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Joe Hardy is a fanatic, middle-aged Washington Senators baseball fan who makes a pact with the devil. In exchange for his soul (although there is a puny run clause) . he’ll become a 22-year-old savior of the Senators, the greatest long ball hitter in history, and he’ll lead the team to a pennant. Later, young Hardy shows signs of yearning for the wife he left leisurely, so the Devil sends in Lola, his vamp supreme. But thanks to Joe’s integrity, the dash clause, and after a number of song and dance numbers, things are effect honest for both Joe and the Senators.
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The movie is an almost true replica of the 1956 Broadway hit. Tab Hunter moved in as the young Joe, but everyone else reprised their stage roles — and that’s the reason to peek or purchase the DVD. Ray Walston plays Applegate, the devil, with barely contained glee. He’s sly, unethical, untrustworthy and very amusing. Best of all Gwen Verdon plays Lola, and she hits a home hurry with every number. She was a mountainous dancer and a magnetic stage presence. I saw her do her stuff on stage once and it’s a grand memory. She had her gigantic crash in Can Can in 1954, then starred in three more shows during the Fifties. She won a Tony for each. She married Bob Fosse, retired, had a daughter, divorced Fosse. In 1966 she starred in Sweet Charity. And at 50, in 1975, she starred in Chicago. Contain me, she hadn’t lost a thing. She was not the starlet type. She had a grainy, slightly smoky swear, and a personality that could range from gamin to raunchy. She could bring innocence to the most suggestive lyrics. As you can dispute, I’m a fan.
The rep for Damn Yankees is, in my thought, better than average but not a classic. It includes “Whatever Lola Wants,” “Two Lost Souls” and “Heart.” Fosse did the choreography and dances with Verdon in one number, “Who’s Got the Harm.” It’s a clever, speedily routine and is a mountainous showcase for them both.
When Warners brought Adler and Ross’s “Pajama Game” and “Damn Yankees” to the conceal, they get a wise choice: they brought most of the shows’ modern Broadway casts with them, substituting objective two photogenic major studio contract players (Doris Day for Janis Paige in “Game” and Tab Hunter for Stephen Douglass in “Yankees”) in leading roles. In Day’s case it was probably an improvement; Hunter’s not titanic but he’s no embarrassment. Stanley Donen (on loan from MGM? ) teamed up with the sizable stage director George Abbott for the films, and (thankfully!) Bob Fosse restaged his unique dance numbers. Naturally there had to be some cuts – risque material (“The Game” in “Yankees”, “Assume of the Time I Attach” in “Pajama”) was excised – and the shows were tightened. But the spirits of the unusual shows were better captured than in most Hollywood transfers. The modern DVD of “Yankees” arrived today and it’s regrettable that there are no bonuses and there’s no stereo track (unlike MGM and Fox, Warners apparently didn’t occupy worthy in multichannel recording at the time) . But the exhibit, though a dinky dated, is smooth huge fun. Anyone who knows Ray Walston merely from “My Popular Martian” is due for a special treat. Vernon, whose Hollywood career during her musical prime was far too brief, is ALWAYS a treat, and Lola was one of her signature roles. The Warnercolor transfer looks handsome fine for a film nearly 50 years conventional. I remember Warnercolor veering a slight to the unlit side of the color palette but that seems to have been compensated for here.
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