YMMV / The Babe Ruth Story

• Condemned by History:
  • At the time of its release in 1948, the film was critically praised, and one would be hard-pressed to find a negative review, one of which was from soccer-loving England. However, more recent reviews have been overwhelmingly negative, with the film frequently ending up on lists of Worst Sports Movies, Worst Biopics, and even Worst Movies Ever.
  • Bendix's portrayal of Ruth was praised at the time, with one critic even calling his performance "flawless", despite the fact that Bendix clearly portrays Ruth as not exactly firing on all cylinders. Nowadays, modern viewers take issue with such a legendary baseball player being portrayed as a bumbling simpleton, viewing Bendix's performance as an insult to Babe Ruth's real smarts and athletic skill, with even The Cinema Snob unfavorably comparing it to Wired, before mentioning that The Babe Ruth Story at least actually likes the person it's about.
• Glurge: Such a Historical Hero Upgrade was given to Ruth that the film comes across as a propaganda film. Ruth is depicted as a Kindhearted Simpleton and Friend to All Children that magically heals a sick boy by saying hi to him, while the real Ruth's vices such as his penchant for drinking and womanizing are completely glossed over.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The film ends with Ruth undergoing experimental treatments for his throat cancer, noting that there's a chance he will survive. The real Babe Ruth died three weeks after the film's premier.
• Retroactive Recognition: Jack Dunne is played by William Frawley prior to his Star-Making Role of Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy.
• Values Dissonance: The Asian storeowner in the start of the film is very heavily stereotyped, wearing a traditional turn-of-century Chinese uniform and his "Chinese" dialogue consists of incoherent Chinese-sounding babbling that one would expect to come from Donald Duck. His anger at Herman Ruth Jr. for breaking one of his store's windows isn't even civilly discussed, with Ruth Sr. repeatedly shouting at him to shut up whenever he speaks before merely slamming down a mug of beer in front of the guy to make him finally shut up.

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