Kevin Costner and Dwier Brown in Field of Dreams, photo courtesy Universal Pictures
Field of Dreams (1989)
This movie is all about a farmer who listens to the voices in his head. Not generally a good idea, but here it works out just fine.
You know what the voices tell him, of course. “If you build it, he will come.” So farmer Ray (Kevin Costner) promptly cuts down acres of fine corn to plant instead a baseball field for Shoeless Joe Jackson, a one-time legend brought down by scandal, and a bunch of ball-playing ghosts. Then, when the voice tells Ray to find Terence Mann, a reclusive, grouchy writer who has no desire to be found.
It kinda makes you wonder why the movie starts with Ray telling us all about his broken-down pops—a baseball fan who taught his son to love the sport and, apparently, nothing else. “In ’58, the Dodgers moved away, so we had to find other things to fight about,” Ray tells us. “We did.” Ray’s father died in 1974, we’re told—taking a lot of unclaimed baggage with him.
But then, it all becomes clear. When Ray’s done everything the voice has asked, he discovers it wasn’t to bring Shoeless Joe back to the baseball diamond, but to reconcile with his father. What follows might be one of my favorite scenes on film.
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