Review of Safe at Home! (1962) by Thomas G — 01 Sep 2013

I'm a big fan of 1960's television shows like The Andy Griffith Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show & Leave it to Beaver and this movie feels a lot like those type of show, especially The Andy Griffith Show. A single father raises his young boy while teaching him life lessons. Hutch, the young boy, feeling a little neglected by his father not being able to catch his sons Little League game, starts to overcompensate and brag to one of his teammates how great his father is. He goes a little to far and says that his father is friends with New York Yankee greats Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. We his teammates call his bluff Hutch comes up with a hairbrained schemes to stowaway to nearby Fort Lauderdale home of the Yankees spring training. Soon Hutch has to face the music while learning a valuable lesson.

This was a fairly enjoyable film, at least for me. I'm a big baseball fan and have a extensive collection of our pastime's flicks so I'm probable more forgiving them the average viewer. Like I said the tone and pace of the film is a lot like that of a TV show. Because of this it makes the film seem a somewhat shorter then it actually is. The performances are standard for most of the cast with the exception of Mantle and Maris. They are obviously not trained actors and it shows at times. To no surprise Mantel does show some charm and personalty where as Maris performance is on one note and flat. I Love Lucy's William Frawley shows his charisma as a Yankee coach. Other Yankees to appear, Whitey Ford and manager Ralph Houk. Some great action of the Yankees durning training is worth a watch as well.