365+ movies in 365 Days: Day 117 - Summer's End Film Festival: Field Of Dreams

Is there anything that symbolizes summer better than baseball. How about row, upon row, of tall Iowa corn? Put them both together and you get a magical movie that shouldn't work, but it does.

Kevin Costner (in one of his best roles) plays farmer Ray Kinsella who hears a voice out in his cornfield. The voice tells him "If you build it, he will come" and offers Ray a vision of a pristine baseball diamond. Soon, with his wife's blessing (Amy Madigan) he is plowing under his corn and putting in a regulation size baseball diamond, infield, outfield, bleachers and lights. And he does come, the he is "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, played by Ray Liotta. And soon other players show up, until regular games are being played in Ray's cornfield.

But the voice is not done. Following further instructions Ray goes on a road trip to find a reclusive author named Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) and Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster) a rookie who never got his chance to play in the major leagues. All these men are brought together through the magic of baseball to fulfill their dreams.

The movie touches on many themes. Baseball as a metaphor for better times in America. And baseball as a symbol of our youth, passion and idealism. The movie touches on censorship and democracy. It is a movie about second chances at lost dreams and being true to yourself. The James Earl Jones character gives a speech about baseball in the middle of the film that made me sad to think of the state of baseball today. But it is an idealized view of the game. The Black Sox's scandal of 1919 shows us that money and baseball have always been intertwined.

Most of all Field Of Dreams is about family. The strong relationship between husband and wife and parent and child. But most of all it is about fathers and sons and how baseball has been known to bring them together. This is a film that makes grown men weep.

One of the nice things about the movie is that it makes no effort to explain the mystical elements that have voices speaking, or long dead ball players appearing out of the cornfield.

When he made this film Costner was on a role. He starred in The Untouchables, Bull Durham and No Way Out. All were critical and commercial success. But Field Of Dreams cemented his place as a leading man and box office winner. He gives a strong grounded performance as a man who is having inexplicable things happening to him.

James Earl Jones is also excellent, but it is Burt Lancaster who really shines. In is his last performance before he died he shows us everything that made him a Hollywood star to begin with.

The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Screenplay and Best Score.  The film frequently appears on Top 10 lists for best sports films and best fantasy film.

At The Movie House rating **** stars