DAVID BIANCULLI

Founder / Editor

ERIC GOULD

Associate Editor

LINDA DONOVAN

Assistant Editor

Contributors

ALEX STRACHAN

MIKE HUGHES

KIM AKASS

MONIQUE NAZARETH

ROGER CATLIN

GARY EDGERTON

TOM BRINKMOELLER

GERALD JORDAN

NOEL HOLSTON

 
 
 
 
 
FLICK PICKS: Play ball!
October 25, 2010  | By Diane Werts
 
alibi-ike-joe-e-brown.jpg[UPDATE: If you missed TCM's Oct. 26 lineup, they'll have another baseball slate next Tuesday, Nov. 2. This one adds 1988's Eight Men Out and 1942's It Happened in Flatbush, while encoring Ronald Reagan in The Winning Team, William Bendix in The Babe Ruth Story, and both Joe E. Brown comedies. Check the full lineup here.]

Psych up for World Series 2010 with an entire Tuesday of baseball movies on Turner Classic Movies. From '30s Joe E. Brown programmers to gritty '50s docudramas of famous players, it's worth setting the DVR to TCM from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.

Here's the lineup pegged to Wednesday's first pitch in the Texas Rangers-San Francisco Giants series. (And did you notice, neither team started life in its current city?)

Tuesday, Oct. 26 on TCM (all times ET):

6 a.m. -- Elmer the Great (1933): Joe E. Brown mugs it up as a hot hitter who gets himself mixed up with gamblers.

7:30 a.m. -- Alibi Ike (1935): Brown again as a rookie phenom with Olivia de Havilland (in her movie debut) as his love interest, adapted from the Ring Lardner story.

9 a.m. -- Big Leaguer (1953): Edward G. Robinson helps kids trying out for the New York Giants in this rarely seen curio.

angels-in-the-outfield-1951.jpg

10:30 a.m. -- Kill the Umpire (1950): William Bendix goes behind the plate in this lighthearted tale of the national pastime at its height.

Noon -- Angels in the Outfield (1951): Yes, that's a nun. The original lays it on thicker than the 1994 remake, with Janet Leigh as a reporter covering Paul Douglas as the Pirates manager who sees the error of his irate ways with celestial help.

2 p.m. -- Fear Strikes Out (1957): Anthony Perkins was the right choice to capture the mental anguish of Jimmy Piersall, driven mad by his ball-obsessed dad (Karl Malden).

4 p.m. -- The Winning Team (1952): Ronald Reagan as alcoholic pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander is redeemed in Hollywood schmaltz by adoring wife Doris Day.

6 p.m. -- The Babe Ruth Story (1948): William Bendix played the pitcher turned home-run king just as the real-life Ruth was dying. (He was sick already, but this quickie flick didn't help.)

 
 
 
 
 
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