March 3, 2025 • 40 mins
Mattson, JJ and Alec dive in this episode which revolves around the exploration of the iconic film "Field of Dreams," a cinematic work that delves into the profound connections between fathers and sons against the backdrop of baseball. We engage in a thorough discussion about the film's intricate narrative, wherein the protagonist, Ray Kinsella, is compelled to transform his cornfield into a baseball diamond, ultimately inspired by an enigmatic voice. This act serves not merely as a plot device but rather as a catalyst for a deeper exploration of dreams, redemption, and the passage of time. Throughout our dialogue, we reflect on the film's poignant moments and its lasting impact on our perceptions of nostalgia and familial relationships, particularly how these themes resonate differently with us as we transition from childhood to adulthood. As we dissect the film's merits and shortcomings, we invite our audience to reflect on their own experiences and connections to the timeless themes presented in "Field of Dreams."
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hold on.
If you build it, you will come.
What it?
How do you know he's talkingabout a baseball field?
If you build it, he will come.
Because he saw the baseballfield in the corner.
Kj.
There you go.
Yeah, I have always wonderedthat too.
(00:22):
Welcome to the what's Everydaypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is J.J.
crowder.
I'm here with my co host Matt Zenheiner.
Suffering suffitoph, Betterred than dead.
And Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
Follow, subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Tap them all so you can keepup with all of our episodes.
We.
(00:43):
We keep pumping them out andyou keep watching them.
So yeah, also, we love you, man.
Appreciate you helping growthe podcast.
So go ahead and tell friends,family members, tell baseball enthusiasts
or corn farmers work too, I guess.
Man, there's a lot you good at.
Writers, doctors, the listgoes on and on for this one.
(01:04):
But yeah, we're kicking off anew month here in March.
Is it March?
God, everything's bleedingtogether these days.
So, kicking off a new monthhere in March with Kevin Costner
sports movies.
This one's been on a.
A list for topics for me totry to get going for a while so I
(01:25):
can finally check this box offand say, happy wife, happy life.
So.
But yeah, we're gonna kick itoff right to his Field of Dreams
was released May 5, 1989.
It was written by W.P.
kinsella and Phil Alden Robinson.
Directed by Phil Alden Robinson.
Stars Kevin Costner, JamesEarl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan,
(01:48):
Gabby Hoffman, TimothyBusfield, Frank Whester, Dwyer Brown,
Michael Milhone and KellyCofield park star.
Let's see.
It's about.
Sorry.
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella isinspired by a voice he can't ignore
to pursue a dream he canhardly believe.
Supported by his wife, Raybegins the quest by turning his ordinary
(02:08):
cornfield into a place wheredreams can come true.
That's a.
It's a very.
That's quite the synopsiswritten there.
I like that.
Whose pick was this?
I don't even know.
Was it Alex?
I think it was Alec.
I mean, someone was gonna put this.
There's only nine movies topick from.
So, okay, first of all, nine movies.
(02:30):
That a Kevin Costner sportsmovie is pretty big.
How many sports movies?
It's a pretty big.
I mean, yes, I say nine.
I just said like, there'sthree of us.
We have to give six picks.
So, like, odds of Us, Field of Dreams.
If it wasn't reviewed, I thinkwe would be doing a disservice to
the sports movies he's done.
(02:50):
Yeah, I mean I think this isarguably his most famous sports movie.
But Alec, I interested why you would.
What was that?
That's it?
No, I would say.
I mean I don't even think it's.
I think if you ask the, thepeople, this is the movie that would
come up the most.
Yeah, I think this one and,and one of the others that's on the
list, Paul Durham, the, thatthey would be up there.
(03:11):
Both.
I agree.
Yeah.
Were those both your picks?
They were both my picks.
Man of the people.
Full on.
For the easy check boxes onthis one.
I like it.
Okay.
But first I gave Matson plentyof time to answer the text message
and he, he slept on it.
So I picked Field of Dreamsbecause I grew up watching this movie.
(03:33):
I've seen this, I don't know,100 times and it was my first introduction
really to James Earl Jones andRay Liotta and I mean Kevin Costner
as well.
But those three right there isalmost a perfect trifecta.
And with baseball as abackdrop, you know, I grew up playing
baseball.
Everything like that, it just,it, it worked.
(03:57):
And so when Kevin Costnersports movies came up, there was
no way I wasn't picking makingField of Dreams.
It's fair, it's fair.
Can't argue the point.
How old were you when youfirst watched it?
Probably four.
It's a long ass movie for afour year old.
(04:18):
Well, I mean there, there'scertain parts that I probably didn't
pay attention to.
Like anything not baseball related.
Yeah, yeah.
Technically it's not a verylong movie from a time frame perspective,
but it drags on for me alittle bit.
It does.
There's, there's moments.
Oh dude, this movie is slow atsome points.
Like let's just call it whatit is.
(04:39):
But yeah, it's an iconic movieto say at least.
I don't know how old I waswhen I saw this either.
Definitely saw this on TV whenI was younger and it definitely has
something I can.
There's some visuals seared inmy mind, especially the, the, the
voice.
I mean you can't.
How can you forget?
(05:00):
And then it's also lived inpop culture.
Lord.
I mean you look at what theMLB did, they literally made this
game happen.
And I think that was like oneof the coolest things I've ever done.
Like it looked awesome.
Like it was so cool.
A very interesting concept.
I would say.
One of the more philosophical,like, is this even a sports movie?
(05:21):
Like in, in some senses, like,I, I would dare say it's a movie
that has sports in it to tella story, like a very deep, emotional
story about a father and a sonand connecting the cosmos of dead
people that play baseball witha real life.
Feel like a lot going on inthis movie.
(05:41):
Yeah, I think it fits though,kind of like.
Alec, one of your main themesthat we've always had with you in
the podcast is that you, youtend to really like movies that have
a certain thing as thebackdrop, but the movie's not really
about that thing.
That's just the, the catalystfor the storytelling, if you will,
(06:03):
which this is absolutely oneof those films.
Like, yeah, I didn't realize Iwas so predictable.
I don't know if predictable isthe right word, but consistent maybe
because, yeah, I noticed thatas I was watching.
I was like, okay, this is Alexmovie that makes sense.
He likes.
And it, it is.
(06:23):
And to Matt's point, I think Isaw this in the theater.
Yeah, I was eight year old off.
And as a kid, I remember these.
It's, it's like a dichotomy oftwo visions or two versions of this
movie and one as a kid when Iwas little, it's, it's all about
the baseball and the, youknow, the crazy things that happen.
(06:45):
Like the ghost of baseballplayers and getting to hear about,
you know, they talk aboutmurders row a little bit and then
they talk about Shoeless Joeand all the cheating and all the,
you know, the shaving points.
Yeah.
So, you know, and as a kid,that was like really exciting, you
know, and, and, but as anadult, like, to match his point,
this movie takes on a wholedifferent meaning as an adult.
(07:09):
Spain.
I will say that while thatvoice is iconic, that shit's weird.
Like the way that he gets tosome of those like, like, hold on.
If you build it, you will come.
