Field of Dreams No One Would Ever Have
As a baseball fan for pretty much my whole life, it’s a little strange that I haven’t seen the classic 1980’s baseball movie Field Of Dreams but once, and I was probably six or seven years old at the time. I got to thinking about this and rented it, ready to watch it for what would really be the first time, seeing as how six year olds don’t really fully comprehend movies.
Field Of Dreams opens with star Kevin Costner (who was much more of a star in 1989) doing something of a voiceover biography. It’s explained to the audience that Ray Kinsella’s (Costner’s character) mother died when he was three, and his father raised him on baseball before dying at a young age as well. Ray and his father John were never really close. John had tried to play professional baseball in his youth, and as an adult forced Ray to play until he got sick of it and quit at age 14.
Ray got married and moved to Iowa, where he bought a farm and had a daughter. After the opening credits role, the viewer sees Ray mulling around in his cornfield, where he hears a voice tell him “if you build it, he will come.” He later hears the voice again, and elects to tell his wife, Annie, who is somewhat supportive. The strange thing is that she remains supportive after Ray has a vision that demands he turn the majority of their cornfield into a baseball stadium. After all, if he builds it, he will come.
One night, after the
stadium is finally built, and the Kinsellas’ bank account if fully drained,
Ray’s daughter Karin sees a man wearing a white uniform standing in
the middle of the baseball diamond, looking around. Ray approaches the man,
who introduces himself as shoeless Joe Jackson, famed member of the 1919 Chicago
White Sox and one of Ray’s favorite players. Ray and Joe play ball for
a little bit, and then Joe disappears into the corn, telling Ray he’ll
be back with others. Joe and the rest of the 1919 Sox come to the field the
following night and practice. Joe thanks Ray and tells him how much he loves
baseball and how great it is to be playing again.
The scandalous 1919 White Sox become regulars at Ray’s field, but Ray
and his family are bankrupt from building it. One night, both Ray and Annie
have a dream in which Ray and an influential 1960s author named Terrance Mann
are watching a game at Fenway Park. This, coupled with more verbal messages
from the random voice, leads Ray to go get Terrance Mann, who is portrayed
by James Earl Jones. Ray and Terrance bicker for a bit before finally agreeing
to go to the game that night. While at Fenway Park, the two see the name Archibald
“Moonlight Graham” appear on the scoreboard. They also see the
city of Chisholm, Minnesota listed there as well. According to the scoreboard,
Graham never got to bat and only played one inning of one major league game.
Ray and Terrance take this to mean that they should visit Chisholm in an effort
to find “Moonlight” and get him to play at Ray’s baseball
stadium. When they arrive in Minnesota they are told that “Moonlight”
Graham, who became a good doctor, had died years ago. This seems like a setback
in Ray’s vision quest, at least until he finds his way back in time
and talks to Dr. Graham about his baseball career. Graham tells him all he
ever wanted was to get one at bat. Ray leaves Graham not knowing why he couldn’t
take him to Iowa and questioning himself. Terrance tells Ray they should just
head back home, and that he wants to accompany Ray back to Iowa.
Ray complies, and on the way back they pick up a young hitchhiker who turns
out to be a young “Moonlight” Graham. They finally arrive home
and Graham begins to play ball with the other dead players on Ray’s
field. While they’re playing, Annie’s brother Mark (also their
banker) arrives to tell Ray that he’s crazy and that he has to sell
the property to financially survive. Ray tells him he can’t, because
of the ballplayers and the field. Of course Mark can’t see the players,
so he thinks Ray is clearly beyond help. Mark, played by Timothy Busfield,
who later would star in such moving films as Little Big League and
First Kid, accidentally knocks Karin off the bleachers and “Moonlight”
Graham comes across the diamond, transforms into his older self, and comes
to her aid to start her breathing again. Graham then disappears, but now Mark
is convinced of the players’ existence and tells Ray not to sell. He
now believes in the magic. Karin then begins nonsensically chirping about
how people will come pay money to see these players in action from far away,
to get their memories back.
That night, shoeless Joe Jackson brings Terrance off into the cornfield to
visit his childhood memories at Ebbets Field. Ray gets angry that he can’t
go, until a younger version of his father shows up on his baseball field.
The two talk, and Ray gains a better understanding of who his father was.
As the movie comes to a close, you can see the car lights lined up to visit
Ray’s Field of Dreams.
So, seeing as how this movie is a classic among many baseball fans, I must
point something out: the character of Ray Kinsella is clearly under the influence
of a number of drugs. What kind? I don’t know. But seriously, all of
these visions and voices aren’t coming out of some mystical nowhere
land. Throughout the movie Ray discusses his love for the 1960s, and even
mentions having “smoked some grass.” At this point it should become
clear to the viewer that Ray is nothing but a pathetic, nostalgic pothead.
If this scenario is too severe for you, perhaps Ray is merely really, really
crazy. Maybe he finally came to the realization that he lived in Iowa and
he started trying to make up stories in his head to relieve the inevitable
boredom involved with, well, living in Iowa. Eventually Ray began to believe
his own imagination and he went crazy, all the while assuming his cornfield
was some sort of bizarre breeding ground for dead baseball players.
Okay, okay. Perhaps, due to this movie’s popularity and fame, I’m
approaching this with too much skepticism. Maybe Ray isn’t on drugs.
Maybe Ray isn’t insane. It’s even worse than that, even worse
than I previously feared. Ray is…Kevin Costner! I know, it’s startling
to say the least. Let’s look at this with open eyes, though. Kevin Costner
has been in such critically-acclaimed fare as Waterworld, The
Postman, For Love of the Game, and Dragonfly. He’s
not exactly known for making good film decisions. Perhaps I should stop trying
to psychoanalyze the character of Ray Kinsella and just concede that, should
he have been played by any other actor, none of this would’ve happened.
The movie would’ve just been about a guy who lived in Iowa with his
family. They would’ve sold their crops. None of this would’ve
been any big deal.
For instance, let’s say Ray Liotta and Kevin Costner would’ve switched roles. Liotta would play Ray Kinsella and Costner would play shoeless Joe Jackson. If this were the case, one could argue that Costner wouldn’t even be needed, because there would’ve been no stupid random-ass baseball field in the first place. Ray Kinsella would’ve been a sane family man. Man, I hate Kevin Costner.
