year in comedies in 1950 with this movie, "The Fuller Brush Girl" with Lucille Ball, and "The Good Humor Man" with Jack Carson. The director must have been a baseball fan because the year before (1949), he directed Ray Milland in another absurd-but-hilarious movie called "It Happens Every Spring." Whether you enjoy baseball or, you'll get a lot of laughs out of it, too. It's just simply a goofy and likable comedy, filled with the kind of characters you'd see in a late '40s/early '50s comedy. What's nice about the older films, too, is that you actually see whole families: dad, mom and a couple of kids.

Actually, you more you know about baseball, the more you'll just shake your in disbelief at some of the things you'll see in this story because they could never happen today, or even back in 1950. (i.e. a fan coming out of the stands and punching an umpire several times over the course of a minute, and then ump slugging him....and nobody arrested?) Anyway, Bendix is very good and the supporting case, led by underrated actor Tom D'Andrea, is fun to watch, too. D'Andrea and Bendix reminded me almost of Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in "Some Like It Hot." They worked well as a team and must have known that because they paired up in the aforementioned TV series, too, later in the decade.

This film also will remind older film buffs of silent movie comedies with a wild scene at the end you have to see to believe. (Hint: Bendix winds up "water skiing down city streets, being pulled by an ambulance).

It's sheer lunacy.

This is one of (if not the) best baseball movies ever made. I remember watching it every spring as I grew up, and never tired of it. I can't understand why it has never been released to video, or why it never is played on the classic movie channels.

If you can find it, buy it (or record it), you won't be sorry.

Bill Johnson loves baseball, so much that his following causes him to be fired from many jobs and starts to drive his wife, Betty, nuts. Bill's father in law, a former big league umpire, enrolls him in an umpire school, but Bill's main pastime at ball games is to yell at umpires so he doesn't embrace the idea. Bill does his best to get the coach at the school to send him home, but does later see the importance of umpires in the game and starts taking the game seriously. He graduates and is assigned, with his friend Roscoe Snooker, to the Texas League, where he painfully finds out how seriously Texans take their baseball. Bill calls a close play at the plate in a championship game and the home team fans want his head and Bill has to find a way to umpire the next game without getting killed beforehand. This was a very enjoyable movie with a fun and pleasant script. Bendix and D'Andrea having the same chemistry and performances from their Life of Riley days, while Merkel, Collins, and Frawley are fine support. Decent special effects camera-work with Bendix having to see double at times. A real treat. Rating, 8.

I like many others, first saw this on TV literally decades ago. I loved it. It made such an impression on me that I have looked for it off and on over the years but I haven't found it. Well wouldn't you know, I try a short cat nap late in the evening before I get a midnight snack, I wake up and page thru the listings on the channel guide. There is the title I haven't seen in 40 years. "Kill The Umpire". However, I notice that it started about 15-20 minutes ago so I didn't get to see the beginning. Then a little while later the dog wanted out, so I've got to mess with him. Long story short... I caught what I could of the movie. I've told so many people about how great it was. This was from an era of hope that swept across America after WW 2. We still had sandlot baseball, people still got dressed up to go to the ball games, we still had dinner with the family all at the same time, and people still offered second chances. This film was filled with Americana. I really miss the America it portrays even though I wasn't born until the year after this was released. I'm glad I got to watch it again. I hope someone makes a DVD of this.