Rawhide

Amusing western starring baseball legend Lou Gehrig. The Iron Horse plays himself in this as he heads Out West to live on his (fictional) sister's ranch. There he joins forces with singing cowboy lawyer Smith Ballew to battle perennial heavy Cy Kendall and Arthur Loft, who have a nice little protection racket going. Fun stuff, although not always for the right reasons. Simple coloring book-level of intellect and craftsmanship went into this, but I can't say it isn't entertaining in its way. It's a low budget oater with a baseball player as the star. No one should expect Stagecoach.

I noticed in the credits of Rawhide before the film started it listed that Lou Gehrig was appearing in the film due to the arrangement of Christy Walsh. Walsh was Gehrig's business manager, he got Gehrig as a client through his team mate Babe Ruth whose business affairs Walsh also managed. I guess this western was another money making project for Gehrig to do off season. In fact the film begins with Lou in New York's Grand Central Station telling reporters he's off to live with his sister who has a ranch in Montana and if likes it he's through with baseball.

Not exactly being a trained thespian, Lou played the only role he could have played, Lou Gehrig. When he arrives in Montana, Lou discovers his sister is being squeezed by the Cattleman's Association which in that neck of the woods is nothing more than a protection racket. In fact he's got the best line in the film when he tells the bad guys that hearing their operation and how it works he has a feeling he's back in New York right now.

Lou and sister Evalyn Knapp get a lawyer to fight them. But not just any lawyer, a singing cowboy lawyer in the person of Smith Ballew. Between the three of them, the villains are of course routed.

In real life Lou Gehrig was an only child and in real life he did go to spring training with the Yankees in 1939. But it was his last one because that disease that bears his name was starting to take its toll. In fact during the second half of the 1938 season and the World Series against the Cubs, Lou's statistics fell off dramatically.

As a western star, Lou Gehrig would not have given John Wayne any concern about a rivalry. But I would point out that in the film the Jackie Robinson Story where Jackie played himself, he was plainly ill at ease in front of the camera. And that was a project dreamed up by Branch Rickey who was running the Dodgers at the time.

Rawhide is a curiosity and certainly would have been long forgotten, but for the presence of a sports legend.

Take away the participation of the great Gehrig and this is just another Saturday morning kid movie that youngsters shelled out nickels for in the day. From a baseball perspective it's most interesting to see Lou right after the 1937 season, his last one in which he put up the kind of statistics that he was known for. As the 1938 season went on his level of play began to slip and the next year, visibly weakened he left the game. ALS, the disease that bears his name, took him only 3 years after this film was made.

Not really perfect, but ...

Robert Redford starred in a movie called "The Natural." I read the book; it was stupid; I didn't see the movie. The book was about a baseball player. Well, Lou Gehrig WAS a baseball player, but he was really a natural as an actor.

Some other commenter called Gehrig as stiff as his bat. Wrong! Gehrig was so relaxed, so -- that word again -- natural in this cowboy movie, it is more than a shame, more than a tragedy that this was his last year of an active life, that soon after making "Rawhide," Lou Gehrig developed the disease that now bears his name.

He appeared in front of a camera as if he'd been doing it for years.

The nominal star was that incredibly talented Smith Ballew, possessor of one of the most beautiful voices to appear on screen, especially in Westerns. He was a very tall and good-looking man, with real grace as a cowboy, and genuine singing talent. In fact, he made hundreds of records in several genres.

But even Smith Ballew was at least slightly over-shadowed by the great, the legendary Lou Gehrig, one of the most honored baseball players of all time.

In "Rawhide," he showed he could have anticipated other baseballers such as Chuck Connors and had a whole career in motion pictures. He is thoroughly likable, very personable and charming, and seems as if he's been performing for years. What a shame he wasn't allowed to keep doing so.

"Rawhide" is about Lou's retiring to the ranch his "sister" has bought for the two of them. It would have perhaps worked even better if another name had been applied to the character, but it still works well for "Lou Gehrig" and his sister.

That sister is beautifully played by the beautiful Evalyn Knapp. She gives such a charming performance here, I am both angered and saddened she didn't become the huge star she obviously was capable of being.

"Rawhide" works partly because its three stars are so believable and likable, and partly because there are superbly talented co-stars and atmosphere players, and many of them.

B Westerns are so much better when there are many smaller parts and especially when they are so excellently performed by such a superlative cast as this movie has.

"Rawhide" is a special treat because it's Lou Gehrig's only fictional movie talking appearance. He could have been a major star if his life had not taken such a tragic turn.

He even looks like John Wayne in some of the stills, with his 10-gallon hat and craggy good looks -- and not like Gary Cooper who played him in the biopic.

"Rawhide" is available at YouTube in a not-great print, but it's good enough for you to appreciate the clever and well-written story that is very ably directed and that even has some really nice, non-intrusive, music. I highly recommend "Rawhide."

While not Oscar deserving, Gehrig did a commendable job, considering it was his first (and last) movie. The movie was made a year before he retired from baseball due to the disease that claimed his life two years later.