The Babe

A biopic of Babe Ruth, the sultan of swat and baseball's Don Bradman. Goodman gives a splendid performance as the fat-boy genius who loved life and single-handedly rescued the USA's summer sporting obsession between the wars after the Chicago White Sox scandal of 1919. Alvarado and McGillis provide strong support in a film which shows Ruth in warts-and-all mode: a boy abandoned to the priests aged seven as uncontrollable and incorrigible; a man who ate and drank like a pig, fought with fans and officials, cheated on his wife, but had a touching generosity, kindness and insecurity that stemmed from his hideous childhood. Surprisingly interesting, even if you don't know a home run from a stolen base.