What it.
How the do you know he'stalking about a baseball field?
If you build it, he will come.
Because he saw the baseballfield in the corner.
(07:30):
KJ.
Yeah, I have always wonderedthat too.
It's like that could be manythings and you're a farmer and a
baseball field in the middleof your cornfield.
Don't think I just don't knowhow that diagram came about.
Yeah, I've often wondered that.
Well, and then, I mean, thesame thing is it's like eases pain
(07:51):
or whichever one it was like,I don't remember.
You go get the writer.
You Get James Earl Jones andthen the Doctor.
And I'm just like, man, Kev,that break and sell is pretty smart
because.
And I realized, like, thewhole argument really is.
It's his.
It's his quest, if you will.
Right.
So of course he's going to beable to parse that stuff out.
(08:13):
But, yeah, I.
It's a good movie.
It's a staple of my childhoodas well, growing up.
Like, I've probably seen thisa million times, but certainly a
different movie as an adultthan it is as a kid.
This movie had great names.
Moonlight Graham, Ray Kinsella.
Like, I mean, he'd just go on.
(08:33):
I was like, they definitelygot that part right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Agreed.
Well.
And I mean, the theme ofShoeless Joe Jackson.
Yeah.
You didn't have to make thatname up.
Yeah, there's.
There was tons, especiallyback then.
Like, they all had their nicknames.
The teams had their nicknames,and you don't hear that as much as
(08:54):
anymore.
No.
These days you get rid ofteams with nicknames because they
offend people.
That's fair, too.
Or you get funny, like, weirdones that fit, but could almost be
construed, like, big Poppy.
I'm like.
You know, in watching thismovie later on, the thing that caught
my.
I'm gonna.
You guys probably will bothget this.
(09:16):
Where is Ray's cornfield?
Like, what state is it in?
Iowa.
Iowa.
Okay.
Okay.
Just checking.
But I didn't realize how farhe traveled.
Like, I knew.
I remembered Minnesota, but,like, I.
I mean, when I was literally.
I didn't piece it together.
He went all the way to, like, Boston.
I was like, dude, this dude is.
He was driving, like, far.
Yeah.
(09:36):
To do this and a lot of work.
I feel like I go a littlecuckoo for cocoa pus.
That's probably why he washearing the voice.
But you'd be like, sure.
Like, sure, sure about that.
Like, yeah, well.
And I think.
Oh, man, I.
I don't know.
There's so many things to talkabout with this movie.
But I.
For me, like, I think the.
(09:58):
The standout thing that fromlike, a higher, you know, whatever
perspective when I was a kid,that stuck out to me was the fact
that this guy's obviouslystruggling financially and to take
care of his farm and to makethat money and keep his house and
everything else, but to have,like, the consternation or faith,
(10:18):
if you will, to plow under agood chunk of your crop to make a
baseball field, to watchghosts play baseball, and then eventually
just to, like, play catch withyour dad, like it's very holy moment
type thing, but still like, oh boy.
And what a great wife.
(10:39):
Like to support your dumbassas you drive across the country gathering
up a hodgepodge of individualsto come watch and play baseball in
your weird cornfield field.
It's weird.
It sounds perfectly normal to me.
Yeah, some weird.
The only thing that we'remissing is water allergic aliens
(10:59):
popping out of there somewhere.
And that's.
Oh my gosh, dude.
To me, I think there's fourthings to really talk about in this
movie though.
And you talk about like theadult side of this movie because
we just wanted to be a kidthat was enthralled with this interesting
story about a baseball fieldand a cornfield and having a.
The.
The greatest game ever playedthat some people saw and came from
(11:20):
all over Iowa or wherever youcould do that.
I mean, I think it's.
As a younger kid, there'senough infatuation there.
But as an adult, as we know,there's some, I would say four things.
One would be like redemptionand forgiveness.
There would be like the powerof dreams and imagination, obviously
the father and sonrelationship that's also kind of
tied up in redemption and forgiveness.
(11:42):
And then kind of the blur oflike reality meets fantasy.
I think that that's kind of,to me the four key themes.
And I think the one that's.
That's most powerful to me isthe, like the, the father and son
relationship hit me at home alittle bit because obviously now
I'm a father and you want tohave that legacy and that relationship
(12:07):
with your son.
And if that's a strange, I canimagine kind of what that pain would
feel like.
And that's a lot of what thismovie's about, is just having that
opportunity for them to playcatch again, to have that moment
to say, you know what, as adad, like, hey, I wasn't always there
for you, but I want you toknow I love you.
And just for the son torealize like, you know, dad did think
about me, he did care and wasa lot that went under this movie
(12:30):
to really get to that moment.
And I think most of thebaseball was a backdrop to convey
that story, that veryemotional side of the story.
And that's what I think thismovie did really well is showing
that, I think where it kind ofgot lost a little bit as it.
I think it fell in love withitself a little too much and romanticized
itself as they do in baseball.
(12:51):
And it just could have spedstuff up just a little bit.
Yeah, I agree.
I think I relate all too wellto the.
The part where he gets talkingabout how he used to love baseball
and played baseball and thenquit baseball because his dad made
it too serious.
Like, I went through.
(13:12):
I played a lot of sports whenI was a kid, but I.
Baseball was by far the one Iwas the best at.
And I'm not saying that I'mgonna go freaking play pro baseball,
but I was really good atbaseball, and I probably could have
got some scholarships andthings like that, but I ran into
two things.
One, my dad was always pushingme, as dad should, but, like, it
(13:36):
would interfere with certain things.
Like, I did when I was playing sports.
Like, I was playing three orfour at a time, typically.
And so dad was usuallycoaching or helping me get better,
but it was always like.
That was the focus was like,sports, sports, sports, sports, sports.
And I started to burn out onit, and so I quit baseball and focused
100% in high school andfocused 100% on football, which turned
(13:58):
out to be my detriment due tosome injuries and stuff.
But, like, I quit playingbaseball because my dad was pushing
too hard.
There were a lot of otherreasons, but that's the one that
always sticks out to my head.
So I can always relate.
When he's going through thatportion of, like, his dad, like,
trying to vicariously livethrough him to a certain degree and
really driving him, and he'sjust, like, off and, you know, took
(14:22):
off.
Now, obviously not to that extent.
I have a very goodrelationship with my father, so don't.
I don't want it to think thatI am to that point where I'm estranged,
but, like, it put strain on myrelationship with my dad for a lot
of years.
And we still will talkfootball, basketball, soccer.
I go watch all the sports withmy nieces, and we talk all about.
But we very rarely talk baseball.
(14:45):
Still soccer, jj, you watch soccer.
I did not know that.
I.
I watched most sport.
I, like, I played soccer for.
I played soccer.
And from the time that was thefirst sport I ever played actually
outside of baseball, was soccer.
I played baseball.
Started playing baseball whenI was 4 years old.
Soccer now?
(15:06):
Hell, no.
I'd have a heart attacklooking at a soccer ball in real
life.
Dude, are you kidding me?
That's why we play Rocket League.
Exactly.
Exact.
But I.
And FIFA.
