Field of Dreams 1989

     This film is based on a book titled Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella.  Ray, Annie and their daughter Karin Kinsella live on a farm in Iowa.  Ray is out in the cornfield and he hears a voice tell him, “If you build it, he will come.”  Annie and Karin don’t hear the voice and Ray doesn’t know what he’s supposed to build and who will come?  Then, the ghosts of Shoeless Joe Jackson and seven other Chicago White Sox players banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series Game show up in the field.  Ray, Annie and Karin can see the players but other people can’t?  Ray plows down part of the cornfield to build a baseball field.  Annie tells Ray that they are in danger of losing the farm because they can’t pay the mortgage.  Ray’s brother-in-law Mark offers to buy the farm but Ray won’t listen to his offer.  Mark thinks Ray is crazy!!

     I was a little bit out in 'left field' with this movie because I didn’t know the baseball players or their history!!  I probably would be one of the people who could not hear or see the baseball players or understand the reason for the field.  If I owned this farm, I would worry every day about the mortgage!!  3* (This movie is OK) 

107 min, Drama directed by Phil Alden Robinson with Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan Gaby Hoffmann, Timothy Busfield, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster, Frank Whaley, Dwier Brown, James Andelin, Mary Anne Kean, Fern Persons, Kelly Coffield Park.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 86% critic 86% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 1084 reviews, Metacritic 57 out of 100 with 18 critics 8.7 out of 10 with 118 reviews. 

Special Note:  Filmed in Dyersville, Farley and Dubuque, Iowa; Boston, Massachusetts; Galena, Illinois.  The title was originally Shoeless but test audiences thought it sounded like a movie about a bum or hobo?  Kinsella’s original book title was Dream Field.  The baseball diamond was built on an actual farm in Dyersville, Iowa.  The family kept the field and added a small hut where you could by inexpensive souvenirs.  As of 2012, visitors were free to come to the field and play baseball.  Burt Lancaster didn’t know Timothy Busfield was part of the cast.  Burt had Timothy fetching water and chairs before he realized they were in a scene together.  Lancaster was 74 at the time of filming and this is his last movie role.  Joe Jackson said that no one liked Ty Cobb when he was alive.  In real-life the players were close friends.  Cobb used to buy bourbon at Jackson’s liquor store in South Carolina.  Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were unknown at the time of filming and they are among the thousands of extras in the Fenway Park scene.  Thousands of pallets of green grass were brought in to make the field but because of haste in planting, all the grass died.  The production crew painted the grass green for filming.