Field of Dreams

The 1989 American sports drama, Field of Dreams, on the surface just looks like any typical 80s baseball film, yet the admiration for this film is surprisingly potent. Based on the 1982 novel, Shoeless Joe, written by W. P. Kinsella, the story about a Iowan farmer being directed by a mysterious voice to build a baseball field in order to fulfill the desires of lost spirits, sounds a little ridiculous and certainly carries a sentimentally washiness, yet when it was turned into a film, it was a pretty big success, earning solid critical reception, doing decently at the box office, and even managed to get nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay at the Oscars (which you wouldn’t expect of a movie like this). Feeling specifically tooled through the direction, visual style and acting choices to appeal to an American demographic, it thankfully doesn’t feel manipulative in its delivery and manages a film that underneath its star-spangled patriotism and coyly handled mystic, still feels earnest and warm-hearted. Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) is a 30-year-old farmer living in Iowa with his wife, Annie (played by Amy Madigan) and his daughter, Karin (played by Gaby Hoffman), having done so to distance himself from his baseball-loving father whom which he failed to reconnect with before he passed away. One day while out in his cornfield, a strange voice calls to Ray and tells him that ‘’if you build it, he will come’’. Initially believing he’s hearing things, he eventually pieces together it has something to do with building a baseball field out where his crops are growing (a pretty lucky first guess). Even though the townspeople think he’s crazy and ruining his farm, the field is eventually created, which causes the ghost of former Major League baseball player, ‘’Shoeless’’ Joe Jackson (played by Ray Liotta) to appear out of nowhere. Feeling like destiny is telling him to do something about this miracle, Ray continues to follow the voice’s request, which leads him on a cross-country road trip where he meets up with people who harbor past regrets, like an old activist author named Terrence Mann (played by the late James Earl Jones), as well as other lost spirits (in more than one sense), who’s afterlives may end up being fulfilled if they step foot on that baseball field. Field of Dreams doesn’t operate on much logic and could be viewed as too corny, but through a grounded atmosphere, solid performances, and a script that effectively translates this story from magical realism to stable reality, it proves why it lasted the test of time.

Originally championed by 20th Century Fox executive, Sara Colleton, who along with the film’s eventual producers, Lawrance and Charles Gordon, fought for the book and believed it would make for a good adaptation, the project faced resistance as Fox didn’t view the story as commercially viable and might only appeal to baseball fans and not a common majority. This resulted in Lawrance Gordon leaving Fox and trying to source the film to other studios, with Universal being the one to eventual pick it up. The movie tries to keep a lot of the elements of the book intact, with director Phil Alden Robinson, actively conversing with Kinsella over what to adapt and what to retain, and it also clearly wanted to portray baseball as accurately as possible, even getting former USC trojan baseball coach, Rod Dedeaux, and World Series Champion and USC alumni, Don Buford, to help coach the actors on how to properly play. They clearly saw the strength of the source material and knew that with the right tooling, it could really leave an impression. The premise for the book is pretty great, with this idea of building a baseball field in a cornfield already starting off as a nice grabbing visual, but the component of now deceased baseball players who are invisible to most playing on said field before returning to the great beyond by disappearing behind the crops surrounding them, makes for a memorable image that feels quaint, but also silently powerful, and the whole film works on that level. The tone of the writing is pretty relaxed and chill with a hint of corniness attached, and the film as a whole has a personality that certainly has a sappy, euphoric cheeriness that leads into a lot of elegantly-word speeches and cinematic sequences, but there is undoubtedly a sincerity to this film that holsters up a plot that could be made too outlandish. A lot of films that try to portray Americana can run the risk of feeling too shmaltzy and phony if played too innocently, but also as demeaning and laughably egocentric if played too harshly, but Field of Dreams doesn’t suffer with either of these problems. The movie doesn’t waste time on providing logical explanations for its supernatural occurrence and while sometimes the way these messages are interpreted are extremely coincidental, its storybook-esque mentality mostly excuses this issue and the film is kept staple by a very strong atmosphere that brings a surprise level of depth to the narrative. There’s a weight and presence to what this premise means on the surface (as well as underneath it), and the characters can play up their quirks to an extreme level but do react to things in a mostly realistic fashion which balances out the tone, and the direction by Robinson is appropriately low-key, yet can handle the story’s sappiness in a way that feels genuine.

It was clear during casting that they were shooting for an actor that screamed ”America” in their image alone as their first choice for Ray Kinsella was going to be Tom Hanks, who at the time was America’s sweetheart. Even though he wasn’t picked, the next and eventual choice for the role, Kevin Costner, also fit that bill very nicely and has the rougher blue-collar appeal over Hanks, who gave off more of a sweet summer child vibe. While Costner in many ways is a smart choice for this movie and hearing that one of the reasons he decided to take the role was in order to help Robinson create a box-office success after his last film bombed, is very touching, his acting ability is sadly just not that good. His style of performing always has this monotone, stale delivery that, whether intentional or not, remains frequent in most of his movies. This can work if the role requires that kind of dreary, cold and tired form of delivery, but in a film like this that requires a character that might be a little downtrodden, but is otherwise supposed to still feel excitable, passionate and curious, he just can’t pull any of it off in a believable way, made even worse by all the surrounding actors glistening with sparkly personality. To be fair, he isn’t dull enough to hamper any of the film’s softer moments, so while not great, he’s not detrimental to the picture. With that said, the rest of the cast are much livelier and really bring a fun spark which nicely offsets the film’s strangely pensive tone.  Amy Madigan brings a fiery spunk to the character of Annie (which is really shown off in a scene involving a town meeting) and the scenes between her and Costner are relatively cute (despite his unaffectionate acting and sole dedication to this voice making him look a little selfish). Ray Liotta starts off a little awkward as Shoeless Joe, but does improve as the film continues and really excels when he’s just expressing with his face as you truly buy that he’s a spirit out of time and perplexed about the situation he’s currently in. The late James Earl Jones always brought a booming presence and gravitas to whatever role he was given be it in a comedy, drama or otherwise, and for a role that could be done poorly (especially with the monologues he’s given, which could feel pretentious), you really buy him as this man who strove for great things in the past but grew cynical and bitter with each passing year, it’s an expected good performance from a legendary talent. Burt Lancaster gets a really nice cameo as another dead ballplayer who left the game to live a peaceful life with his wife, the rest of the ball players are played more comically and can feel a little showy, but they do legitimately act and play like a group of ballplayers so it’s never feels overdone, and while Timothy Busfield plays a fairly standard and uninteresting antagonist, the film doesn’t waste too much time on pointless storylines so he doesn’t stick around for long.

As previously stated, the film’s atmosphere is surprisingly rich and effective at building this mysterious vibe around what is going on, and because the film essentially works on book logic and doesn’t require everything to have a specific answer, it can build on that in a way that doesn’t disturb the flow of the story they’re telling. It almost comes across like a horror film in the opening few minutes through the musical score, choice of camera shots and style of directing, but it mellows out once it reveals the baseball field and becomes a lot more traditional, yet never loses that specific ingredient, and a lot of that comes from the film’s directing and production value. Most of the film’s primary shooting locations were states like Illinois, Minnesota, and of course, Iowa, and the movies brings a believable and natural level of character to all these locations, showcasing the rougher components of these regions like the slightly outdated values, but never to the point of feeling mean-spirited or tokenistic. The visuals of the film have that nice 80s grit and rawness that despite never showcasing anything that grimy or messy, does help make this supernatural story with a cheery presence still feel real. While most the moments in the city are handled fairly standard, most of the shots in the cornfield or in the baseball field, handled by director of photography, John Lindley, are very well done and does a good job making this simple farmstead look very pretty and cinematic. Whether it’s the crane shots presenting the fields of corn against the backdrop of a purple-hued, orange-tinted hazy dawn, or a nicely lit baseball field with the blaring spotlights in a pitch-black night setting which feels like something ripped right out of the past, it all adds into the film’s personality. The musical score by James Horner is also fantastic, deciding to combine his usual choral and orchestral components mixed with a foreboding synth sound (something sourced from a temp track created by Robinson) that really brings an ominous weight behind the bombastic instruments. It was also nominated for an Academy Award, and it was definitely deserved, it is much stronger than it ever needed to be.

Field of Dreams proves to be far stronger than anyone would’ve expect it to be. Much like the remnants of the players of old returning to this personally created baseball field (which was constructed specifically for this film and later became a tourist attraction which is pretty neat), a legacy has been built for this picture and it did this through its dedication to emulating a retro personality and attitude, but in a way that doesn’t date the film and instead creates a peaceful atmosphere that has a sense of spark, but above all else, a sense of soul. This comes through spirited direction, a good script, pretty great performances, and a really solid handling of the tone and atmosphere which mixes reality and fantasy in a very nice blend. The fans helped bult this movie and many more people have certainly come to love it.