Kill the Umpire

Kill the Umpire (1950)

Ex-baseball player Bill Johnson, failing at many jobs when his ball-playing days are over, reluctantly takes the advice of his father-in-law, Jonah Evans, a retired umpire, and enters an umpire-training school. Assigned to the Texas League, he does fine until the championship play-offs when a riot develops over one of his calls. The involved player is knocked unconscious in the proceedings and cannot verify that Bill made the correct call. Despite lynch mob plans to at least tar-and-feather him, Bill's family - his daughters Lucy (Gloria Henry and Susan and his wife Betty - help Bill reach the ballpark safely the next day through a series of hair-raising encounters.

Erscheinungsdatum
1950-04-27
TMDB
6.9 / 10 (7)
Laufzeit
1 Std. 18 Min.
Genres
Komödie
Regie
Lloyd Bacon

Besetzung

Wissenswertes

Kill the Umpire is a 1950 baseball comedy film starring William Bendix and Una Merkel, directed by Lloyd Bacon and written by Frank Tashlin.

Production

The film project was announced in July 1949 with William Bendix in the lead role. Production was scheduled for October to coincide with the conclusion of the 1949 Major League Baseball season so that some of the famous players would become available. Filming began on October 17 and wrapped by the end of November. Exteriors were filmed at 11 baseball diamonds within a 30-mile radius of Los Angeles.

To prepare for the role, Bendix received private lessons from minor-league umpire and chief instructor Al Somers at the Bill McGowan School for Umpires in Cocoa, Florida. The school was later renamed for Somers and relocated to Ormond Beach, Florida, where it is now known as the Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School.

Managers Joe McCarthy of the Boston Red Sox and Casey Stengel of the New York Yankees were both considered to play managers in the film. Stengel, New York Giants manager Leo Durocher and Philadelphia Athletics manager Jimmy Dykes, all of whom resided in California during the offseason, visited the set frequently. Forty real umpires, mostly from the Pacific Coast League, were cast as the students at the umpiring school.

Major League Baseball players appearing in the film, all uncredited, include Duke Snider, Catfish Metkovich, Lou Stringer, Jerry Priddy, Willie Ramsdell, Irv Noren, Jim Baxes and Pinky Woods.

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