I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is simply a lovely film period. I can take or leave Gary Cooper but it's difficult to think of anyone who was acting at the time who could have equalled let alone eclipsed Cooper in this role, he IS Lou Gehrig just as some sixty-odd years later Marion Cotillard WAS Edith Piaf. English born and bred I have yet to see a live baseball game but I love reading about the sport as it was played when it was STILL a sport rather than a business, by which I mean the thirties, forties and fifties; I liked especially reading about the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Red Sox and tended to feel contemptuous of the Yankees who seemed to win everything too easy. Nevertheless I became a Yankee rooter for the duration of this movie, which was over too quickly. Cooper and Teresa Wright were unsurpassable as Lou and Eleanor Gehrig and after a while the baseball element was incidental to their enduring love. Nothing less than ten stars will do for this truly moving motion picture.

This picture follows the short and exciting life of Henry Louis Gehrig. The Iron horse moniker pinned on him due to his unprecedented streak of 2130 straight games for the New York Yankees. This a wonderful story of a boy from turn of the century Manhattan with struggling immigrant parents who want their son to get a good education and follow in the footsteps of Uncle Otto the family success at engineering. Lou starts out breaking a storefront window as a youth to entering Columbia University when he proceed to break another office window getting attention to Sportswriter/ scout Sam Blake played by supporting actor Walter Brennan. This formula of Brennan and our star athlete Gehrig (Gary Cooper)works well together in this story directed by Sam Wood. One of many movies in which the Brennan/ Cooper duo have their chemistry on all cylinders.Sam Blake is not only a beat writer but a close friend and mentor to the green vulnerable young Gehrig. What puts this movie over the top despite it's inaccuracies and phony claims is the presents of Sports Icon and modern day Santa Claus the BABE himself George Herman Ruth, (The Bambino), (The Sultan of Swat)! Babe does a fine job of acting which makes you wonder why he didn't embrace Hollywood more. I felt he was a natural.The casting of Lou's doting parents Ludwig Stossel and Elsa Janssen reminded me of my Maternal Grandparents from Europe and how strange to see their son becoming a star in short pants," This game with pillows on the field!" as the elder Mrs Gehrig quipped. Finally the casting of Eleanor Gehrig The perky Teresa Wright. From the first time Lou tripped over the bats at old Comisky Park and the nickname "Tanglefoot" is born to the horse shoe of Roses scene when Lou's health begins to fail him.Honorable mention to Dan Duryea who plays the foil to Sam Blake during the entire movie as the rival sportswriter involving bets and seltzer bottles. Favorite scene for me is a St.Louis hospital room.There lies a sickly boy named Billy next to a huge radio as the Babe and other Yankees sign a baseball as the Babe promised to hit a home run for Billy in the World series game that afternoon as the Babe boasts, Center Field no less. Lou hangs around after the Yankees and Doctors/nurses left to be alone with the ailing boy. Lou tells him, "keep your chin up Billy!There isn't anything you can't do if try hard enough!" In response Billy makes a bold request to Lou. "Mr. Gehrig can you hit a home run for me today? Can you hit two? Lou looked dumbfounded as to paint himself into a corner and made this proposal to the lad that "I'll hit two home runs if you hit one for me!" impressionable youth looks in shock and Lou went on to explain that one day you'll have to walk out of this hospital under your own power! Powerful words from a great ballplayer. The truth is that it never happened. The Yanks in 1926 fell to the Cards in that World Series but who cares, the guys in Hollywopod created that legend. Despite the falsehoods and there are many along the way, I watch it over and over again. Frank Faylen of Many Loves of Dobie Gillis is the wiseacre coach of the Bronx bombers and puts in his two cents in the art of straw hat eating. Can't get enough of this movie with the conga line chanting LOU LOU LOU! Cal Ripken are you out there?

It's not often that I see such a great movie where one of my heroes portrays another, but, this is certainly one of them. Gary Cooper portraying Sergeant Alvin C. York is another.Gary Cooper does a magnificent job as Henry "Lou" Gehrig despite being two years older, for starters; and, several years older (41 playing someone in their twenties) near the beginning of the movie while at Columbia University.Walter Brennan is brilliant as always! Teresa Wright is stunning! Besides Babe Ruth, until watching this recently on TCM, I didn't realize that other New York Yankees' teammates of Gehrig's were also in the movie as themselves - Bob Meusel; Bill Dickey; and, some others. This made the movie that-much-more enjoyable this time around! It falls into the category of movies that can be watched over and over again.I also like the 'innocence' of a movie like this as it can be viewed by everyone in the family - from small children who love real-life heroes to the elderly who remember these heroes from real-life.Although there are a few biographical errors about Lou Gehrig's life...overall, the movie is fantastic, even if you're not a real baseball fan! If you are a real baseball fan...this movie is a must-see!

Gary Cooper plays New York Yankees star first baseman Lou Gehrig, whose career and life were cut short by a disease that now carries Gehrig's name. Cooper gives a great performance (everyone thinks he won the Oscar for this _ he didn't, he took home the gold for "Sergeant York, and again for "High Noon"") and appearances by real-life ballplayers (pictured: Cooper with Babe Ruth, Gehrig's former teammate, during filming) give the picture a feel of authenticity. A minor quibble that it romanticizes Gehrig's life is not without merit, but the film should be allowed to venture into American mythology, like the sport itself. Cooper's rendition of Gehrig's moving "the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech is, in itself, worth the price of admission. A classic on every level.