Headin' Home

This film which purports to chronicle the childhood of the Babe is almost entirely a fabrication....he didn't grow up in some small town....he grew up near the waterfront docks of Baltimore,MD for the first few years of his life where his father owned and ran a saloon that catered to a very rough crowd.Young George was largely unsupervised most of the time and was continually getting into one scrape or another...as a result George Sr had him enrolled in the St. Mary's Industrial School for boys and pretty much stayed out of young George's life from then on...I'm sure this film's version made for better publicity for the up and coming Babe as well as for the Yankees...Colonel Ruppert was very mindful of his team's public image and making a film about the real version of Babe's young life at that time would have had a lot of negative consequences

Telling a simple tale of Babe Ruth's life in his small hometown just before his rise to fame, the intertitles relating the story as it is supposedly known by an "oldtimer" from Babe Ruth's birthplace of Haverlock. Following the goings-on in the town including stuff about various locals, Babe's life at home with his mother and foster-sister (an adorable little gal known as "Pigtails" who sports braids that stick out on each side of her head) and Babe's interest in a local woman who appears to be rather fickle. Babe is seen doing homespun stuff like carving baseball bats out of kindling, letting dogs loose that have been caged by the local dog catcher, and playing in a home town game, batting for the other team!

This is a mildly entertaining film - mainly of interest for the view of a young (and fairly trim) Babe Ruth, who plays himself in this. He gives a somewhat bland performance, his facial expression barely changes no matter what is happening on screen. Nevertheless, he has his charm and comes across as a real nice guy - it is certainly very interesting to see him. Some humor is attempted at in this film, via the title cards - but it pretty much falls flat. The backwoods way of speaking as told by the old man who narrates this comes across as slightly annoying - the word "wuz" is used over and over again, you get the idea. Interesting shot of a sea of men in straw hats pouring into the ball park - and I agree, Pigtails (not to mention her cute little dog) steals the film. The print of this, as seen on the Kino DVD, looks very nice, with a good deal of contrast - the music is an old-fashioned organ score that suits the film. All in all, not a great film - but for baseball and Babe Ruth fans, a must see.

Although the real force of his personality does not come across on screen until the movies could talk, Babe Ruth made a screen debut in this amiable film, purportedly about his life in the small town of Haverlock until him making good with what was his new team in 1920, the New York Yankees.

In fact Babe Ruth grew up on the mean streets of Baltimore where his dad ran a tavern and the family lived on the premises. It's a stone's throw from the Baltimore Orioles new ballpark at the old Camden Rail Yards and the building is a tourist attraction. He had hardly the idyllic small town boyhood we see here.

In fact when his autobiography became a film starring William Bendix as the Babe, with all of that film's weaknesses it does hit more of the real story than Heading Home.

It wasn't uncommon for many sports personalities of the time to make a few extra bucks appearing in films. Those were not the days of multi- million dollar contracts and while Babe became the highest paid baseball player of his day eventually with $80,000.00, that was almost a decade in coming.

Heading Home is a film made to exploit Babe Ruth's fame and if it weren't for him it would hardly merit any notice at all today.

Babe Ruth (as Babe) helps his foster sister Frances Victory (as Pigtails) get her dog Herman out of the Dog Pound, where he is brought for having no flea license or tail lights. Mr. Ruth is heels over head in love with Ruth Taylor (as Mildred Tobin). Professionally, he wants to be a baseball player. He loves baseball more than eating. Eventually, he'll become accomplished at both. Pitcher William Sheer (as Harry Knight) is an embezzler. James A. Marcus and Ralf Harolde impress as father and son Tobin. This film is very silly.

Babe Ruth fans must have known this was all hogwash in 1920, so it's difficult to ascertain the film's point… possibly, this was a proposed film about a baseball player; after Ruth signed on, the story was probably tailored for the famous baseball star. Certainly, people knew, for example, of Ruth's longer history with the Red Sox. It's interesting to see Babe Ruth as he looked back then, but the film isn't very good, and the better performances are by some of Ruth's supporting cast.

*** Headin' Home (1920) Lawrence C. Windom ~ Babe Ruth, Ruth Taylor, William Sheer

For anyone wanting to find out about the real life Babe Ruth, this "true story" should be avoided at all costs! Created in 1920, this film purports to be about the Bambino and his rise to fame, but frankly almost none of it bears any similarity to the slugger. In the film, he's a small town boy who is shy and unassuming. In real life, he grew up in the "rustic small town" of Baltimore, Maryland and was a bit of a juvenile delinquent--but I guess this image makes for a rather unappealing film! Now the fact that they played so fast and loose with the facts wasn't totally awful--after all, many of our heroes of times past have an aura of fiction about them. But the fiction they created is so schmaltzy and saccharine that it becomes almost laughable. Babe does practically everything in the film but walk on water and heal the sick! The fact that many at the time believed this is what is so amazing about this film. The only truth in the film is that the writers describe his as ugly--something I am surprised Ruth allowed. I guess he wasn't too hung up about his looks.

Speaking of looks, Babe is quite young in the film--and rather trim after his first season with the Yankees. Oddly, though, he'd been a very famous pitcher with the Red Sox but this is never alluded to in the film--but his prowess with the bat sure is. In fact, in the movie he made the bat himself--something reminiscent of Robert Redford's character in THE NATURAL.

Now I am sure you gather that the historical aspects of this film are dubious, at best. As for the entertainment value and quality of the film, it's not bad--especially for 1920. While people today will most likely laugh at the silly and over-the-top plot, the audience of 1920 ate it up and the film was well-produced and kept my interest.

Overall, I give it a 7 as entertainment and a 1 for historical accuracy!