I play some FIFA here, there.
But, like, no, like, I.
Yeah, soccer.
I played soccer all throughhigh school and still watch it on
occasion.
(15:26):
I watched the last time I was.
I can watch Wrexham on Hulu,and I've watched Wrecks quite a few
times.
So, yeah, I, I completelyrelate to that.
That strain of a relationshipdue to pushing or trying to live
because my dad wanted me to besuccessful because he wasn't able
to and wanted me to be sexsuccessful for me, first and foremost.
(15:48):
But I just lost interest.
Alec, what about you?
Where there's a lot of themesin this movie where.
What do you find yourselfresonating to maybe earlier on or,
or when you watch it againthese days?
I.
I mean, why you watch it ahundred times.
Those.
(16:08):
Like, that's a lot like.
Yeah, but so come back.
Like put into theme though, isa tricky part because I like the
journey that Rey goes on.
Right.
Like he goes to find Terrence Man.
Really, you know, because ofthe speech at the end where he gets
told like, hey, people aregonna come.
(16:29):
Right?
Right.
Because at that moment he'sgot the paper to sign over, get rid
of the farm.
And Terence Mann is there tomake the, you know, big speech about.
People will come, they'll payyou 20 bucks.
They have no idea why they'redoing it, but you know, they're gonna
come watch this.
Or he goes and he picks upMoonlight Graham when he thought
he was supposed to pick upTerence man.
(16:49):
Picks up moonlight and endsup, you know, that's what saves his
daughter when she's chokinghis Moonlight Graham being on the
field.
And so the whole journey whereit seems like he's.
He's just going in this bigold circle for no reason.
But they all kind of happenback to back to back in these events.
So then you get this reallymeaningful moment when he does see
his dad and Ray Liotto doesthat little thing where he's like,
(17:12):
it was you, Rey.
That little half smile smirkthing that he does.
And so it's that wholeoverarching story that you have all
these things, these sidequests don't make any sense or, you
know, why after he builds afield, he still have to go and do
these things and, you know,collect these players.
And then it all kind of comesback to the third act of this movie
(17:35):
where every single person wentto go pick up.
There's a reason why they're there.
So I don't know how you putthat into a theme.
Storytelling, journey, herojourney, something.
I don't know, but I like that perspective.
That's the draw for me is, youknow, this whole kind of like you
don't know where you're goingor why you're doing it.
And you know, nobody understands.
(17:57):
You don't even understand.
But you're just kind of like,oh yeah, I gotta go to, I gotta go
to Boston.
You know, gave an interviewabout Ebit field or whatever.
So a lot of like you get, youcan get really deep in this movie
because you can ask yourselflike, well, was all if.
If for those that believe inGod or fate or cosmic power, like,
(18:17):
or the power of choice, likeif he did or didn't have Moonlight
Graham there, would hisdaughter still have choked?
And if he wasn't there, wouldshe have died?
Like the kind of that path of fatalism?
I think this movie's aninteresting microcosm of that and,
and choices that we make.
Do they affect the thingthat's down the line or is it all
(18:38):
truly chaos and things justhappen as they happen?
Or because I decided this,there's a further domino that I've
kind of activated, or becauseI chose this, my three branch path,
I.
I'm going down this one.
And the other two, like havekind of withered away.
Whether you believe in God oryou just believe that you're here
and you're gonna die andthat's it.
(18:58):
Like everyone's got thoughtsaround that.
And I think this movie, if youwant to let your mind go there and
dive into some of thosepossibilities, it's really easy too.
And I think that's one thing Ilike about this movie.
The older I've gotten, I cansee how choices are made that.
Well, you're like, oh, that happened.
And then.
Well, that's why that personwas there.
(19:19):
But was that always necessary?
Or like.
Or because that person was a doctor.
It opened the window.
I.
You just don't know.
Well, here's the real head scratcher.
If he hadn't been to built thefield at all, sure he's still have
fallen and choked.
Would he even.
He would never even neededthose guys there for anything.
He's just been a corn farmer,you know what I mean?
(19:40):
Or, or would he have lost thefarm anyways if he like didn't feel
like.
You don't know?
Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a conundrum.
Lots of good questions.
I love.
I.
Yeah.
So I've been, I've been tothis field actually.
Like of course.
Wait, I mean, you know me,like I, we've.
(20:02):
We've driven across thecountry quite a few times through
Iowa many times and decided to stop.
It's really interesting.
I mean, it's boring as like.
It's really funny because youlike think about what.
You know that speech that hedoes Give that.
And he's talking about.
People will come and theywon't know why, and they'll sit down
and they'll.
It's not.
(20:23):
It's kind of wild, like,because you can't help but sit.
It's one of those things kindof where you're talking about Matt's.
One of these questions thatyou have to ask, like, if I hadn't
seen this movie, would I havewanted to go see this field?
Right.
And if I didn't want to go seethis field?
Like, if I don't.
But then I sat down.
I remember.
I mean, I was 16, 17 when we went.
(20:43):
And I remember sitting in thefield, like, thinking about all the
baseball that I had played.
And, like, it was interestingbecause, like.
And obviously, you know,there's not Shoeless Joe Jackson
out there playing baseball,but it.
It really does make you think.
And at least it made me thinkand get all nostalgic about baseball.
And it was really interesting.
But, like, yeah, it's a weirdthing to think about the fact that
(21:07):
on some level, this guyactually built this field.
Not, you know, because he feltlike it would help him out.
Holy dude.
So the fact that he can dothat, and I'm sure now he's.
The family's made a ton ofmoney off of it.
Like, to Matt's point, they'vedone a couple of actual major league
baseball games there.
And I've had.
I had tickets in a shoppingcart for the.
(21:30):
The New York.
I think it was.
Boston game that they had there.
And I was like, never mind.
I can do a lot of things withall that money, but I wanted to go
really bad for no other reasonthan that would be dope.
This is.
See a game in this.
Probably the most famous.
One of the most famousbaseball fields that isn't actually
a baseball field for any otherreason than to be there.
(21:54):
Anyway.
Yeah, it's.
It's.
It's one of those movies thatno matter how much.
Because I'll tell you a secret about.
I don't actually love KevinCostner all that much.
Like, he's not.
I think we talked about thisyears ago when we did Robin Hood,
Men of Era, Prince of Thieves.
It's not my favorite actor.
(22:14):
He's kind of wooden, kind ofshitty most of the time, unless he's
being goofy in some situations.
And on occasion, he's really good.
Like, there's some movies.
I think it was like, what was it?
Mr.
Something.
Anyway, he did a movie wherehe's kind of a little psycho, and
that was great, but for themost part, I don't love Kevin Costner,
and I don't love a young KevinCostner hardly at all.
(22:34):
But he does these movies that.
No matter how much I don'tlike one that was on our vote list,
that for Love of the Game,it's one of my favorite movies, and
yet I can't.
I don't like him, but I likethe movie.
You know what I mean?
So this is.
This was probably the firstcase of that where I'm like, I don't
love Kevin Costner, butthere's a really great cast and there's
(22:56):
really great story, and it's areally good movie in terms of making
you think and feel something.
