Elmer, the Great

Nothing much to say. A lot like Adam Sandler's The Waterboy. To tell the truth, Sandler is the latter-day Brown. If you love Sandler, you'll like beown. I've a suspiscion his fans were kids and junior high school kids because his films play to that level of humor. You may call them family films. Movie is about a small-town boy who joins the Cubs and helps them win the penant. There are gangsters, bribes and bets that go awry. It has a very good and realistic baseball finale.

Let's see, a near-insufferable Joe. E. Brown bets $5,000 on his Cubbies and doublecrosses some gamblers. Hmmm... sounds familiar. One of the amazing things about this movie and Brown's own ALIBI IKE (1935) is that they have basically identical plot elements (an obnoxiously likable player vs. gamblers) AND focus on the Chicago Cubs (prominently featured against the NY Yankees). You can never fault Warner's for any inability to squeeze the last buffalo nickel out of plot formula. The final game-in-the-rain sequence is ingeniously edited and if you think about it, you can sense the director's frustration at intercutting his scenes with an actual big-league ball game. Patricia Ellis looks terrific and it's hard to believe she's barely 17 here. Joe E. Brown can be an acquired taste--- a face of a bulldog crossed with a catcher's mit, he can overplay the obnoxious bit to the hilt or act unbelievably dumb, often simultaneously. But also keep in mind that he was over 40 when this movie was shot and the guy kept himself in incredible shape. He's ripped. It's too bad that Brown would ultimately shoot himself in the professional foot by leaving Warner's for the cheapskate producer David L. Lowe's RKO deal and his career would nose dive... a move that he would later call the greatest mistake of his life. Watch this and count all the modern day suspensions Elmer racks up... He's a 1933 Pete Rose.

Sure it's cornball, and in many respects it seems hopelessly naive, and Joe E. Brown's persona is in some respects pretty insufferable, but it's clear that the makers of this picture knew all that. For some reason, Joe really resonated with American society of the 1930s, and that's what the producers gave to the public. I doubt if folks back then could have related to Johnny Depp, either. While "Elmer the Great" is certainly no masterwork, if you just take it on its own terms, the film is quite likable. It's particularly atmospheric in the earlier scenes set in Gentryville, Indiana. And there's some nice moments of pathos here, too. I would rank all three of JEB's baseball trilogy as about equally good.

Joe E. Brown is largely forgotten today and it's too bad. He made a string of fine little films for Warner Brothers in the early to mid 1930s. Ironically he has the final riotous line in the American Film Institute's no. 1 comedy, from their 100 Greatest Comedies list, "Some Like It Hot". Regarding "Elmer the Great," this film recaptures a wonderful era in baseball as well as a nostalgic feel for small town America. Its story is told with the Warner Brothers' successful no frills approach to movie making at that time. There is plenty of warm humor throughout especially from the always wonderful Joe E. Brown as the cantankerous, egoist Elmer Kane, still likable in spite of these character flaws. I wish Joe E. Brown's WB movies were available on DVD. A single packaged trilogy release could be made of his 3 baseball films: "Fireman Save My Child" (WB 1932), "Elmer the Great" (WB 1933) and "Alibi Ike" (WB 1935).

Elmer Kane (Joe E. Brown) is a simple small town ballplayer with small town girl Nellie Poole. He is recruited by the Chicago Cubs, but he hates the big city. Nellie convinces him to go. His teammates hate him even though he hits loads of homers. He loses Nellie and gets entangled by criminal gamblers.

The character is frustratingly dumb. He's not actually dumb. His idiocy comes from arrogance. It's a particular character and I struggle to like him all the time. I don't buy the teammates especially after they are winning. Winning solves all problems in the clubhouse. This movie is oscillating between pass fail and ultimately wins me over.