Damn Yankees!

Plot synopsis:
Note: This is the plot of the 1994 Broadway revival of the show; there are differences from the 1955 version. For the film version, see Damn Yankees (film).
Middle-aged real estate agent Joe Boyd is a long-suffering fan of the pathetic Washington Senators baseball team. His wife, Meg, laments this ("Six Months Out Of Every Year"). After she has gone to bed, he sits up late, grumbling that if the Senators just had a "long ball hitter" they could beat the "damn Yankees. Suddenly, the smooth-talking "Applegate" appears. He offers Joe the chance to become "Joe Hardy", the young slugger the Senators need. He accepts, even though he must leave Meg ("Goodbye Old Girl"). However, his business sense makes him insist on an escape clause. The Senators' last game is on September 25, and if he plays in it, he is to stay as Joe Hardy forever. If not, he has until 9:00 the night before to walk away from the deal and return to his normal life.
At the ballpark, the hapless Senators vow to play their best despite their failings ("Heart"). Then Joe Hardy is suddenly discovered and joins the team. Gloria, a reporter, praises him ("Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo"). His hitting prowess enables the team to move up the standings.
Though Joe is increasingly successful, he truly misses Meg and moves into her house as a boarder in his persona as Joe Hardy. They begin to bond, especially over her "lost" husband ("A Man Doesn't Know"). Fearful of losing his deal, Applegate calls Lola, "the best homewrecker on [his] staff", to seduce Joe and ensure his loss of the bet. She promises to deliver ("A Little Brains, A Little Talent"), and Applegate introduces her as a sultry South American dancer named "Señorita Lolita Banana." She sings a seductive song ("Whatever Lola Wants"), but Joe's devotion to Meg proves too strong, even for her. Applegate punishes her by firing her, where she performs with other past workers for Applegate ("Who's Got the Pain").
Applegate decides to switch tactics to ensure Joe's failure. He releases false information about Joe's true identity being "Shifty McCoy", an escaped criminal and con artist. When Gloria discovers this information, she presses charges, and he is forced into court.
The Senators prepare for the final game against the Yankees for the pennant and worry about Joe, but they vow to think of nothing but winning ("The Game"). Meanwhile, angry fans are seeking him out, so he decides to leave home. As he does so, he tells Meg indirectly that he is her old husband ("Near to You"). Meanwhile, Applegate is exhausted by the work he has put into winning one bet and thinks about the "simpler" times in his long history ("Those Were the Good Old Days").
Joe's day in court is on September 24, the last day of his deal. As he technically does not exist, he can't produce any kind of identification. The owner of the Senators, their coach, and even Lola (disguised as "Señora McCoy") testify; unfortunately, their opinions are invalid. Gloria suggests that Applegate take the stand, but he is unable to take the oath due to its provision against lying. "Don't you have another version of that thing?" he asks. Joe realizes that Applegate is simply stalling to keep him from meeting his 9:00 deadline. Applegate claims that Joe "just needs time to think" and sends him to where Lola is, where history's most famous lovers wait. Lola meets him there and realizes that he truly loves Meg. She helps him by sending him into the final game and delays Applegate by coercing him into a duet ("Two Lost Souls").
When Applegate finally arrives at the game, it is 8:55, and Joe is at bat. As time runs out, Meg, her friends, and even Lola begin cheering for him. Applegate uses his powers to give Joe two strikes. The clock strikes nine, and Applegate claims victory, but at the last second, Joe cries, "Let me go!" The deal is broken, and he is transformed back into his old self. Amazingly, he is still able to hit a home run and win the Senators the pennant.
Back at home, Joe rushes into Meg's arms. Applegate appears on the scene, claiming that Joe owes him his prize. He begs Meg to hold him and not let go, and she begins to sing ("A Man Doesn't Know Reprise"). Applegate promises to make him young again and even ensure a World Series victory. But his powers are useless against their true love, which Lola points out. He shouts that such a thing can't exist, but he is wrong. He and Lola vanish back to whence they came, defeated, with Joe and Meg united.

Tags: fantasy

Review:
The superb Gwen Verdon sings and dances and mugs through this very good adaptation of the smash Broadway musical.
Here she plays Lola, the temptress used by the devil (Ray Walston) to lure Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter) from going back to his wife and breaking his satanic deal in which middle-aged Joe becomes a 22-year-old baseball star and catapults the Washington Senators to 1st place.Tab Hunter replaces Stephen Douglass from the Broadway show.
Russ Brown is solid as the manager, Jean Stapleton plays the friend (and sings), Rae Allen is Gloria (the reporter), Shannon Bolin is the wife, Jimmie Komack is the goofy ballplayer, Nathaniel Frey is Smokey, Bob Fosse has a cameo in "Who's Got the Pain," and Robert Shafer plays old Joe.Good songs by the same team that did The Pajama Game.
Verdon's "A Little Brains, a Little Talent" is cut in half as is Bolin's "Six Months Out of Every Year." Certainly worth a look to see Broadway superstar Gwen Verdon in her prime and Tab Hunter at his hunkiest..
The film version of the 1955 Broadway smash is definitely Gwen Verdon's most memorable screen appearance - as the movie of CALL ME MADAM is probably the closest film approximation we have to what Ethel Merman was like on-stage, so DAMN YANKEES is for Gwen Verdon.
No other film performance captures her presence and sparkle, the incredible movements her body was capable of - she's at her best here, and viewers familiar only with the comic roles she played later in her career will be amazed at this consummate musical comedy performer.
She's elegant as she matter-of-factly explains her work methods in "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" and has a whopper of a dance duet with Bob Fosse called "Who's Got the Pain?" (they weren't married yet, but she was already becoming his favorite instrument of dance; his was a cameo appearance added to the film - on stage Verdon's partner was another of the show's characters - if you listen closely you'll hear Tab Hunter say "That was wonderful, Fosse!" at the number's conclusion).
The only things I knew were that I LOVED Bob Fosse's choreography from films I had seen previously (Sweet Charity, Cabaret) and I loved to hear Gwen Verdon sing (Sweet Charity soundtrack).
Ray Walston (reprising his Broadway role) is delightfully evil as the Devil himself (cleverly disgusing himself as a "Mr. Applegate") who has a warped mind and twisted sense of humor, which is evident in his song "The Good Ol' Days."  Tab Hunter is superb as Joe Hardy (or "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo."), the man who sells his soul to become the best long hitter there is, and help his favorite team, the Washington Senators, win the pennant and beating the "damn Yankees." To me, the real star here though, is Gwen Verdon as the seductress, Lola.
Besides the key song "Heart" (sung by the Washington team players), and Lola's "Whatever" number, there is also "Two Lost Souls", "Goodbye Old Girl" and Walston's wonderful "Those were the good old days!" (when he fondly recalls all the tragedies he created in the history of mankind - including the day Jack the Ripper was born).
Although top billing is given to the one non-Broadway holdover, Tab Hunter, the real star of the film is the incredible Gwen Verdon recreating her spellbinding, Tony-winning turn as Lola.
er, screen in her numbers "A Little Brains, A Little Talent," "Who's Got the Pain" (In a delightful pairing with Fosse himself), "Two Lost Souls," and especially the classic "Whatever Lola Wants," and, as another reviewer noted, it's amazing that this didn't lead to a longer and more rewarding movie career.
It may not be the most inventive movie musical ever, but it's got a little brians, a little talent, plenty of heart, and Gwen Verdon.
Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston lift this movie into the upper echelons of all time greatest musicals..
Damn Yankees ran in the 1955-1957 season for 1019 performances and both Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston continued their roles from Broadway.
However the protagonist Joe Boyd/Joe Hardy part, the middle aged real estate salesman who is a fanatic baseball fan of the lowly Washington Senators, was played by Tab Hunter in the Joe Hardy persona.
As in that other Broadway film My Fair Lady it was felt that one of the leads should go to a bona fide movie name in that case Audrey Hepburn in this one Tab Hunter.In his memoirs Hunter said that he was apprehensive about taking over a musical lead because he admitted he was no singer.
He certainly does look well in the baseball scenes and even keeps up with Gwen Verdon.Gwen Verdon like Mitzi Gaynor came along in the Fifties just when Hollywood was slowing down with the making of musicals due to the decline of the studio system.
Gwen did such other leads on Broadway as Sweet Charity, New Girl in Town, and Redhead, but only with Damn Yankees was she allowed to go to Hollywood and repeat her stage performance.
Gwen like Mitzi was a fabulous dancer and in the Thirties and Forties she would have become acclaimed film name.Ray Walston got his career break in the part of Mr. Applegate the devil's identity for this film.
Walston plays the devil like a spoiled child and there might just be some theological justification for that.The big hit songs from Damn Yankees was Gwen Verdon's seduction number and dance, Whatever Lola Wants.
Few people ever on stage and screen could move like her.The second and even bigger hit was Heart, sung her by Russ Brown and some of the other actors playing hapless Washington Senator players under their eternally optimistic manager Brown.
The team was just beginning to jell as a contender and in 1965 they did in fact in their new home in Minneapolis/St.Paul as the Minnesota Twins did win the American League pennant as the Yankee dynasty crumbled at last.In their place came another new Washington Senator franchise which continued in the second division ways that Washington knew so well and that fans like Joe Boyd were used to.
Ray Walston is hilarious as the devil (here known as Mr. Applegate) come to earth to seduce disgruntled Washington Senators' fan Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) into entering a Faustian pact with him: Joe gets to become the greatest baseball player ever on earth in exchange for his immortal soul.
