The Babe

Thanks to Arthur Hiller's smoothly proficient direction, Haskell Wexler's evocative cinematography and an ingratiating performance by John Goodman, THE BABE goes down easy, like hot dogs and a beer at the ballpark on a summer afternoon. All these elements successfully obscure a lackluster script that plays fast and loose with the facts of Babe Ruth's life, transforming Ruth from the brilliant but emotionally troubled ball player that he was to a bacchanalian, redneck god.

The episodic scenario follows the life of George Herman Ruth (Goodman) for a period of thirty-three years, beginning with young Ruth's abandonment by his parents. His father deposits him at a C...