Headin' Home

Although the real force of his personality does not come across on screen until the movies could talk, Babe Ruth made a screen debut in this amiable film, purportedly about his life in the small town of Haverlock until him making good with what was his new team in 1920, the New York Yankees.

In fact Babe Ruth grew up on the mean streets of Baltimore where his dad ran a tavern and the family lived on the premises. It's a stone's throw from the Baltimore Orioles new ballpark at the old Camden Rail Yards and the building is a tourist attraction. He had hardly the idyllic small town boyhood we see here.

In fact when his autobiography became a film starring William Bendix as the Babe, with all of that film's weaknesses it does hit more of the real story than Heading Home.

It wasn't uncommon for many sports personalities of the time to make a few extra bucks appearing in films. Those were not the days of multi- million dollar contracts and while Babe became the highest paid baseball player of his day eventually with $80,000.00, that was almost a decade in coming.

Heading Home is a film made to exploit Babe Ruth's fame and if it weren't for him it would hardly merit any notice at all today.