And I'm like, man, it's hardto deny, but Kevin Costner's not
my favorite.
Like, trying to think of amoment, like, where he's having a
fight with his wife, and I'mjust like, boy, just inject that
passion there.
Like.
(23:19):
But anyway, that was just oneof my things.
Like, if I'm gonna.
As much as I love this movie,like, Kevin Costner drives me crazy.
But then Zach, his acting gota lot better later on.
But the younger version ofhim, he's just sometimes, like, too,
like, too cool.
Like, too, like.
I don't know.
It doesn't.
I don't feel like he's, like,fully emotional, but, like, you still
(23:40):
got that, like, smoothness to you.
Like, that's.
You'd probably be.
You'd probably be losing your.
If that's what's actuallyhappening later.
Kevin Costner has.
At least in some things, he'sfar better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's gotten much better as faras, like, delivering moments and,
like, dialogue and, like, hisearlier movies, including this one.
(24:01):
Like, sometimes I'm like,well, you didn't believe in that
line.
Like, that's.
That's the most wooden.
Yeah, you said it best.
Like, the.
The belief behind it.
Like, the.
The real raw, like, making mebe like, no, this isn't Kevin Costner.
This is Ray.
Because they're like, this is happening.
And sometimes you're like.
Well.
And then there's moments inthis movie because I don't have a
(24:23):
lot of bad things to say aboutit just because what they call it,
nostalgia called.
It's a good movie.
But the scene where he figuresout he's gonna go get Terence, man.
And they're sitting in the,like, the city council, the school
board.
I don't remember even what themeeting was for.
Fanning books.
Yeah.
And then it was Like, I lovethat moment, that moment with his
(24:47):
wife and she is like bouncing around.
She comes out especiallybecause she's like, I really got
him.
Like, I.
I love her in that moment.
But like, his response of justbeing like, dude, kick him in the
balls.
What a dick.
You just had like this momentand all he's thinking about is going
and seeing Terence man, likedrawing the weird on his.
(25:08):
Like, I'm like, oh, you some.
But like, I just didn't enjoy.
Like, I think there's someediting that could have taken place
even at a under two hours.
Like, that scene was very long.
And while the her moment,losing it is great, the build up
and then the after effects ofit, like I did that doesn't really
add much value.
(25:29):
All it did was show me how hefigured out he wanted to go see Terence
man, which you could have donejust by having him read a book, for
crying out loud.
Or sitting out plowing hisfield reading some Terrence man while
he's doing it.
I don't know.
That was just my thing.
I think there was some editing mistakes.
Isn't this movie only like anhour and 45 minutes though?
(25:49):
Yeah, it's short.
What's funny is it's short,but it doesn't.
It.
It definitely feels long at times.
Oh yeah, for sure.
And I think part of it isthere's just a lot of it that I don't
care about.
Maybe that's just me being adick, but like, there's some philosophical
(26:09):
that they get into.
Like there's another partwhere it's with the doctor before
he becomes the young man.
Like they're having thisconversation and talking about his
wife.
And I love that part.
Like, that's the crazy part islike, I love the actors that are
supporting, but like, I don'tthink it needed to be as long.
Like when he tells the story about.
And I get why he had to tellit, but.
(26:31):
And I love that story bit.
But like the lead up to all ofKevin Costner's trying to convince
him to come with him.
Like, that could have beenlike five minutes shorter and it
wouldn't have felt so like,Jesus, what are you trying to get
at?
You sound like a whiny little,like trying, like he doesn't want
to come.
Just move on, dude.
(26:52):
Like, talk to the man and go on.
And then.
I don't know.
That's just.
There's parts of it that driveme crazy because I'm like, I don't
need this.
That seems my biggest gripewith the movie.
Because I don't understand it.
I don't get the time travel.
Sure.
Alleged time travel.
And it just.
That feels more so than anything.
It's a little bit like a.
(27:13):
What?
Yeah, because there's just noreason behind it.
And so I get the.
I get the later.
You know, you meet KidMoonlight Graham just hitchhiking
on the road.
Right.
That makes sense.
Still fits in with the movie.
But going to see Doc Graham,you know, because he's been dead
for 10 years and somehow youwent back in time 10 years to have
(27:35):
a conversation with no otherexplanation of how or why this is
possible.
Yeah, that as.
As a kid, I didn't care.
Right.
But as I got watching itthrough, now that I'm kind of understanding
what's actually happening.
Yeah, that's.
That's weird.
Yeah.
That's a moment I could havedone without.
Well, and I get why they do it.
Like, I just wish they'd havedone it differently because to your
(27:55):
point, like, they could havemade him wake up and he was dreaming.
And I'm okay with that at that point.
Right.
The other piece.
But I know why they did it.
The conversation had to happenso that it made sense.
When he steps over and givesup his.
You know, he gets his one shotand then he gives up on it to save
his.
The kid.
Because, like, you get tounderstand who he is.
(28:17):
So I don't actually hate thefull on, like the.
His bits of the conversation.
I'm with you.
I don't like that we don'tknow how he gets there.
Like, all you need to do ishave him wake up and then explain
it to Terence Manley.
And I just had this weird dream.
And then to me, it's even more.
Because then he's got aquestion, like, did it actually happen
or was I just infusing that?
Because I've been readingthese articles and I want to talk
(28:39):
to him, and then all of asudden we see the younger version
of him.
Because I do like that we getto see what we don't get to see in
the corn.
Right.
Like, these guys pop out ofthe corn and they come and play baseball,
and then they disappear intothe corn.
And then we.
We see a younger version ofhis dad that we find out later.
And it's all the youngerversion of these players.
But how did they get there?
(29:00):
So I like the idea of seeingGraham come out and he's young, he's
ready to rock.
I just feel like there was.
It could have playeddifferently, to your point, than
him just walking down thestreet and going, wait, what the.
I just entered a time warp.
So, yeah, that part's alwaysbeen weird to me because I get what
they're trying to do.
They're basically trying toshow that, God, all dreams are meant
(29:21):
to be realized.
And some of the things you doin your day to day life carry just
as much importance and youhave to make that, that choice.
And that's what they'reshowing of him stepping off the field.
But I think like you said,they could have done a rewrite where
it was a dream and then we'relike, oh, this, the young version
of this player showed up onthe field and he still steps off.
And they could have made itwork somehow.
(29:42):
It's just, I mean, it is puzzling.
Call it what it is.
People just gloss over itbecause this is a good movie all
around.
And I mean, this movie doesn'tmake sense anyways because people
are coming out of the corn.
So, like, that's the thing.
Like, so while we don't likehow they did it, like, the other
part of this movie doesn'tmake sense either that people don't
come out of the corn and play baseball.
(30:02):
So it's like we just.
I mean, if I was the writers,I'd be like, well, like, it's kind
of what we did.
So you can either accept allthe weirdness or don't like it.
And yeah, I think I'm, I thinkI'm okay with it because the premise
all around doesn't make sense,but that's what this movie is.
