ttrryosborn I saw this movie many years ago with my father on television. He told me about his experience with Monty Stratton.My father wanted to be a big league pitcher. He tried his luck with the White Sox in the late l930's. He only got as far as spring training before being sent down to the minors leagues. He liked to say that in the minors he made as much money as a soda jerk, but girls at parties were a lot more impressed with someone who played baseball than with some who made root beer floats. As a rookie in spring training, My dad was too shy to walk with the veteran ball players to the field. He always walked a distance behind them. One day, Monty Stratton turned back to him and said that if he wanted to be a big league ball player he had to walk with them. My dad got to know Mr. Stratton very well that Spring. Years later, after WWII and marriage, my dad met Monty again at a ballgame. They talked and Mr. Stratton told him that Hollywood was going to make a movie about him. My dad said they couldn't have picked a better man to make a film about.

jarrodmcdonald-1 Supposedly Jimmy Stewart did not really want to do this film. However, he changed his mind when it was pointed out to him by the bosses at MGM that it would inspire veterans of World War II who had limited mobility. One inspirational scene that occurs is the one where he and his son walk together for the first time. It is complemented nicely by June Allyson who is exceptional and perfectly cast as Stewart's wife (this was the first of three films they made together).The supporting roles are worth noting, too. Agnes Moorhead refrains from chewing the scenery, in a performance that is very understated as the mother. And this is another film where Frank Morgan plays a paternal role to one of Stewart's characters. Morgan seems very lively in this offering. The game scenes are equally lively, and the film continues to remain uplifting with each viewing.

richard-1787 Before Hollywood took to making "feel good" movies, this is what they made: apparently simple stories that were intelligently and not at all simply written, performed by actors who knew how to act so well that, if you don't pay attention, you think they are just "being themselves," whereas they are actually building characters, a little piece at a time.Yes, James Stewart is the star of this picture, and for very good reason. His Stratton is not a country rube. He's a young man with certain ideas, certain goals, and certain ideals. He's not perfect, and Stewart and his director, Sam Wood - who directed such a variety of masterpieces as the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera, Goodbye Mr. Chips (one of my favorite movies), and For Whom the Bell Tolls - do not sugarcoat that part of his character. Stewart builds a very complete, human individual from a lot of small details. He also looks like a real baseball pitcher on the mound, which amazed me.Allyson is not one of my favorite actresses, but she is good here, if not at Stewart's level. She doesn't seem cute - nothing like Meg Ryan at her worst, say. She, too, seems real. And when she has to play catch, she doesn't throw like a girl, which is pretty impressive! You don't have to know a thing about baseball to enjoy this movie, since it actually has very little to do with baseball. It's the story of a fundamentally good man who is badly mistreated by fate, but who rises above that, eventually, not because he is a goody two-shoes, but because he has certain very fundamental values that he will not abandon.It's not surprising that this movie won the Oscar for best script. The story seems simple, and it is, but it is developed in a very careful, very intelligent way.

MJones41 I love this story, and Jimmy Stewart along with June Allyson are, in my opinion superb. Great supporting cast! The type of movie, that I go back to and watch again and again. Gets the point across without a lot of foul language!Though it isn't true to fact. I recently discovered, after having watched this movie many times, that he is a cousin to my mother in law.Mom says Monty had to crawl home after accidentally shooting himself in the leg. Subsequently having to have it amputated above the knee.He was a pretty nice guy, according to her and they spent time together as kids and young adults. After adulthood, they drifted apart.If you are a baseball fan and love Jimmy Stewart as I did and want a clean movie to share with your family, then by all means...this one is a keeper.