Amor Invencível

I gave this movie a 10 rating, not because it was that good of a film (it wasn't), but because to me it brings back memories of my teenage years. I saw this movie when it was released in 1951. I was 15 at the time and interested in nothing but golf. I watched the movie three times. I would have watched it over and over had it not been removed from the local theater. Even at that young age, I was a student of the game. I was intimately familiar with Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, and all the other great names in golf at that time. I had even seen most of them play in person in tournaments. I even fantasized about becoming a golf pro. I played golf whenever I could. Unfortunately, in the 40's and 50's, money was tight. And parents didn't pay a lot of attention to their children's career goals, especially if they involved becoming a sport's figure. My dreams were dashed early. Thank goodness, I can still watch FOLLOW THE SUN and relive my teenage fantasies.

Although Ford couldn't play golf worth a lick, Hogan himself supervised the golf scenes (and much else). He slyly inserted rare golf lessons into the film, but as with anything Hogan you've got to look very carefully. Also, there is rare footage of Hogan colleagues Demaret, Snead, and Middlecoff. Forget the fact that the film is Hollywood treacle. This is a treasure for modern-day golfers attempting to understand Hogan's mastery of the golf swing.

The film still hasn't been released on DVD or Blu-Ray, and is rarely if ever seen on cable. The greatest golf film ever made gathers dust as Hogan's legions desperately search for more information about the man who understood more about golf than anyone has ever known about any sport (except, perhaps, for Ted Williams).

I was impressed that this movie stuck to the facts, rather than played fast and loose with them, as do so many Hollywood biopics. I admit I had to check the facts tom find out, as before watching this, I had never heard of Ben Hogan!

Now that I have, I know he was a man to be admired, determined to overcome his injuries and not let any disabilities keep him from playing golf. And he sure kept to it, with all the championships he won, after that near fatal car accident! (Did he actually drive in all that fog, or was that just put in for dramatic effect?)

Glenn Ford was his usual outstanding self as golf champion Ben Hogan, a man who was introverted and didn't know how to talk to the press and charm the fans, the opposite of fellow player Chuck Williams (Dennis O'Keefe), who goes too far in the other direction.

He was misunderstood by the public (who thought him cold and unfriendly) and he in turn misunderstood them, not realizing until after the accident that people cared. As he said, he had to learn to take his eye off the golf ball and look at people once in a while.

Anne Baxter was also good as Ben's wife (and biggest fan), Valerie, as was June Havoc, who played Chuck's wife, Norma.

I saw a familiar face from TV; Larry Keating (best known as Harry Morton on "Burns and Allen") played sportswriter Jay Dexter, who could have used a better attitude.

There were also appearances of real-life golf pros: Sam Snead, Cary Middlecoff, and jimmy Demaret (whom I remember from an "I Love Lucy" episode).

Even if you're not a golf fan, it's still a movie worth watching.

Some other reviewer made a comment that this was the worst sports biographical film since The Babe Ruth Story that starred William Bendix as the Bambino. He might not have seen the independent productions about Jackie Robinson or Joe Louis which The Babe Ruth Story also was. There's less excuse for Follow the Sun because it was made by a major studio, 20th Century Fox.

Ben Hogan did come from poverty, he earned money as a kid as a golf caddy and learned the game and learned it could be a way out of the dire financial straits his family was in. Yet that part of the Hogan story was never really developed in Follow the Sun.

But the comeback he had after that near fatal automobile accident in 1949 is the stuff legends are made from. That part of the film is absolutely true and it was in fact the reason the film was made at all. Otherwise if someone wanted to do the Ben Hogan Story again, we'd certainly have the vantage of historical perspective now. In fact Tiger Woods is approaching the kind of numbers and the kind of impact that Hogan had in his day in the world of golf.

A whole lot of Hogan's rivals and great golfers in their own right like Dr. Cary Middlecoff, Jimmy Demaret, and Slammin' Sammy Snead all play themselves in the film. That in itself shows the respect his peers had for their rival. Grantland Rice who has never been approached in his title as dean of American sportswriters also appears as himself.

Glenn Ford is not given all that much to work with as Hogan, he was very much on the scene and could have sued if he didn't like what he saw. Anne Baxter is the best in the film as Hogan's wife Valerie who both narrates the film and has her best scenes tending to and watching over her injured husband.

Dennis O'Keefe plays the fictional Chuck Williams and too bad he was fictional because I really liked the guy. He's a happy-go-lucky sort of golfer, earn just enough to stay on tour. He has some great scenes clowning in the way Al Schacht and Nick Altrock used to do for baseball. June Havoc is his wife.

Larry Keating has a strange role as a golf writer who doesn't like Hogan because he's not accessible to the press. That frankly is his business and Keating should have known that. It was a wholly artificial plot device.

Even worse was when Ford as Hogan bears down like the competitor he always is and beats his good friend O'Keefe. Havoc takes all kinds of umbrage at that and O'Keefe is a bit put out. That was just plain dumb. Golf was the man's business and Hogan was the best and never gave less than his best. That plot device was worse than the feud with the writer.

But the scenes involving the accident and recovery were well done and maybe Ben Hogan's story could use some historical revision now.

Ben Hogan taught literally thousand of golfers to golf better with his classic book and this biopic is a typical sports biopic - we see the beginning, the winning, the terrible car accident, and the inspiring ending and I for one still enjoy this as one good sports movie.

Yes it is cheesy in places and no the acting isn't brilliant - but it does capture something of that essence of what it takes to be a champion and on that basis alone it's worth catching when it's on.

All in all, it's nowhere as slick as The Greatest Game, but it has heart, plenty of golf, some nice cameos from the real players of the time, and as I say, it's simply a good enjoyable sport biopic.