But I think the way you'redescribing Jay would have been a
(30:23):
little bit better becausethat's the only part that it was
weird that was like, wait,this is a physical human being, but
now is playing baseball, nowsteps out the field and suddenly
age back to the super old dude.
Like, okay, you can haveghosts come out of the cornfield,
but you can be a physicalhuman being, then play, then age,
then like, yeah, that mighthave been a little much, but I get
(30:44):
what they were trying to show.
But it's hard to kind ofexplain some of that away.
Yeah, well, and it's a, it'sa, it's a thing for me too, because
my favorite character outsideof Terence Mann in this movie is
the Doctor.
Like, I love that storylineof, hey, this became the most important
(31:04):
part of my life and I moved onwithout baseball.
And while I would have lovedto, because I love the stories, like,
I just wanted to wait and geta picture one time, right?
Like, that I can relate tothat, that's great.
But I also just don't like the.
How they get him there all the way.
And so it's, it's kind of adouble edged sword for me because
I love it.
But I hate it too because Ilove that character and I love when
(31:25):
he.
I get super emotional when he.
Every time I watch.
It doesn't matter when hesteps off and he switches back and
you see that first momentwhere his shoes and his pants turn
into that brown suit.
Like, dude, I feel thatbecause I'm like, that's.
Baseball's a game.
And while to some it's theirjob and it's important, like for
(31:46):
most of us that play it, it'sa game that we do as kids and sometimes
we get to do it as olderpeople and sometimes we get to go
and play fat guy softball andrelive the days that we played base.
You know what I mean?
There's all these things thatyou can connect to baseball and in
any sport really.
But what's really important islike he found his life with, with
(32:06):
his wife and with being adoctor and helping these kids and.
And you get to see that moment.
So I love that and I love theold man.
The old man plays him amazing.
Like that little sly smilehe's got all the time and then.
But it's just.
Yeah.
Like, I just think they couldhave done it better to make it a
little more cohesive.
But you're not wrong.
(32:26):
It's pretty wild goddamnpremise to begin with.
And I just want to walk back.
I get.
The other thing I relate toreally bad is like when Rey loses
his at the end because hewants to go in the corn.
I'm like, yeah, me too.
I want to go on the court.
Why does this dude get to goin the court?
I wanna, I wanna get.
And then it's like, how's he gonna.
(32:47):
I do laugh too, because he'slike, you're gonna write about it.
I'm like, well, okay, so youjust get to go to like heaven and
come back and write about itor wherever the hell you go in the
corn.
Like, that's another weirdline that I'm like, wait, what?
How's that gonna work?
Can you just come back if you decide?
Because I'm definitely goingin the corn if that's the case.
(33:08):
So I also would say this isone of the few movies that has made
corn not spooky, buttechnically spooky because they're
ghosts.
But every other movie with cornfields.
Speaking of, when we reviewedearlier Children of the Corn.
But signs.
There's so many other scarymovies, like, good for this movie.
Holding it down for the cornin the good way.
(33:29):
When I love James Earl Jones.
He's walking in there, he'sjust giggling like that.
But I.
James Earl Jones to me islike, that guy is amazing.
And his speech at the end,still to this day, like, that's another
one.
Like the last 20 minutes ofthis movie.
This damn emotional that happens.
(33:49):
It like, you know, like.
And it just like tugs on your heartstrings.
As he's talking about.
People come Ray, like, it's just.
They want to come and watch baseball.
I'm like, it's just likesumming up my feeling of baseball
because I know a lot of peopledon't love baseball these days.
I still could sit down.
Anytime we go to a major city,I find a way to go to watch a baseball
game.
(34:09):
In fact, we're going toSeattle this year sometime and I'm
already looking at are theMariners playing and let's go.
T.
Mobile park is.
It's a good park.
It's fun.
Oh, yeah.
No, I.
I love baseball in person, butbaseball and tv?
No chance.
Yeah, I could watch itanytime, anywhere.
I even, like, flip on andwatch like, the Little League World
(34:31):
Series.
Like, oh, I like Little League.
I'll watch that.
I'll watch some playoffbaseball because the monoimano matchups,
the tension is real.
But play the regular seasonbaseball is too much baseball.
It's too long.
Yeah, no, I.
I watch all the time.
It's great.
It's constantly on.
When it's on, if I.
Because I'm like, well,there's nothing else to watch.
I'm gonna turn some baseball on.
(34:52):
I love baseball.
Good choice, Alec.
Good choice.
Should we rate it?
Let's do it.
All right.
Alec.
My movie.
I go first.
Kick us off, buddy.
I think I'm gonna give Fieldof Dreams a four and a half.
I love the story, the journey.
I even love the fact thatit's, you know, the.
(35:14):
The field of dreams, right?
You have at the end, you getall these dreams that are kind of
ticked off.
Doc Graham gets his wink.
Terrence Mann gets a story.
You know, Ray gets to playcatch with his dad.
But it is the pretty much thattime travel thing that pulls me out.
And it's such a crummy time toget pulled out because right after
(35:35):
that is when it starts to ramp up.
And so for that reason, I'mgonna give it four and a half.
But I will sit down and watchthis movie anytime, anywhere, hands
down.
Yeah, Agreed.
Maxim.
Let me give it a four.
(35:56):
I think that it's just.
Well, it's ironically not aslong as nearly many movies we watch
or that Hollywood makes these days.
And it just feels dang slow sometimes.
Like, this movie makes the.
The ending in this movie is so great.
The emotion.
But who we in the middle sometimes.
I'm just like, seen this enough.
(36:16):
Let's just get to the end.
It's really great movie.
If you haven't watched it,please watch it.
But it's.
It's something that I don'ttend to watch this movie like that
often just because it.
It's.
It's weighty and it's slow,but it's a good movie.
Yeah, I'm giving a four and ahalf with Alec.
(36:37):
I.
I think it's one of thosethings that there's.
There are little things thatkeep it from being a perfect movie,
if you will.
To me, the five, but it's verylittle things.
And I'm with Matson.
Like, it's one of those moviesthat I don't watch as often as I.
You probably think from like abaseball lover and sports movie lover.
But when I do watch it, I'malways glad that I did, and then
I'm always glad that I tooksome time in between because it.
(36:59):
It does get a little slow.
And it is.
I think if I watched it toomuch as an adult, I'd be like, nah,
I'm out.
This is.
This movie is a lot like Rudyto me.
Like, I love the movie Rudy,and that movie makes me feel more
emotional than this movie.
Like, Rudy, I have never.
And this isn't a bad.
I would love to cry during.
I've never cried during a movie.
Rudy.
Every time.
Still this day, I still.
It's like I could feel it.
(37:20):
It's like right there.
That's the movie that gets me.
But this is the same type ofWe've, like, really where sports
is the backdrop, but themovie, it's slow, but it's so good.
But they're like, man, it's along movie.
Rudy actually is long.
Whereas Feel the Dreams Ithought was long.
It isn't that long, but itfeels long.
Yeah, it does feel long, and Ithink it has such memorable moments.
(37:42):
I think that's the other thingthat I like about it is, like, it's
another movie that you can,like, watch bits of it and get what
you need to get out of it andbe okay.
