The Pride of the Yankees

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The Pride of the Yankees
Movie Poster from 1942
Directed by	Sam Wood
Produced by	Samuel Goldwyn
Written by	Paul Gallico (original story) Jo Swerling & Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenplay)
Starring	Gary Cooper Teresa Wright Walter Brennan Babe Ruth Dan Duryea
Music by	Leigh Harline
Cinematography	Rudolph Maté
Editing by	Dan Mandell
Distributed by	RKO Radio Pictures
Release date(s)	July 14, 1942
Running time	128 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
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The Pride of the Yankees is a 1942 biographical film directed by Sam Wood about the New York Yankees' star first baseman, Lou Gehrig, who, near the end of his Hall-of-Fame career, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (informally referred to as "Lou Gehrig's Disease").

It starred Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig. Co-starring were Teresa Wright and Walter Brennan. Babe Ruth, Gehrig's teammate, made a cameo appearance as himself, as did a number of Yankees players such as shortstop Mark Koenig and catcher Bill Dickey.

The movie was adapted by Herman J. Mankiewicz, Jo Swerling, and an uncredited Casey Robinson from a story by Paul Gallico.

The Pride of the Yankees was critically and publicly acclaimed at the time of its release and is considered a classic. However, the film is riddled with inaccuracies. For instance, the 40-year-old Cooper (who played Gehrig from his early 20's to his death at age 38), was older than Gehrig when he died. Likewise, Babe Ruth, who had retired in 1935, was far too old to play himself in his prime.

The Pride of the Yankees won one Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: for Film Editing. However, it was nominated for:

This film is widely known for the reenactment of Gehrig's farewell speech in Yankee stadium. The famous line "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" was voted #38 in the American Film Institute (AFI) list of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time.

In another memorable scene, Gehrig visits a crippled boy named Billy (Gene Collins) in a hospital and promises to hit two home runs for him in a single World Series game; Gehrig fulfills his promise, and an older Billy (played by David Holt) attends Lou Gehrig Day and shows Gehrig that he can walk without a limp, as if the illness had never happened. This event, a takeoff on something that happened to Babe Ruth, was parodied on a 1995 episode of Seinfeld ("The Wink," in which the promise was made by Kramer on behalf of Paul O'Neill) and in the movie BASEketball.