Field Of Dreams Is My Favorite Sports Movie
I can already hear the negativity.
"It's too sentimental."
'"It's not even the best baseball movie to come out in the late 80's. Bull Durham and Major League are both better!"
"That school board/burning books scene is pretty outrageous and unrealistic!"
OK, I won't debate anyone on the school board stuff. But the other arguments don't hold up for me. I don't see the sentiment as a negative. The best thing about Field of Dreams is how it wears its heart on its sleeve. When you are talking about hope and regret, you have to be sentimental. At one point Moonlight Graham says "It was like coming this close to your dreams and then watch them brush past you like a stranger in a crowd." I don't think a cynical movie can have quotes like that.
This movie hits so many right notes. The editing and pacing is perfect. For a movie made in the 1980's, it moves very quickly. The casting is perfect. Ray Liotta is both icy cool and slightly terrifying as Shoeless Joe Jackson. You can see the anger simmering just below the surface. James Earl Jones is natural playing a role that in weaker hands would be pretty ridiculous.
This is Kevin Costner's best role. That's pretty high praise considering how good he is in Bull Durham and The Untouchables. He makes you believe Ray Kinsella is this guy with a great family and life but still feels so lost. It's almost an impossible task to believe that anyone would plow under their field because they hear voices but you don't just believe Costner, you root for him and are completely on the ride with him.
Most people point to the final scene where Ray is playing catch with his dad at the end. Don't get me wrong. It makes me cry every time too. It's played perfectly by Costner and Dwier Brown as his dad. It's never too much and not much dialogue is said but you know these men love each other and get back what any son wants when his dad passes away: more time. I saw Dwier Brown at a trade show a few years ago and made sure to grab a picture.
Despite all of that, my favorite part of the movie is the Moonlight Graham stuff. Everything about it is so perfect. How it's shot, Burt Lancaster's performance, the amazing score and even the stories from the local townspeople about how much they loved their town doctor. Hearing an older man talk about leaving the game and becoming a doctor is both inspiring and heartbreaking. I love that the character had the complexity to not have regret with his choice but the depth to still have that dream that he got so close to.
In this episode of DOUBLE PLAY, we do talk even more Field of Dream as well as the awful John Goodman movie The Babe. You can watch the whole episode below or click HERE to listen: