Big Leaguer

After a decade as an assistant director and a year of intensive work in television, Robert Aldrich was given the chance to direct his first feature film: "Big Leaguer" is a low-budget MGM production about a baseball training camp in Florida run by former star player “Uncle Hans” Lobert (Edward G. Robinson). In addition to the challenges facing the prospects (including Aldrich’s regular actor Richard Jaeckel), the film also explores the future of the training program. "Big Leaguer" evokes the charm of the sport before it was co-opted by big business and embodies a corresponding form of modest yet engaging cinema, enhanced by the lightness of Aldrich’s fluid direction. A successful showcase of talent: As in his later sports film masterpieces ("The Longest Yard", "...All the Marbles"), Aldrich builds toward a grand final match, though he is not yet able to incorporate his subversive worldview here. (C.H.)