IMDb plot summary: A frustrated fan of the hopeless Washington Senators makes a pact with the Devil to help the baseball team win the league pennant.
Directed by George Abbott and Stanley Donen. Starring Tab Hunter, Gwen Verdon, Ray Walston, and Russ Brown.
This is a pretty goofy premise, and this plot does NOT hold up if you look at it with anything resembling scrutiny. For many classic-age musicals, the plot is mostly just an excuse for a fun series of song and dance numbers, and those numbers here are pretty great, thanks largely to Bob Fosse's exciting and compelling choreography. It's hard to choose a favorite, but I think I have to give the nod to the big ensemble numbers of "Shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo" and "Two Lost Souls." That being said, the songs aren't quite enough to make me forget how bad the plot is -- it's paper thin with zero logical character development and a conflict that just gets abruptly resolved at the end for no reason. I was left thinking there weren't enough songs to drown it out, but turns out there are are plenty, they're just not enough. This isn't one to prioritize.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Damn Yankees > The Keep
Damn Yankees < Woman in the Dunes
Damn Yankees < Talk Radio
Damn Yankees > Scrooge
Damn Yankees < Strictly Ballroom
Damn Yankees < Guys and Dolls
Damn Yankees > The Ladykillers (1955)
Damn Yankees > Liberal Arts
Damn Yankees < The Glass Menagerie
Damn Yankees < The Trouble With Harry
Damn Yankees > The Help
Damn Yankees < Captain America: The First Avenger
Final spot: #1462 out of 3439, or 57%.
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