Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Field of Dreams (1989) * * * *

 
Directed by:  Phil Alden Robinson
 
Starring:  Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Gaby Hoffman, Burt Lancaster, Ray Liotta, Frank Whaley, Timothy Busfield
 
"If you build it, he will come," is the whisper Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Costner) hears in his large cornfield one day.    He hears it repeated.    What does it mean?    He doesn't know, but it means something.     Soon he sees a vision of a baseball diamond constructed in the middle of his field and Ray follows it without question.    He cuts away acres of lucrative farmland to build the diamond and waits to see what happens next.     Not much does, until one spring morning when Shoeless Joe Jackson (Liotta) appears wearing his Chicago White Sox uniform and asks to play ball.    
 
That is not the end of the story, but only the beginning.    Field of Dreams is an unapologetic fantasy which dares to dream, challenge the audience, and tug at its heartstrings.    It is romantic about baseball and, as put so succinctly in Moneyball, (2011): "How could you not be romantic about baseball?"    For those unfamiliar with Shoeless Joe Jackson, he was one of eight White Sox players banned from the sport for life for throwing the 1919 World Series.    He contends he played as hard as he could, despite taking money from gamblers to fix the series.    Many believe he should have his lifetime ban rescinded and he should be allowed entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame.    Jackson died in 1951 maintaining his innocence.   
 
The Jackson here laments his ban from the game he loves, but is thrilled Ray gave him the opportunity to play again.    Other long dead legends follow and soon they are playing ball on the field with only Ray, his wife Annie (Madigan) and daughter Karen (Hoffman) able to see them.     Annie's brother Mark (Busfield) is a banker whose job is to think Ray is crazy while repeatedly warning him how keeping a seemingly vacant baseball diamond in the middle of valuable land will lead to financial ruin.     He makes sense, but then again, he doesn't see what we and Ray see.    He doesn't know what Ray and we know.    
 
But as I said, there is more.    Much more.    Without revealing too many plot developments, Ray is soon met with more cryptic whispers which lead him to track down a former writer (Jones) in Boston and then a former ballplayer turned doctor (Lancaster)  who never had a chance to bat in the big leagues.    Their involvement with the plot becomes clearer.   The movie never rushes to reveal its secrets.    It holds us spellbound with its magic.   It earns its emotional ending which we don't see coming.   Yet, it never cheats.   The answer is obvious, only if we looked.  
 
Field of Dreams loves the game of baseball.    It still believes it is the national pastime, even if football has replaced it in popularity.    Baseball is a business, to be sure, but there is something pure about a game with no clock, rules that have stood the test of time, and its certainty.    You are either safe or out, no in-between.    Games have no time limit and the atmosphere of a ballgame remains unique in sports.     The movie understands that and understands also about regret, wishes, and dreams.    Ray's Iowa cornfield provides a focal point for the dashed hopes of Shoeless Joe, the writer, and the baseball player turned doctor.    It provides closure for all and especially for Ray, who never did ask what was in it for him.     We soon learn what's in it for him and the results are extraordinary.    What an amazing movie. 
 
 
 
 

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