TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

moonspinner55 Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander, a telephone lineman and would-be farmer in early-1900s Nebraska who harbored one of the best pitching arms in baseball history. First pitching for the Phillies, and later the Cubs and the Cardinals, Alexander was sidelined continually in his career by a baseball accident, the war of 1917, and finally blackouts which were falsely attributed to alcoholism. This Warner Bros. throwaway isn't especially well-written or well-made, with archival footage and false backdrops making up the final third, however Reagan is very appropriate for the lead. Top-billed Doris Day (as Grover's saintly, determined wife) is around for moral support and romantic uplift; Day does what she can with the role, though the part as written is fairly preposterous. **1/2 from ****

edwagreen When Forbes Field was mentioned, they spelled Pittsburgh incorrectly. They left out the last letter.That being said, we have a very solid movie here with a marvelous performance by future President Ronald Reagan as Grover Cleveland Alexander. Unfortunately, Doris Day would need another 3 years to develop as a dramatic actress and that would come in her brilliantly breakout performance in "Love Me or Leave Me."It's really a shame that there were some distortions in the film. I read that Amy Alexander divorced her husband twice and remarried him for a 3rd time. It's also ridiculous that the script never mentioned that Alexander suffered from epilepsy. After all, talking about his dizzy spells through us all of somewhat.The picture itself is a heartbreak. From humble beginnings, Alexander became a star baseball pitcher only to suffer a beaning and epilepsy, the latter being confused with alcoholism; although, it was shown that he was hitting the bottle as well as a way out of his frustration.The film succeeds because of his triumph and amazing comeback.Reagan totally captured the essence of Grover Cleveland Alexander. Miss Day did not. Jeanne Crain would have been better suited for the part.

Michael_Elliott Winning Team, The (1952) *** (out of 4) Pretty good, if watered down, drama about the career of Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander (Ronald Reagan) who started life on the farm but quickly made a name for himself as a pitcher. When his career was apparently over he started to suffer from alcoholism but his wife (Doris Day) gets him back into shape so that he can make a comeback. Once again we have a bio-pic that has been fictionalized but even with this the movie manages to be very entertaining from start to finish thanks to some very good performances. I think there are a few minor issues with one of them being the fact that the studio forced the producer's to cut down on some of the more darker moments. The alcoholism issue is only touched for a few seconds and Alexander's battle with epilepsy is pretty much overlooked. Another minor problem is that this is a movie about Alexander yet a lot of the attention goes to the wife. Day got top-billing but this is certainly Reagan's movie but at the same time there are many scenes that are obviously here just to give Day more scenes and this includes a really bad singing sequence around Christmas time. With all of that said, the rest of the movie is pretty much a winner. Baseball fans are really going to eat up seeing how they were playing back in the day plus we get to view the old-time uniforms and even better is that we get to see some of the old baseball stadiums. There's also quite a bit of stock footage used to try and re-create some moments of the 1926 World Series, which was against the New York Yankees and their Murderers Row. This was Reagan's final film at Warner after fifteen-years worth of service and they certainly let him go out on a high note. I thought Reagan was very believable in the role and manages to look quite natural as a pitcher and he also managed to be very believable in the part of the farm boy. The early scenes with him struggling with his disease were extremely well-done and this ranks as one of the actors better performances. Day is also in top-form even though I think we could have used a little less of her character. Frank Lovejoy gets a good bit as Rogers Hornsby and we get some real-life players including Jerry Priddy, Bob Lemon, Peanuts Lowery and Irving Noren. Frank Ferguson, who most will remember from ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, plays Day's father here. Again, if you're wanting to truth on Alexander then it's best you go read a book but if you're just looking for some quick entertainment then this film does the job.

gitrich Ronald Reagan plays famous St.Louis Cardinal pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander in this average baseball flick. Reagan is not believable as a pitcher which, for a baseball fan, takes away from the enjoyment of the story. An effort seems to have been made to make it realistic showing old footage of actual games but it is not enough. Doris Day is outstanding as Mrs. Alexander, constantly encouraging her husband through bouts of alcohol and depression. Look for a few big leaguers like Bob Lemon, Peanuts Lowrey,Hank Sauer and Gene Mauch just to name a few.