by Jake Hjort, Contributing Writer
Greetings, and welcome back to 20th Century Flicks, a foray into the fine films of the 20th century. Astute readers may have noticed a new name on the byline, as our regular historian, Adam, has graciously allowed me to take residency at this column for a little while. As one of the younger writers here at SiftPop, I just barely qualify for having experienced the 1900s live and in person, and as such, I have quite a few glaring blind spots of classic cinema that I look forward to filling in.
To celebrate the start of spring up here in the Northern Hemisphere, and the beginning of the baseball season, I wanted to take a look back on the 1989 sports fantasy classic, Field of Dreams. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson, and starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, and Ray Liotta, Field of Dreams is the story of Ray Kinsella (Costner), a farmer in Iowa who is compelled by a mysterious voice to convert his cornfields into a baseball diamond.
“If you build it, he will come.”
This oft-misquoted line, easily the most famous in the film, is the first instruction of the disembodied voice, leading Ray to build his field, slashing the profitability of his farm and becoming a pariah in the process. However, this all seems to be worth it when he finds his field populated by the ghosts of “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Liotta) and the rest of the “Chicago Black Sox,” a scandalous group of White Sox players banned from Major League Baseball for allegedly throwing the 1919 World Series. At the behest of the strange voice, Ray also travels to Boston to recruit reclusive author, Terence Mann (Jones), and to Minnesota to learn about Dr. Archibald “Moonlight” Graham (Burt Lancaster), a beloved doctor and former baseball prospect who only had one plate appearance in the big leagues.
As Ray goes about his quest to adhere to the instructions of the voice and allow the ghosts of baseball past to find closure, you see all those around him go from skeptical to fully bought in: first his wife (Madigan), then Mann, and lastly his brother-in-law (Timothy Busfield), who was threatening to seize the farm. Frankly, these transitions in attitude that the characters experience mirrored mine as well. It’s hard not to be judgmental of Ray as he plows his fields to make a baseball diamond for ghosts, but as you start to see the impact this has on Shoeless Joe, Doc Graham, and the rest of the players, all of whom had their legacies snuffed and passions cut short, you can’t help but root for him.
At the film’s climax, we learn that this isn’t just about renewing the careers of the Black Sox, but rather that the true heart and mission has been about rehabilitating the relationship between Ray and his late father, John (Dwier Brown),. Ray and John’s relationship had long been fractured due to Ray’s disdain for his father’s lack of ambition and fear of growing old without accomplishing anything, never having time to mend things before John’s passing. The “he” that will come refers not to Shoeless Joe, but to John Kinsella, offering Ray another chance to see his father and to make the amends he never could before.
Although Field of Dreams can definitely feel a bit cheesy at times, I found myself genuinely moved by the final scenes with Ray and his father. The film has a real sense of earnestness that is far less common in movies today, and Costner’s charisma in the leading role is undeniable. Sure, you can be cynical about plot holes or the fantastical elements, but it’s far more tempting to give yourself to the film and to believe in a world where everyone gets second chances and every problem can be fixed with a love of baseball.
To be completely honest, I have no idea how I’ve made it this far in life without watching Field of Dreams. I grew up as a baseball-loving kid in Minnesota, only a four-hour drive from the small Iowa town where the film was set and shot. I spent many a summer day watching Joe Mauer and my beloved Minnesota Twins, playing catch with my dad in our yard, and watching other baseball films such as Little Big League, The Sandlot,and A League of their Own on a loop. Field of Dreams is by no means perfect, but it is a beautiful love letter to baseball, to fathers and sons, and to second chances that I look forward to watching with my own children someday.
You can read more from Jake Hjort, and follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd