Everyone who loves baseball has several reasons why they love it. Some call it the perfect game, others call it the thinking man’s athletic sport. Still others love the fan fare that comes with going to a game. There is one thing for sure, every fan has a baseball hero and no sport loves it’s heroes the way the game of baseball does. They honor and remember all of it’s greats like no other profession and sport does They are near mythic heroes and the stories are like that of old greek gods.
One movie took all these loves of heroes and the love people have of their heroes and did it better than any homage any book or story could do. Field Of Dreams is just that, a tip of the hat to baseball’s heroes and those that remember and love those heroes. It’s not as much a baseball movie as it is a love of what baseball has brought to people and how it has affected people. Field Of Dreams really is much more than a baseball movie, it’s a nostalgia movie. It uses baseball as it’s vehicle to show a man’s never forgotten love of his father and how he vowed to love his family as much as his father loved him only he’s going to show it much more than his father did.
Kevin Costner has been criticized in the past for making too many baseball movies and playing it safe in that regard but his first two baseball movies were nothing short of pure gems as far as movies go. We did not include Field Of Dreams on our top five baseball movie list because it seems to be about so much more than baseball. A man’s search to understand his father and his father’s love for a game, baseball is the medium is the story teller uses that can be understood by many father’s and son’s. It helps pull the intended emotions of the story teller and made every man who saw the movie or read the book immediately want to hug his father and play catch with them just one more time.
Dreams is a movie that will forever be seen by young men and their fathers that will translate through the line of time. It will always also make grown men cry forever and thats what it should do. There is no shame in that and maybe it being a sports movie is what makes that OK but sports or not it’s a love story between a father and son and with one game of catch all the unsaid things they wanted to say to each other is finally said and accepted.
I once read that Field of Dreams was one of the most perfect movies ever made. I’m not quite sure on what grounds it was most perfect, but if you consider plot, acting, humor, tenderness, sweetness, curiosity, and pure faith, it has it all. I had the pleasure of meeting Kevin Costner years ago, and honestly, his good looks rendered me speechless. He had just come of the making of Bull Durham and then Field of Dreams. While I absolutely love both films–and having worked for a major league baseball team for 13 years–I can honestly say that both movies get me in different ways. And you’re right: Field of Dreams is less about baseball and more about relationships. Bull Durham is about both, and they are intertwined marvelously. Nevertheless, I’m probably biased because I enjoy spending an afternoon in a ballpark, smelling the smells, hearing the sounds, and taking in all that baseball has to offer. For those reasons, and because the relationship is so beautiful between Costner and his father, Field of Dreams is probably my all-time favorite “baseball” movie.
Unbelievably, I have never seen “Field of Dreams” even though I’ve been a baseball fan for 50 years and even though I quote variations of “Build it and they will come” all the time. Thanks for reminding me to update my Netflix queue.
top 5 favorite all time movies… for sure.
Sad to say, my first exposure of Field of Dreams was in that dreadful Wayne’s World sequel. And I still haven’t seen Field of Dreams… but I want to someday!
Awesome movie!
My favorite baseball movie ever and one of the best sports films in general. Nice job!
Pingback: Random Awesomeness (part 70) « The Writer's Journey
I traveled to the cornfield and house where this was filmed. The whole experience was a bit surreal: driving down the long stretch of road, the diehard fans in wool baseball uniforms organizing a three-inning game, which I participated in. The movie is not a great cinematic achievement, but it is perfect for what it inspires in its viewers: nostalgia and longing. It was hard not to get caught up in the experience. As I stepped from the outfield into the rows of corn, for a brief moment, I hoped that the magic was real. THAT is the power of this film.