It's a done deal, and Joe instantly becomes young and handsome Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter); unfortunately, Joe is still attached to his wife and wants to continue living with her, so Applegate enlists the services of master seductress Lola (Gwen Verdon), and whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.
As intriguing as it is to imagine a screen version of "Chicago" with Verdon and Chita Rivera reprising their original roles, one cannot help but wonder how kind the big screen would have been to them.At the time there was apparently opposition in the casting of Tab Hunter who it was hoped would lure teenage audiences.
Verdon has an attractive rasp, but the others are uniformly mediocre.There are a couple of enjoyable dance sequences, but at this point, Bob Fosse was still early in his career and his choreography is nowhere as inventive as his later works.There are many points of interest especially for fans of the musical, but "Damn Yankees" remains ultimately a second rate screen musical..
When retiree Shafer has had his fill of the poorly-playing Washington Senators baseball team, he sells his soul to the Devil (who comes to earth in the human form of Walston) and transforms into a young, super-hitter (Hunter) who can help them win the pennant.
As musicals go, DAMN YANKEES was a highly popular Broadway hit because it gave the audience GWEN VERDON's way with a song and dance and Bob Fosse's choreography.
It may not have been as filled with hit tunes as some, but "You Gotta Have Heart", "Whatever Lola Wants," and "Two Lost Souls" were good enough to make theater patrons happy.When Verdon (and Ray Walston) won their Tony's, it was a good thing Warner Bros.
Sadly, the only time Verdon was allowed to bring a role she created on Broadway to the big screen was in DAMN YANKEES, a sparkling film adaptation of the Richard Ross-Jerry Adler musical about a middle-aged baseball fan named Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer)who sells his soul to the devil for his favorite team, the Washington Senators, to win the pennant.
The devil, apparently in desperate need of converts, appears in Joe's living room in the form of a Mr. Applegate (Ray Walston)and changes Joe Boyd into Joe Hardy (Tab Hunter), a young and unbeatable baseball player who helps lead the Senators to the pennant until he starts to get homesick and Applegate sends in his # 1 agent/witch named Lola (Verdon) to distract Joe. The film is well-mounted by Broadway legend George Abbott and Verdon and Ralston effectively reprise their Tony-Award winning stage roles and Fosse is even showcased, dancing in a rare duet with wife Verdon on "Who's Got the Pain?" and trust and believe, seeing Fosse and Verdon dance together is worth the price of admission alone.
Other great songs in the score include "Whatever Lola Wants", "Heart","Those Were the Good Old Days", and "Shoeless Joe From Hannibal Mo".
The musicals I tend to like best are the ones like Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, or Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, that don't have so much of a love-story type plotline.Damn Yankees contains a love story, but the real Love Story of this movie is Joe's love for the Washington Senators, which then conflicts with his love for Home and Hearth.
By the way, most of the Broadway cast was used in the film, which was a great idea!I've never cared much for Ray Walston ...
One number, however was dropped because it was out of Tab Hunter's vocal range: "A Man Doesn't Know." In my opinion this was the best song in the Broadway musical.
Abbot, Donen and the producers made a grave mistake in not retaining the original song for the reprise which would have been sung by Robert Shafer, not Tab Hunter.Whenever "Damn Yankees" is staged these days (it's less dated than most musicals of its day) "A Man Doesn't Know" is in its proper place and "Empty Chair" is justifiably and mercifully forgotten..
very natural.Actually, everyone in the film does a pretty good job, excepting Gwen Verdon, and, everyone's favorite martian, Ray Walston.
The only thing she does in this film that I liked was her dance number with Bob Fosse ...
Although Joe (now called Joe Hardy and is played by Tab Hunter) IS a sensation and the team does seem destined to win it all, this is when the dirty tricks begin--and the first dirty trick is Lola (Gwen Verdon)--a vamp who will destroy him.
Better songs are "Whatever Lola Wants" and "A Little Brains, A Little Talent" (both by Gwen Verdon).
there are some excellent fosse dance numbers, and gwen verdon is great, and the guy who plays the devil (cant remember his name) is great too.
A Washington Senator fan makes a pact with the devil to make him young so that he can play against those Damn Yankees.A truly great opportunity for Tab Hunter to perform in the leading role and he comes through with a genuine performance.
The devil is the wonderful Ray Walston; he was always devilish by nature so that is why he is so good in the role.The true accolades go to Gwen Verdon, as the temptress Lola.
The "two old souls" scene worths entirety to watch this weird movie,with bizarre Bob Foss¨' choreography , but unfortunately some great musical numbers that were on stage don't appear in the movie,as "A man doesn't know what He has", very beautiful song was cut for the cinemas.
Ray Walston is terrific as the devil, and Gwen Verdon is an amazing dancer, even if watching her fun but two-dimensional acting makes me sympathize with the producers who cast other people in the roles she originated on Broadway.This was choreographed by Bob Fosse, although there are only a few memorable numbers, such as Whatever Lola Wants, in which Verdon shows off her skills as she does a comical striptease, and the wonderful, elaborate Two Lost Souls number, which is the Fosse-est thing in the show.The weird thing about the songs is how unambitiously most of them are filmed.
Ray Walston's Mr. Applegate--a chic, suave Beelzebub, who smiles like a Cheshire cat--is really the only lively aspect of this heavy-spirited Broadway musical adaptation, which in turn was taken from Douglass Wallop's book "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant".
Co-directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen, with choreography by Bob Fosse, the picture has a better plot (its roots in Faust) than this team's "The Pajama Game" from the year before, but still seems awfully stagy and stagnant, with the song numbers belted towards the rafters.
Damn Yankees Due to all of the skulls that they've crushed, baseball bats probably have a special place in Hell.So, it's no wonder the Devil's willing to assist the die-hard fan in this musical.When Joe (Tab Hunter), a Senators fan, proclaims he'd sell his soul for his club to beat the Yankees, the Devil appears in the form of a man, Applegate (Ray Walston).Offering to go Joe one better, Applegate promises to make Joe the star player.
The only hitch: he must hand over his soul at the end of the season.Agreeing, the next day Joe begins his career and leads the Senators to the pennant, playing right into Applegate and his assistant Lola's (Gwen Verdon) hands.The film version of the musical based on the story of Faust, Damn Yankees has a devilishly good story to accompany its unforgettable songs.However, isn't Hell's representative in baseball already Pete Rose?
The devil, Mr. Applegate, makes Joe an offer that he just can't refuse.The music of this show is some of my favorite; "Goodbye Old Girl", "You Gotta Have Heart", and "Two Lost Souls".This is one show that I will go and see on stage.
Ray Walston and Russ Brown also appeared together in the 1958 musical "South Pacific." The most artistic performance is the mambo with Verdon and Bob Fosse.
But if you like old musicals or old TV shows, or are a baseball fan, Damn Yankees!
Forgotten, but undeservedly so,"Damn Yankees"-- as I always think of it -- is a peppy musical based on the Faustian legend in which the Devils' Advocate (Ray Walston) and his temptress assistant Lola (Gwen Verdon) persuade an ageing baseball fan to sell his soul to become Tab Hunter,baseball-player extraordinaire.
But there's a problem; he allows his victim an escape clause....It's a strong storyline, then, and nicely realised, which is a good thing as the musical numbers are rather thrown in as if the songwriters had been given the screenplay and asked to fit in whatever songs they could manage wherever they could fit them, and to give everybody a turn, whether or not it advanced the story or just stopped it dead.But the score is a fine one, the Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon dance routines are stunning (even if totally superfluous) and the film as a whole is very much worth a couple of hours of relax time......
As a Brit to whom baseball is little more than a more butch version of the rather girlie game of rounders the back story and plot of the movie have little cultural significance.It's significance to me is purely based on its merits as a musical - and they are considerable.Certainly Miss Verdon got me very hot under the collar as an 18 year old,and Mr Walston made me laugh a lot.Mr Tab Hunter was very good - looking and had already been in the "Top Twenty" in the U.K. with "Young Love",so it had a whole lot going for it.I had a 78 of "Heart" by the Four Aces and my friends and I had a lot of fun copying the harmony parts so it would be fair to say that I was quite involved in the whole "Whatever Lola wants" experience.Time,sadly,has not been very kind either to me or the movie,and,when I saw it recently only "Heart" moved me as it had done originally,the other songs - although remaining clever - lacked much substance and only the dancing of the wonderful Miss Verdon raised the level to that I remembered .Nevertheless it remains a nostalgic favourite,and a movie with "Heart" - in both meanings..
What we have here is the original Broadway cast with the exceptions of Tab Hunter and Bob Fosse.Hunter is nowhere near as good as Stephen Douglass whom he displaced, but that's Hollywood!It's a miracle that Gwen Verdon was retained.
There's plenty of heart in this film version of the hit 1955 Broadway musical which confirmed Gwen Verdon's stardom as a musical star and got her the opportunity to repeat her stage role on film.
Along with Verdon, most of the original Broadway cast repeated their stage roles, making this one of the few times in movie musical history that most of the theater cast was there, others of interest being "Flower Drum Song" and "1776".Robert Shafer is Joe Boyd, a middle aged man whose life dream to be a professional baseball player was never fulfilled.
In her one big scene, Rae Allen (as a sports reporter) rocks the stadium with "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal MO" where the previously awkward baseball players all of a sudden become skilled dancers, Bob Fosse style.The great Fosse, who choreographed the Broadway and movie versions, appears in one number here with his real life wife Gwen, singing and dancing to "Who's Got the Pain?".