But, like, some of it's great.
Like, I love the wink and itthrows the ball at it.
What are you doing?
He's like, he winked at me.
Yeah.
And then like Shoeless Joe'sgiving him tips and, and doink.
(38:04):
I just, I love that.
And then, yeah, like all the different.
And then the, the brother inlaw that at the end when he finally
sees, because Doc Graham comesout and he's looking, he's like,
don't sell Ray.
Don't sell this field.
Like, I just love like those moments.
One of the greatest last 15,20 minutes of a movie ever.
(38:26):
But like, it does take a whileto get there and there are some pain
points.
But yeah, four and a half for me.
I'll watch this movie inalmost any time as long as I haven't
watched it recently.
And even then I'd probablywatch it depending on who I'm watching
it with.
So I think the last thing I'llsay in terms of a sports lover, the
concept of older baseballplayers coming on playing newer baseball
(38:46):
players, like the age old,like LeBron versus Michael.
Like could you see who wouldbe the goat who would really like
throw it down or in any sport.
Like this movie touches uponthat because you finally have a place
where the olds can play thenews and it really is better.
Yeah, No, I agree.
Well, just the backdrop ofthat group of guys that first come
(39:08):
out that didn't get to playbaseball anymore because of the,
you know, the Chicago.
Yeah, what a.
What a mess.
And so to see them like readlike you said, the Field of Dreams.
Right.
That's why it's titled thatway as you see all these dreams come
true or, you know, get to be revisited.
So great movie, good choice.
Good way to kick off them themonth though.
(39:31):
Kevin Costner Sports filmsshould be fun to keep going with
it, but until we get my next episode.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us.
Happy to.
So as JJ said, this is weekone of Kevin Costner Sports Films
kicking it off strong in March.
Special shout out to Rich andCB our patrons for selecting the
(39:52):
movies in this topic.
And thank you, Casey, forfinally getting JJ to put the topic
through.
But what did you guys think ofour verdict?
What do you guys feel aboutthe Field of Dreams?
Let us know in the commentsbelow what you guys think if you
agree with us or if you don't.
And with that, I'll kick itback to our very own Titan of terror,
(40:13):
wise year of Wap A jj.
Yeah, Appreciate it.
All right, well, there it is.
Week one in the books, weektwo to come.
And as always, we appreciateyou tuning in?
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hasta la vista, baby.
Cinematica.
Hold on.
If you build it, you will come.
What it?
How do you know he's talkingabout a baseball field?
If you build it, he will come.
Because he saw the baseballfield in the corner.
Kj.
There you go.
Yeah, I have always wonderedthat too.
(00:22):
Welcome to the what's Everydaypodcast where we fashion ourselves
cinematic judge and Jerry.
My name is J.J.
crowder.
I'm here with my co host Matt Zenheiner.
Suffering suffitoph, Betterred than dead.
And Alec Burgess.
Let's get it.
We appreciate you tuning in.
Go ahead, hit that.
Follow, subscribe like bellnotification buttons.
Tap them all so you can keepup with all of our episodes.
We.
(00:43):
We keep pumping them out andyou keep watching them.
So yeah, also, we love you, man.
Appreciate you helping growthe podcast.
So go ahead and tell friends,family members, tell baseball enthusiasts
or corn farmers work too, I guess.
Man, there's a lot you good at.
Writers, doctors, the listgoes on and on for this one.
(01:04):
But yeah, we're kicking off anew month here in March.
Is it March?
God, everything's bleedingtogether these days.
So, kicking off a new monthhere in March with Kevin Costner
sports movies.
This one's been on a.
A list for topics for me totry to get going for a while so I
(01:25):
can finally check this box offand say, happy wife, happy life.
So.
But yeah, we're gonna kick itoff right to his Field of Dreams
was released May 5, 1989.
It was written by W.P.
kinsella and Phil Alden Robinson.
Directed by Phil Alden Robinson.
Stars Kevin Costner, JamesEarl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan,
(01:48):
Gabby Hoffman, TimothyBusfield, Frank Whester, Dwyer Brown,
Michael Milhone and KellyCofield park star.
Let's see.
It's about.
Sorry.
Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella isinspired by a voice he can't ignore
to pursue a dream he canhardly believe.
Supported by his wife, Raybegins the quest by turning his ordinary
(02:08):
cornfield into a place wheredreams can come true.
That's a.
It's a very.
That's quite the synopsiswritten there.
I like that.
Whose pick was this?
I don't even know.
Was it Alex?
I think it was Alec.
I mean, someone was gonna put this.
There's only nine movies topick from.
So, okay, first of all, nine movies.
(02:30):
That a Kevin Costner sportsmovie is pretty big.
How many sports movies?
It's a pretty big.
I mean, yes, I say nine.
I just said like, there'sthree of us.
We have to give six picks.
So, like, odds of Us, Field of Dreams.
If it wasn't reviewed, I thinkwe would be doing a disservice to
the sports movies he's done.
(02:50):
Yeah, I mean I think this isarguably his most famous sports movie.
But Alec, I interested why you would.
What was that?
That's it?
No, I would say.
I mean I don't even think it's.
I think if you ask the, thepeople, this is the movie that would
come up the most.
Yeah, I think this one and,and one of the others that's on the
list, Paul Durham, the, thatthey would be up there.
(03:11):
Both.
I agree.
Yeah.
Were those both your picks?
They were both my picks.
Man of the people.
Full on.
For the easy check boxes onthis one.
I like it.
Okay.
But first I gave Matson plentyof time to answer the text message
and he, he slept on it.
So I picked Field of Dreamsbecause I grew up watching this movie.
(03:33):
I've seen this, I don't know,100 times and it was my first introduction
really to James Earl Jones andRay Liotta and I mean Kevin Costner
as well.
But those three right there isalmost a perfect trifecta.
And with baseball as abackdrop, you know, I grew up playing
baseball.
Everything like that, it just,it, it worked.
(03:57):
And so when Kevin Costnersports movies came up, there was
no way I wasn't picking makingField of Dreams.
It's fair, it's fair.
Can't argue the point.
How old were you when youfirst watched it?
Probably four.
It's a long ass movie for afour year old.
(04:18):
Well, I mean there, there'scertain parts that I probably didn't
pay attention to.
Like anything not baseball related.
Yeah, yeah.
Technically it's not a verylong movie from a time frame perspective,
but it drags on for me alittle bit.
It does.
There's, there's moments.
Oh dude, this movie is slow atsome points.
Like let's just call it whatit is.
(04:39):
But yeah, it's an iconic movieto say at least.
I don't know how old I waswhen I saw this either.
Definitely saw this on TV whenI was younger and it definitely has
something I can.
There's some visuals seared inmy mind, especially the, the, the
voice.
I mean you can't.
How can you forget?
(05:00):
And then it's also lived inpop culture.
Lord.
I mean you look at what theMLB did, they literally made this
game happen.
And I think that was like oneof the coolest things I've ever done.
Like it looked awesome.
Like it was so cool.
A very interesting concept.
I would say.
One of the more philosophical,like, is this even a sports movie?
