Even the most confident athlete can turn to jelly in the grip of love, a point proven by our roundup of films about individuals who excel in various sports but are sidelined by romance. In Huddle (1932), Ramon Novarro is a Yale football player distracted by the charms of a young woman (Madge Evans), who happens to be the sister of a teammate. Comic actor Joe E. Brown plays Polo Joe (1936), another character who wants to impress a pretty girl--but in this case his choice of sport, polo, is unfortunate because Joe is allergic to horses!

The baseball comedy Ladies' Day (1943) stars Eddie Albert as a top pitcher who loses his touch when he falls for a Hollywood bombshell (Lupe Velez), leading the wives of his fellow players to desperate measures as they try to break up the romance. In the film noir Whiplash (1948), Dane Clark plays a painter-turned-boxer, and Alexis Smith is the married dame who gets into his head and threatens his success in the ring.

To Please a Lady (1950) is a comedy-drama featuring the great star combo of Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck. He plays a driver in "midget-car" races, and she's the journalist who takes him down a peg or two after she suspects him of having caused the death of another driver during a race.

In Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), the most spectacular of her aquacade vehicles, Esther Williams plays an earlier swimming star, Annette Kellerman, and Victor Mature is the self-centered promoter she can't help falling for. Stealing Home (1988) is a touching romantic drama about a washed-up baseball player (Mark Harmon) whose intense relationship with an old flame (Jodie Foster) is revealed in flashbacks when he agrees to scatter her ashes after she commits suicide. Not a success in its day, the movie has since found its audience through TV and video.

by Roger Fristoe