Title: The baseball film in postwar America : a critical study, 1948-1962 /
Authors: Briley, Ron, 1949-
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers,
Year: 2011
Subjects: Baseball films United States History and criticism.
Abstract: "This work focuses on the baseball movie genre in the years following World War II, beginning with the 1948 biopic The Babe Ruth Story and ending with the 1962 Mickey Mantle-Roger Maris vehicle Safe at Home!, when consensus was that conflict should be limited in American society by emphasizing economic growth and a strong stand against Communism"--Provided by publisher.
Contents: Introduction: the post-World War II consensus and the baseball film genre -- The Babe Ruth story (1948) and the myth of American innocence -- Taming Rosie the riveter: Take me out to the ball game (1949) -- Getting a leg up in postwar America: The Stratton story (1949) -- The American dream in service of the Cold War and civil rights movement: The Jackie Robinson story -- Hollywood and assimilating the American Indian through sport: Jim Thorpe: all-American (1951) -- The retreat to nostalgia: Grover Cleveland Alexander -- Ronald Reagan, and The winning team (1952) -- Education ain't no stumbling block to mobility: Dizzy Dean and The pride of St. Louis (1952) -- Baseball and supernatural intervention: It happens every spring (1949), Angels in the outfield and Rhubarb (1951) -- Baseball enlists in the Cold War: Strategic air command (1955) -- Jimmy Piersall and freedom from want: Fear strikes out (1957) -- The devil made me do it: Damn Yankees (1958) -- Back to the future: Safe at home! (1962) within the American consensus.