''Safe at Home!'' is a 1962 American

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

sports film A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the spor ...

starring

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

players

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

and

Roger Maris Roger Eugene Maris (September 10, 1934 – December 14, 1985) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is best known for setting a new MLB single-season home run record with 61 ...

of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

.https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/481899212.html?dids=481899212:481899212&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Apr+29%2C+1962&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Mantle+and+Maris+Bat+Out+a+Movie&pqatl=google The film also stars

William Frawley William Clement Frawley (February 26, 1887 – March 3, 1966) was an American vaudevillian and actor best remembered for playing landlord Fred Mertz in the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', "Bub" O'Casey in the television comedy series ...

(in his final film appearance) and

Don Collier Donald Mounger Collier (October 17, 1928 – September 13, 2021) was an American actor best known for Western films and NBC television shows such as ''The High Chaparral'', ''Bonanza,'' ''Gunsmoke'', and ''Outlaws'' as Marshal Will Foreman. E ...

, with appearances by Yankees

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

and

Ralph Houk Ralph George Houk (; August 9, 1919 – July 21, 2010), nicknamed The Major, was an American catcher, coach, manager, and front office executive in Major League Baseball. He is best known as the successor of Casey Stengel as manager of the New Yor ...

. The film concerns a Florida boy who lies to his

Little League Little League Baseball and Softball (officially, Little League Baseball Inc) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

by sneaking into the stadium and the players' hotel room result in chaos. The film was shot in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

and

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2020 ...

Plot

Hutch Lawton is a young boy living on a boat in Florida with his father, Ken. Ken is a single father who runs a charter fishing business, and is frequently away from Hutch and keeps missing Hutch's baseball games. As a result, Hutch has many responsibilities for a boy his age. Ken's girlfriend Jo is also a frequent presence in Hutch's life. Hutch is a big baseball fan, and greatly admires Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, even fantasizing about playing the outfield with them during games. While walking to school with his best friend Mike, Hutch brags to teammate Henry that his father knows Mantle and Maris. To prove he knows them, he forges their signatures on their pictures and gives them to Henry. His deception snowballs as he claims his father will get Mantle and Maris to attend the team's banquet. Desperate to dig himself out of trouble, he stows away on Mike's father's fish truck to get to the Yankees' training camp in Fort Lauderdale. Upon disembarking from the truck and smelling of fish, he is immediately followed by a stray cat. He goes to the Yankees' training camp but Mantle and Maris are mobbed by fans, so he is unable to talk to them. He does, however, talk to their coach, Bill Turner. He takes a taxi to the Yankees' hotel and sneaks into Mantle's room. Turner discovers him by following his fishy smell, and Turner confronts him with Mantle and Maris, who nonetheless invite him to the next day's practice. Hutch stays in the stadium overnight where he fantasizes about playing there, accidentally sets off a cannon and sprinkler, and is reunited with the stray cat. Discovered in the stadium in the morning, Turner takes him under his wing, and invites him to practice with the team. Meanwhile, Mike's mother discovers Hutch is missing and has the Coast Guard contact Ken, who immediately heads to the stadium with Jo. Hutch asks Mantle and Maris to come to the banquet, but they refuse because he lied. Back home, he admits to his teammates that he lied. Henry's father admires Hutch's bravery in admitting his lies. Ken then announces that Hutch has new friends in Mantle and Maris, and they have invited the whole team to Fort Lauderdale to work out with the Yankees. Hutch then takes his place in left field as Mantle and Maris join him in center field and right field.

Cast

as himself *

as Bill Turner *

Patricia Barry Patricia Barry (born Patricia Allen White, November 16, 1921 – October 11, 2016) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Although Barry has numerous credits performing in stage productions and in films, the majority of her work wa ...

as Johanna Price *

as Ken Lawton *

Eugene Iglesias Eugene Luis Francisco Iglesias Carrillo (born 3 December 1926) is an American actor from Puerto Rico who was active mainly in 1950s and 1960s. In 1955 Iglesias appeared as Alfredo on the TV western ''Cheyenne'' in the episode "Border Showdown." ...

as Mr. Torres *

Flip Mark Philip Mark Goldberg (born December 22, 1948) is an American film and television actor. He is known for playing the role of Brook Hooten in the American sitcom TV series ''Guestward, Ho!''. Life and career Mark was born in New York City. At th ...

as Henry *Bryan Russell as Hutch Lawton *Scott Lane as Mike Torres *Charles G. Martin as Henry's Father *

as himself *

as himself

References

External links

* * 1962 films American baseball films American sports comedy films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Walter Doniger Films set in Florida Films shot in Florida Films about the New York Yankees 1960s sports comedy films 1962 comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films English-language sports comedy films {{sport-film-stub

Plot

Cast

See also

References

External links