(05:21):
Like in, in some senses, like,I, I would dare say it's a movie
that has sports in it to tella story, like a very deep, emotional
story about a father and a sonand connecting the cosmos of dead
people that play baseball witha real life.
Feel like a lot going on inthis movie.
(05:41):
Yeah, I think it fits though,kind of like.
Alec, one of your main themesthat we've always had with you in
the podcast is that you, youtend to really like movies that have
a certain thing as thebackdrop, but the movie's not really
about that thing.
That's just the, the catalystfor the storytelling, if you will,
(06:03):
which this is absolutely oneof those films.
Like, yeah, I didn't realize Iwas so predictable.
I don't know if predictable isthe right word, but consistent maybe
because, yeah, I noticed thatas I was watching.
I was like, okay, this is Alexmovie that makes sense.
He likes.
And it, it is.
(06:23):
And to Matt's point, I think Isaw this in the theater.
Yeah, I was eight year old off.
And as a kid, I remember these.
It's, it's like a dichotomy oftwo visions or two versions of this
movie and one as a kid when Iwas little, it's, it's all about
the baseball and the, youknow, the crazy things that happen.
(06:45):
Like the ghost of baseballplayers and getting to hear about,
you know, they talk aboutmurders row a little bit and then
they talk about Shoeless Joeand all the cheating and all the,
you know, the shaving points.
Yeah.
So, you know, and as a kid,that was like really exciting, you
know, and, and, but as anadult, like, to match his point,
this movie takes on a wholedifferent meaning as an adult.
(07:09):
Spain.
I will say that while thatvoice is iconic, that shit's weird.
Like the way that he gets tosome of those like, like, hold on.
If you build it, you will come.
What it.
How the do you know he'stalking about a baseball field?
If you build it, he will come.
Because he saw the baseballfield in the corner.
(07:30):
KJ.
Yeah, I have always wonderedthat too.
It's like that could be manythings and you're a farmer and a
baseball field in the middleof your cornfield.
Don't think I just don't knowhow that diagram came about.
Yeah, I've often wondered that.
Well, and then, I mean, thesame thing is it's like eases pain
(07:51):
or whichever one it was like,I don't remember.
You go get the writer.
You Get James Earl Jones andthen the Doctor.
And I'm just like, man, Kev,that break and sell is pretty smart
because.
And I realized, like, thewhole argument really is.
It's his.
It's his quest, if you will.
Right.
So of course he's going to beable to parse that stuff out.
(08:13):
But, yeah, I.
It's a good movie.
It's a staple of my childhoodas well, growing up.
Like, I've probably seen thisa million times, but certainly a
different movie as an adultthan it is as a kid.
This movie had great names.
Moonlight Graham, Ray Kinsella.
Like, I mean, he'd just go on.
(08:33):
I was like, they definitelygot that part right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Agreed.
Well.
And I mean, the theme ofShoeless Joe Jackson.
Yeah.
You didn't have to make thatname up.
Yeah, there's.
There was tons, especiallyback then.
Like, they all had their nicknames.
The teams had their nicknames,and you don't hear that as much as
(08:54):
anymore.
No.
These days you get rid ofteams with nicknames because they
offend people.
That's fair, too.
Or you get funny, like, weirdones that fit, but could almost be
construed, like, big Poppy.
I'm like.
You know, in watching thismovie later on, the thing that caught
my.
I'm gonna.
You guys probably will bothget this.
(09:16):
Where is Ray's cornfield?
Like, what state is it in?
Iowa.
Iowa.
Okay.
Okay.
Just checking.
But I didn't realize how farhe traveled.
Like, I knew.
I remembered Minnesota, but,like, I.
I mean, when I was literally.
I didn't piece it together.
He went all the way to, like, Boston.
I was like, dude, this dude is.
He was driving, like, far.
Yeah.
(09:36):
To do this and a lot of work.
I feel like I go a littlecuckoo for cocoa pus.
That's probably why he washearing the voice.
But you'd be like, sure.
Like, sure, sure about that.
Like, yeah, well.
And I think.
Oh, man, I.
I don't know.
There's so many things to talkabout with this movie.
But I.
For me, like, I think the.
(09:58):
The standout thing that fromlike, a higher, you know, whatever
perspective when I was a kid,that stuck out to me was the fact
that this guy's obviouslystruggling financially and to take
care of his farm and to makethat money and keep his house and
everything else, but to have,like, the consternation or faith,
(10:18):
if you will, to plow under agood chunk of your crop to make a
baseball field, to watchghosts play baseball, and then eventually
just to, like, play catch withyour dad, like it's very holy moment
type thing, but still like, oh boy.
And what a great wife.
(10:39):
Like to support your dumbassas you drive across the country gathering
up a hodgepodge of individualsto come watch and play baseball in
your weird cornfield field.
It's weird.
It sounds perfectly normal to me.
Yeah, some weird.
The only thing that we'remissing is water allergic aliens
(10:59):
popping out of there somewhere.
And that's.
Oh my gosh, dude.
To me, I think there's fourthings to really talk about in this
movie though.
And you talk about like theadult side of this movie because
we just wanted to be a kidthat was enthralled with this interesting
story about a baseball fieldand a cornfield and having a.
The.
The greatest game ever playedthat some people saw and came from
(11:20):
all over Iowa or wherever youcould do that.
I mean, I think it's.
As a younger kid, there'senough infatuation there.
But as an adult, as we know,there's some, I would say four things.
One would be like redemptionand forgiveness.
There would be like the powerof dreams and imagination, obviously
the father and sonrelationship that's also kind of
tied up in redemption and forgiveness.
(11:42):
And then kind of the blur oflike reality meets fantasy.
I think that that's kind of,to me the four key themes.
And I think the one that's.
That's most powerful to me isthe, like the, the father and son
relationship hit me at home alittle bit because obviously now
I'm a father and you want tohave that legacy and that relationship
(12:07):
with your son.
And if that's a strange, I canimagine kind of what that pain would
feel like.
And that's a lot of what thismovie's about, is just having that
opportunity for them to playcatch again, to have that moment
to say, you know what, as adad, like, hey, I wasn't always there
for you, but I want you toknow I love you.
And just for the son torealize like, you know, dad did think
about me, he did care and wasa lot that went under this movie
(12:30):
to really get to that moment.
And I think most of thebaseball was a backdrop to convey
that story, that veryemotional side of the story.
And that's what I think thismovie did really well is showing
that, I think where it kind ofgot lost a little bit as it.
I think it fell in love withitself a little too much and romanticized
itself as they do in baseball.
(12:51):
And it just could have spedstuff up just a little bit.
Yeah, I agree.
I think I relate all too wellto the.
The part where he gets talkingabout how he used to love baseball
and played baseball and thenquit baseball because his dad made
it too serious.
Like, I went through.
(13:12):
I played a lot of sports whenI was a kid, but I.
Baseball was by far the one Iwas the best at.
And I'm not saying that I'mgonna go freaking play pro baseball,
but I was really good atbaseball, and I probably could have
got some scholarships andthings like that, but I ran into
two things.
