Damn Yankees (1958)

Damn Yankees is a 1958 musical film made by Warner Bros., a modern version of the Faust story involving the New York Yankees and Washington Senators baseball teams. The film is based on the 1955 Broadway musical of the same name.

The film version was directed by George Abbott, as was the earlier stage version, with assistance from Stanley Donen. With the exception of Tab Hunter in the role of Joe Hardy (replacing Stephen Douglass), the Broadway principals reprised their stage roles, including Gwen Verdon as Lola.

A notable difference between film and stage versions was Gwen Verdon's performance of the song "A Little Brains". For the film, Verdon’s suggestive hip movements (as choreographed by Bob Fosse and performed on stage) were considered too risqué for a mainstream American film in 1958, and so, in the film, she simply pauses at these points.

The film was released in the United Kingdom under the title What Lola Wants, to avoid use of the word "Damn" on posters, hoardings and cinema marquees. It was also possibly because the title's pun, alluding to the American Southerner's colloquial term for Northerners ("damn Yankee") would be lost on foreign audiences.

Synopsis

Joe Boyd is a middle-aged fan of the unsuccessful Washington Senators baseball team. His obsession with baseball is driving a wedge between him and wife Meg—a problem shared by many other wives of Senators supporters. Meg leads them in lamenting their husbands' fixation with the sport ("Six Months Out of Every Year").

Actors