IMDb RATING
7.0/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 nominations total
Roy Sievers
- Joe Hardy - #2 - Washington Senators
- (archive footage)
William Adams
- Yankees Team Owner
- (uncredited)
Phil Arnold
- Newsstand Proprietor
- (uncredited)
Robert Banas
- Baseball Player
- (uncredited)
Benjie Bancroft
- Trial Spectator
- (uncredited)
John Barton
- Baseball Game Spectator
- (uncredited)
Yogi Berra
- Self - New York Yankee
- (archive footage)
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
This is another film which would probably be better rated if it wasn't so slavishly compared to its stage original. It does its job just fine, thank you, but you must remember that stage and film are two different media in terms of what is allowed to be shown to the masses in the first place. In the conservative, postwar 50's there was very little controversy shown (or allowed to be shown) in the film and TV media; a Faustian book made into a film musical probably scared the Hays moral office to death! That said, the Abbott-Donen collaboration does a more than competent job of telling the story, and scores an extra base hit in my opinion by retaining most of the Broadway cast of the show in the first place. The casting rumors are legendary: I've read that the studio tried to get Cyd Charisse and possibly even Marilyn Monroe for Lola (assuring box-office returns), but the producers were smart enough to know that the role needed a real dancer-singer-actress combination. In short, it needed Gwen Verdon exclusively. And it got her. If you're still not convinced, take a second look at the exquisite midnight cafe' number, "Two Lost Souls."
I bought this movie not knowing what to expect. The only things I knew were that I LOVED Bob Fosse's choreography from films I had seen previously (Sweet Charity, Cabaret) and I loved to hear Gwen Verdon sing (Sweet Charity soundtrack). This movie was in no way, shape or form a waste of my 14 dollars and 99 cents! Ray Walston (reprising his Broadway role) is delightfully evil as the Devil himself (cleverly disgusing himself as a "Mr. Applegate") who has a warped mind and twisted sense of humor, which is evident in his song "The Good Ol' Days." Tab Hunter is superb as Joe Hardy (or "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo."), the man who sells his soul to become the best long hitter there is, and help his favorite team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant and beating the "damn Yankees." To me, the real star here though, is Gwen Verdon as the seductress, Lola. Not only can this woman act wonderfully, but she has a beautiful singing voice (with a throaty, grainy yet girlish quality) and she is an absolutely FANTASTIC dancer (she's the living embodiment of Fosse's work)! She is the most wonderful dancer/singer/actress ever to grace the Broadway stage and films... it's such a shame they didn't let her play Charity in 1969's Sweet Charity (though Shirley MacLaine did do a good job in the role). She has absolutely become my hero, role model, and favorite actress of all time. Go Gwen! Go Damn Yankees!
Gwen Verdon was a Broadway legend with long gorgeous legs and an undeniable stage and screen charisma. Her legendary stage career earned her four Tony Awards, thanks in no small part to her long time Svengali and ex-husband Bob Fosse. Sadly, the only time Verdon was allowed to bring a role she created on Broadway to the big screen was in DAMN YANKEES, a sparkling film adaptation of the Richard Ross-Jerry Adler musical about a middle-aged baseball fan named Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer)who sells his soul to the devil for his favorite team, the Washington Senators, to win the pennant. The devil, apparently in desperate need of converts, appears in Joe's living room in the form of a Mr. Applegate (Ray Walston)and changes Joe Boyd into Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter), a young and unbeatable baseball player who helps lead the Senators to the pennant until he starts to get homesick and Applegate sends in his # 1 agent/witch named Lola (Verdon) to distract Joe. The film is well-mounted by Broadway legend George Abbott and Verdon and Ralston effectively reprise their Tony-Award winning stage roles and Fosse is even showcased, dancing in a rare duet with wife Verdon on "Who's Got the Pain?" and trust and believe, seeing Fosse and Verdon dance together is worth the price of admission alone. Other great songs in the score include "Whatever Lola Wants", "Heart","Those Were the Good Old Days", and "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo". Not the greatest musical ever made, but Verdon, Ralston, and Fosse's brilliant choreography make it worth watching and re-watching.
All I'm going to do here is rave about a Broadway Legend. We have to be grateful for film, because otherwise some of the theater's greatest performers would exist only in memory. The film version of the 1955 Broadway smash is definitely Gwen Verdon's most memorable screen appearance - as the movie of CALL ME MADAM is probably the closest film approximation we have to what Ethel Merman was like on-stage, so DAMN YANKEES is for Gwen Verdon. No other film performance captures her presence and sparkle, the incredible movements her body was capable of - she's at her best here, and viewers familiar only with the comic roles she played later in her career will be amazed at this consummate musical comedy performer. She's completely infectious and delightful, even when she's not singing or dancing - the lady had PRESENCE, and she displays enough vulnerability to make us like a character who doesn't always do very likable things. She's elegant as she matter-of-factly explains her work methods in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" and has a whopper of a dance duet with Bob Fosse called "Who's Got the Pain?" (they weren't married yet, but she was already becoming his favorite instrument of dance; his was a cameo appearance added to the film - on stage Verdon's partner was another of the show's characters - if you listen closely you'll hear Tab Hunter say "That was wonderful, Fosse!" at the number's conclusion). And she looks gorgeous in a series of colorful costumes, although in her signature number, "Whatever Lola Wants..." the costume grows skimpier and skimpier as she increases her efforts to seduce Tab Hunter. In THE BLUE ANGEL Marlene Dietrich's "Naughty Little Lola" used a chair as a prop to sing about "Falling in Love Again," (which would resonate decades later as Liza Minnelli sang about "Mein Herr")- in DAMN YANKEES Verdon uses a locker-room bench, and this "other Naughty Lola" ends up almost as scantily dressed! A word about Ray Walston's Mr. Applegate: He is NOT a nice guy!
"Damn Yankees" is old-fashioned entertainment, a bit too talky and literal-minded, but great songs and great dancing never get old. It's worth plodding through the more mundane aspects of this film to relish the classic numbers. "Who's Got The Pain?" has nothing whatsoever to do with the plot, but it proves beyond question that Gwen Verdon is the prime interpreter of the Fosse dance style. "Whatever Lola Wants" is actually rather tame in comparison. The highlight is the smoky, seductive duet "Two Lost Souls," where Verdon lets loose with the greatest of ease. The surprise here is Tab Hunter, who holds his own and handles all the Fosse moves just fine. Jean Stapleton's Sister Miller is an early rehearsal for Edith Bunker. I personally prefer the other George Abbott/Stanley Donen collaboration "The Pajama Game," which is livelier. See them both.
Did you know
- TriviaGwen Verdon's dance partner in "Who's Got the Pain?" is Bob Fosse, who was restaging his stage choreography for the film, and took the opportunity to step into the number, which became a rare and treasured opportunity for Broadway fans to see the artist and his muse perform together. Verdon and Fosse married in 1960.
- GoofsWhen Joe is introduced to the manager and the reporter at the ballpark, there is a palm tree in the background, although the scene takes place in Washington DC.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Diamonds on the Silver Screen (1992)
- SoundtracksSix Months Out of Every Year
Music by Richard Adler
Lyrics by Jerry Ross
Performed by Shannon Bolin, Robert Shafer, and chorus
- How long is Damn Yankees?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Cette satanée Lola
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime
- 1h 51m(111 min)
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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