'DAMN YANKEES!' Classic musical released on DVD
It hardly matters that there's no extras on the DVD.
By NANCY CHURNIN
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
Take a good look at those W's on the pinstripes of the Washington Senators in "Damn Yankees!"
With any luck, they'll be back in play next spring when Washington, D.C., gets its first team since the Senators bolted for Texas to become the Texas Rangers more than three decades ago.
The 1958 musical also deserves a comeback on DVD. It may seem a little quaint at times to kids accustomed to faster-paced fare. But young Rangers fans, who know what it is to root for the underdog, should sympathize with Joe, who is ready to give up his soul to help his favorite team beat the Yankees.
About the musical
The story, adapted from the novel "The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant," is a baseball twist on the classic Faust tale. Joe Boyd (Robert Shafer) is a frustrated, aging Senators fan. So when the dapper Devil, Ray Walston in a three-piece suit with red tie, offers him a chance to be a young baseball slugger named Joe Hardy in exchange for his soul, he grabs it. But Joe (Tab Hunter) insists on an escape clause. He can change his mind about the deal on Sept. 24. That's if the Devil can't trick him out of using it.
Adding to the complications, Joe is still in love with his wife and wants to return to her. So the Devil brings in Lola (Gwen Verdon), home wrecker extraordinaire, to get his mind off his wife. And she stars in some of the show's best musical and dance numbers, including "Whatever Lola Wants."
There aren't any extras. Instead, you can replay the Richard Adler and Jerry Ross songs such as "Heart," in which the ever-hopeful sad-sack team sings "The team has been consistent 'cause we always lose" and "It's fine to be a genius, of course, but keep that old horse before the cart. ... You've got to have heart."
This movie has heart in abundance.