Baldwin: Re-release this film, they will come
Greetings, my fellow sons, daughters and fathers of Winchester.
Baseball is a constant through American history.
No matter if we are at war, deep in a recession, or booming because of capitalistic consumerism, we know once the weather starts to warm, baseball is coming to visit upon the scent of the season’s first grass clippings.
This constant is a welcoming and warming thought.
Every year we know we have another chance to see our team have its shot to win and another chance to take in the sights and sounds of the ballfield that have been ingrained in the American psyche.
What other game has a play where one player “sacrifices” his personal performance to assist in moving a fellow teammate further for the good of the team?
Baseball has many terms and nuances that are parallel to life and that is why it is fitting that on Father’s Day, “Field of Dreams” (1989) will be rereleased in select theaters for a limited time.
“Field of Dreams” whisks the viewer away to an Iowa farm where owner Ray, Kevin “Bull Durham” Costner, is tending to his cornfield.
While hard at work amongst the corn and internally battling the stress of financial issues and possible foreclosure looming over him and his family, Ray begins to hear a voice telling him, “If you build it, he will come.”
Ray, now hearing voices and second guessing his sanity, interprets his ghostly commands which prompt him to act by constructing a baseball field on his farm.
The field lures ghosts of baseball yesteryear from the corn starting with Chicago White Sox player Shoeless Joe Jackson portrayed by Ray “Goodfellas” Liotta.
These voices send Ray out on a journey to track down a reclusive J.D. Salinger-esque author Terence Mann, James Earl “The Sandlot” Jones, to help make sense by guiding him on his next steps in discovering what it all literally and figuratively means.
Luckily, Ray is supported in this journey by his wife and daughter, played by Amy “Uncle Buck” Madigan and Gaby “Transparent” Hoffmann.
“Field of Dreams” is a drama, family fantasy adapted for the screen from W.P. Kinsella’s book “Shoeless Joe.”
Over the last 30 years, “Dreams” has become an American classic film for sports and film enthusiasts alike and the baseball diamond amongst the corn has become a popular tourist spot located in Dyersville, Iowa.
If you haven’t had the chance to see it, I urge you to take the time to view this great flick.
“Dreams” is not about baseball. It is about renewal, second chances (in baseball you have three when you are at the plate), dreaming and the bond between father and sons. It is about the beauty of having a soul.
So, if baseball can convey all these deep insights, I agree, baseball is perfect. Flaws and all. So is fatherhood.
“Field of Dreams” will be presented by Fathom Events and includes exclusive insight from Turner Classic Movies in honor of the film’s 30th anniversary.
Show times are 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Sunday, June 16, and noon and 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, at Regal in Hamburg and Cinemark Theaters at Fayette Mall and Richmond Centre.
Have a film-tastic Father’s Day.
Rick Baldwin is a writer, filmmaker and film/music historian. He is president of the Winchester-Clark County Film Society. Find more from Rick on Facebook. He is on Twitter @rickbaldwin79 and can be reached by email at rickbaldwiniii@hotmail.com.