Customer Reviews

Safe at Home [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a big Yankee fan I enjoyed seeing this movie, but it was not beautifully scripted and the acting and dialog were not very good. It was clearly done for publicity after great success they had in 1961.

Don't watch it if you can't stand bad acting and poor scripts.

Caught this one on AMC recently and was glad to find it available on VHS from Amazon.com. A nostalgic, b&w, early 60s "quickie" released to cash in on Maris and Mantle's 1961 assault on the Babe's home run record. It's got a lot going for it, too! A storyline right out of Leave It to Beaver, a cute kid, a gruff coach played by professional grouch Bill Frawley (Fred Mertz) and cameos by Whitey Ford and other Yankees from that era. The real attraction though are the M&M Boys: Mantle and Maris! Roger turns in his greatest screen appearance ever: his emotional range runs from his normal surliness to outright contempt for the world. Mantle, not to be upstaged, appears to be relatively sober in his scenes. Also, since the movie is fiction, he doesn't charge fans for signing an autograph! Safe at Home! was aimed, obviously, at boys 12-and-under. It's a fun film that really brings back the feeling of being a card-collecting, home run worshipping Yankee fan during the early years of Camelot.

Kill the Umpire is certainly in the top five of Baseball movies.

The great William Bendix is perfectly cast as the retired ball player
who quite improbably finds himself on the "other side" as am umpire.

While the plot is a bit on the make-believe side, it never fails to
hold the American Pastime in awe.

Very enjoyable, and highly recommended.

I have the fondest memories of this movie from my youth. Whenever I found I was repeating myself for whatever reason, it was hard not to have a fleeting thought of William Bendix as Bill "Two Call" Johnson. So, finally, I had to see it again on DVD.

I enjoyed seeing the movie again, but not while I watched it. One problem is that the memories planted when we are younger don't get reassessed from an adult perspective as we age. The histrionics and sight gags that seemed so appropriate to a 12 year old now seem way over-the-top and interfere.

While I was watching the movie, my thought was, "What did I ever see in this?" But, a few days later, the memories of that happy 12 year old are blended with renewed memories of the details of the script and, once again, I get that warm glow thinking about it.

If you thought Adam Sandler sports comedies were funny you should check this one out. William Bendix plays a Joe Lunchpail-type who cuts work compulsively to go to baseball games, getting fired from every job he has.
His retired umpire father-in-law talks him into enrolling into Umpire School where his loudmouth opinion about baseball gets put to the test. Every guy in this movie is doughy (not a waistline under 50" is to be seen) and all the women look like cheesecake models. It's VERY cartoony stuff and very, very funny. I loved it.
I also want to give a shout-out to William Bendix, who started out playing menacing heavies for years and then moved over to comedy and played them just as well. What an outstanding actor.

Kill The Umpire is one of William Bendix's best performances, right up there with Life Of Riley.This is a great baseball movie from the other side of the game, the umpire's point of view.
Safe At Home is a great piece of nostalgia for baby boomers. Mantle, Maris, and the rest of the Yankees at their height! What's not to like?

This film really plays like an episode of "Leave It To Beaver" because of the situation little Bryan Russell gets himself into. He tells his friends that Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were his pals when he used to live in New York. Now living in Florida Russell has to figure a way to get over to see Mantle and Maris in spring training to save the day. William Frawley plays their New York Yankee's coach. Do they come to Russell's rescue or not? This is a good family film.

I saw this movie 1st run as a kid in the 60's and loved it. 35 years later I am still awe struck by Mantle and Maris. This is definitely a kid's movie . But it does bring back fond memories of a youth long since passed and of two larger than life heroes who somehow will remain forever young: Mantle & Maris. Play ball, guys! END

Although "Kill the Umpire" is a great Bendix classic, "Safe at Home" is more like a documentary or short that would be included with a good movie instead of billed as a double feature. This DVD is well worth owning just for "Kill the Umpire". Now if they will just put "It Happens Every Spring" with Ray Milland on DVD I will be basball movie satisfied for awhile.

Very funny comedy with William Bendix at his best...wonderful tale about the [10th] player on the field...the umpire[s]...Una Merkel plays Bendix's wife in her own trademark prissy fashion....good clean family entertainment to boot about America's sporting pastime...no wonder actor William Bendix had a looong and varied career before the camera...let us return to yesteryear when the game of baseball was fun and even had heroes to cheer for...not like today's game of greed, etc....SGGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF