Conference bookie::movies

    
    	"Field of Dreams"
    

    (Basenote title changed by moderator.)
    
    I really enjoyed this movie - fable, allegory, or just plain goofy, I
    got a kick out of it. [I did doze off for a bit during James Earl
    Jones' "baseball as redemption" speech - a *little* bit over the top, I
    thought - and I found the very end more nightmarish than comforting,
    but I loved all the rest.] Great character bits by Jones and Lancaster,
    great bewilderment by Costner, fine support by everybody else...
    
    -b

    What did you find "nightmarish" in the ending?
    
    The movie is based on the book "Shoeless Joe" by W. P. Kinsella. I
    strongly recommend this and several of his other sort-of-surreal 
    baseball books (many available in paperback). 
    
    These include "The Iowa Baseball Confederacy", "Box Socials", and a 
    collection of short stories the title of which eludes me.
    
    Now back to movies...
    
    -- Bill

  I liked it. It wasn't as good as Bull Durham, another baseball movie with
Kevin Costner which was one of my top 10 all time favorites, but is was a good
movie which captured the dream like innocence of the game. 

  George

    "The Natural" with Robert Redford is another baseball film with a
    metaphysical dimension, also a very good film IMHO.
    
    would have been better if it had been about cricket though ;-)

    
    
     A in Chemistry. I though James Earl Jones and Costner worked well
    together. Jones speech towards the end was a bit much though. Still cry
    every time I watch the end.
    
    
     Bob

    I liked it, even though I hate baseball.  It's a tough theme to resist,
    that follow your dream, go for it, don't let anybody talk you out of
    what you really want ideal.
    
    And, Costner is good as the sort've all around American guy.
    
    Lorna
    

    RE: .3  by WECARE::LYNCH 
    
    >What did you find "nightmarish" in the ending?
    
    If all those cars were heading for MY place, it would be a nightmare
    trying to tell them where to park.   And what happens when they have to
    use the bathroom?
    

    Re .3: [spoiler warning, I guess]
    
    
    Those miles and miles (and miles and miles...) of headlights, as
    gazillions of those lost and troubled people ("who will pay, gladly")
    converge on that hapless farmhouse. Since the myth, so far, has played
    itself out benignly, one can hope that all those people will be
    perfectly well-mannered, won't overcrowd the place, etc., but the sheer
    numbers simply appalled me. [Or, if one doesn't want to think of the
    practical consequences of all those people showing up at once, let us
    step back into allegory; isn't it nightmarish to think that so many
    people are so unhappy with their current lives that they'd go to such
    lengths to seek happiness in a dream?]
    
    Either way, it sent shivers up my spine, and put quite a different spin
    on the movie than had been there before.
    
    Not necessarily a bad thing, mind... Heaven knows most movies are too
    predictable by half, and one of the many charms of this one was that it
    kept surprising me.
    
    -b

    Another good 'baseball' movie about Shoeless Joe and the 
    'Black Socks', is called "Eight Men Out". 
    
    I'm a huge fan of "Field of Dreams". I read the book "Shoeless
    Joe" and own the movie and soundtrack.  Several friends have
    visited Dyersville, Iowa were the farmhouse and baseball reside.
    I have, I think, every souvenir offered at the farm. And I have
    video of the place even though I've never been there. 
    
    There is just a magic about the film that I love.
    
    Jodi- 
    

    reply to .8 behind spoiler
    
    
     I looked at the line of cars not as unhappy people, but people who
    appreciated what was going on in the field. Guess it's the optimist
    in me but I thought of them more as museum guests, not troubled
    patients. I do agree, that it could be a logistical nightmare what
    with parking, restrooms, etc..... But on the other hand, this also
    allows the farm/field to be saved instead of forclosed. So I'd rather
    have the tourists instead of the farm acution......
    
     Bob

    re .11, I saw the cars the same way you did.
    
    Lorna
    

One of my favorite films. Contrast the "follow your dream" subtext with how
it's handled in _The Fountainhead_. They take very different approaches and
I love both of them.

I like the film well enough to get rid of my p&s laserdisc for the upcoming
letterboxed release even though it's only mildly matted. I did the same for
_The Natural_.


Randy

>    Did anyone ever see a Kevin Costner movie called (I think):
>    The playing fields? It's a movie I enjoyed from start to finish.

I remember seeing another Costner baseball movie in the video store with 
a name sorta like that.  I think maybe it was from his earlier days before
major stardom(?)

Bob

    Bull Durham?

>    Bull Durham?

Nope.  It was something that was completely unknown to me - and still is,
since I never watched it.  When I saw the video in the store, I remember 
wondering if any other actor had made three baseball movies.  

Bob

    I think the movie you're thinking of is called CHASING DREAMS. It is
    listed in Kevin's filmography; I've seen ALL of his stuff, even the
    bad ones, but I've been unable to locate CHASING DREAMS.
    
    Catherine
    

    Favorite baseball films (Note that all are from the last ten years -
    those old baseball movies are the pits!):
    
    1) Eight Men Out  (John Sayles is God!; DB Sweeney IS Shoeless Joe)
    2) Major League  (Wesley Snipes was great as Wille Mays Hayes)
    3) Bull Durham  (I love Susan Sarandon)
    4) Field of Dreams (Hey Ray Liotta - Shoeless Joe hit Lefty!!!)
    5) The Natural  (The upbeat ending is OK but the book is better)
    
    NAZZ

    Seems like a lot of baseball movies are coming out the last few years,
    those mentioned in -1 and 
    
    The Sandlot
    Mr. Baseball
    The Babe
    Rookie Of The Year
    
    I don't think I've seen one that I haven't at least liked in the last
    few years reegarding baseball.....
    
    MBH

>    I think the movie you're thinking of is called CHASING DREAMS. It is

Yeah, that sounds right.  Thanks.

Bob

re .19 

	"League of Their Own" is a recent Baseball movie, what did you think?

    
    Field of Dreams is my all time favorite movie!  Very inspiring, it
    was a good way to tell you to follow your dream.  
    
    Lkp

    
    I also really enjoyed watching Field of Dreams - so much so I now
    own it.
    
    dc

    Had to put in a few words....  because this is one of my favorite
    all-time movies. 
    
    I especially liked some of the subtle/not so subtle one-liners... 
     example: (not sure of exact words, but general idea is "we stayed with
    her folks as long as we could, one afternoon")
    
    I saw the ending as positive - people that were following some type of
    dream of their own - not to mention you needed that many to save the
    farm!
    
    However, my most consistent comment throughout the film is "the wife
    deserves a medal!" 

   .....and everyone starting with top-management should view this every week.
   Then they'll start realizing that it's not about baseball, not about
   the characters in this movie but the start of great companies like
   Digital!. Remember, I said "the start". :-)

   Nari

Rented this movie again this weekend, just wanted to see it again. 
I noticed something which I didn't understand: when watching the 
names of the actors and participants of the movie at the end it 
said: The Voice - HIMSELF. So who is ment by this?

     Re -.1
    
    	I think it's just a bit of humor :-) - I remember chuckling when I
    saw that . . .
    
    					- Jim
    
    

    I think it means Ray Kinsella(kevin Costner)
    				Scott
    

    This is an especially interesting movie for someone [like myself] who
    grew up on a farm in Iowa playing baseball. And the Fenway park scene
    with Terence Mann adds more interest as I now live in the Boston area.
    
    In the book the character Terence Mann was actually J.D. Salinger.
    According to the book he is [or was] living reclusively in Vermont.
    I noticed in the Globe Sunday that his birthday is 1 Jan and, as I
    recall, he is now 70 .

    I think Salinger is still in Cornish, VT.  Someone recently wrote a
    book on his search for J.D. Salinger.
    
    - Dave