One, my dad was always pushingme, as dad should, but, like, it
(13:36):
would interfere with certain things.
Like, I did when I was playing sports.
Like, I was playing three orfour at a time, typically.
And so dad was usuallycoaching or helping me get better,
but it was always like.
That was the focus was like,sports, sports, sports, sports, sports.
And I started to burn out onit, and so I quit baseball and focused
100% in high school andfocused 100% on football, which turned
(13:58):
out to be my detriment due tosome injuries and stuff.
But, like, I quit playingbaseball because my dad was pushing
too hard.
There were a lot of otherreasons, but that's the one that
always sticks out to my head.
So I can always relate.
When he's going through thatportion of, like, his dad, like,
trying to vicariously livethrough him to a certain degree and
really driving him, and he'sjust, like, off and, you know, took
(14:22):
off.
Now, obviously not to that extent.
I have a very goodrelationship with my father, so don't.
I don't want it to think thatI am to that point where I'm estranged,
but, like, it put strain on myrelationship with my dad for a lot
of years.
And we still will talkfootball, basketball, soccer.
I go watch all the sports withmy nieces, and we talk all about.
But we very rarely talk baseball.
(14:45):
Still soccer, jj, you watch soccer.
I did not know that.
I.
I watched most sport.
I, like, I played soccer for.
I played soccer.
And from the time that was thefirst sport I ever played actually
outside of baseball, was soccer.
I played baseball.
Started playing baseball whenI was 4 years old.
Soccer now?
(15:06):
Hell, no.
I'd have a heart attacklooking at a soccer ball in real
life.
Dude, are you kidding me?
That's why we play Rocket League.
Exactly.
Exact.
But I.
And FIFA.
I play some FIFA here, there.
But, like, no, like, I.
Yeah, soccer.
I played soccer all throughhigh school and still watch it on
occasion.
(15:26):
I watched the last time I was.
I can watch Wrexham on Hulu,and I've watched Wrecks quite a few
times.
So, yeah, I, I completelyrelate to that.
That strain of a relationshipdue to pushing or trying to live
because my dad wanted me to besuccessful because he wasn't able
to and wanted me to be sexsuccessful for me, first and foremost.
(15:48):
But I just lost interest.
Alec, what about you?
Where there's a lot of themesin this movie where.
What do you find yourselfresonating to maybe earlier on or,
or when you watch it againthese days?
I.
I mean, why you watch it ahundred times.
Those.
(16:08):
Like, that's a lot like.
Yeah, but so come back.
Like put into theme though, isa tricky part because I like the
journey that Rey goes on.
Right.
Like he goes to find Terrence Man.
Really, you know, because ofthe speech at the end where he gets
told like, hey, people aregonna come.
(16:29):
Right?
Right.
Because at that moment he'sgot the paper to sign over, get rid
of the farm.
And Terence Mann is there tomake the, you know, big speech about.
People will come, they'll payyou 20 bucks.
They have no idea why they'redoing it, but you know, they're gonna
come watch this.
Or he goes and he picks upMoonlight Graham when he thought
he was supposed to pick upTerence man.
(16:49):
Picks up moonlight and endsup, you know, that's what saves his
daughter when she's chokinghis Moonlight Graham being on the
field.
And so the whole journey whereit seems like he's.
He's just going in this bigold circle for no reason.
But they all kind of happenback to back to back in these events.
So then you get this reallymeaningful moment when he does see
his dad and Ray Liotto doesthat little thing where he's like,
(17:12):
it was you, Rey.
That little half smile smirkthing that he does.
And so it's that wholeoverarching story that you have all
these things, these sidequests don't make any sense or, you
know, why after he builds afield, he still have to go and do
these things and, you know,collect these players.
And then it all kind of comesback to the third act of this movie
(17:35):
where every single person wentto go pick up.
There's a reason why they're there.
So I don't know how you putthat into a theme.
Storytelling, journey, herojourney, something.
I don't know, but I like that perspective.
That's the draw for me is, youknow, this whole kind of like you
don't know where you're goingor why you're doing it.
And you know, nobody understands.
(17:57):
You don't even understand.
But you're just kind of like,oh yeah, I gotta go to, I gotta go
to Boston.
You know, gave an interviewabout Ebit field or whatever.
So a lot of like you get, youcan get really deep in this movie
because you can ask yourselflike, well, was all if.
If for those that believe inGod or fate or cosmic power, like,
(18:17):
or the power of choice, likeif he did or didn't have Moonlight
Graham there, would hisdaughter still have choked?
And if he wasn't there, wouldshe have died?
Like the kind of that path of fatalism?
I think this movie's aninteresting microcosm of that and,
and choices that we make.
Do they affect the thingthat's down the line or is it all
(18:38):
truly chaos and things justhappen as they happen?
Or because I decided this,there's a further domino that I've
kind of activated, or becauseI chose this, my three branch path,
I.
I'm going down this one.
And the other two, like havekind of withered away.
Whether you believe in God oryou just believe that you're here
and you're gonna die andthat's it.
(18:58):
Like everyone's got thoughtsaround that.
And I think this movie, if youwant to let your mind go there and
dive into some of thosepossibilities, it's really easy too.
And I think that's one thing Ilike about this movie.
The older I've gotten, I cansee how choices are made that.
Well, you're like, oh, that happened.
And then.
Well, that's why that personwas there.
(19:19):
But was that always necessary?
Or like.
Or because that person was a doctor.
It opened the window.
I.
You just don't know.
Well, here's the real head scratcher.
If he hadn't been to built thefield at all, sure he's still have
fallen and choked.
Would he even.
He would never even neededthose guys there for anything.
He's just been a corn farmer,you know what I mean?
(19:40):
Or, or would he have lost thefarm anyways if he like didn't feel
like.
You don't know?
Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a conundrum.
Lots of good questions.
I love.
I.
Yeah.
So I've been, I've been tothis field actually.
Like of course.
Wait, I mean, you know me,like I, we've.
(20:02):
We've driven across thecountry quite a few times through
Iowa many times and decided to stop.
It's really interesting.
I mean, it's boring as like.
It's really funny because youlike think about what.
You know that speech that hedoes Give that.
And he's talking about.
People will come and theywon't know why, and they'll sit down
and they'll.
It's not.
(20:23):
It's kind of wild, like,because you can't help but sit.
It's one of those things kindof where you're talking about Matt's.
One of these questions thatyou have to ask, like, if I hadn't
seen this movie, would I havewanted to go see this field?
Right.
And if I didn't want to go seethis field?
Like, if I don't.
But then I sat down.
I remember.
I mean, I was 16, 17 when we went.
(20:43):
And I remember sitting in thefield, like, thinking about all the
baseball that I had played.
And, like, it was interestingbecause, like.
And obviously, you know,there's not Shoeless Joe Jackson
out there playing baseball,but it.
It really does make you think.
And at least it made me thinkand get all nostalgic about baseball.
And it was really interesting.
But, like, yeah, it's a weirdthing to think about the fact that
(21:07):
on some level, this guyactually built this field.
Not, you know, because he feltlike it would help him out.
Holy dude.
So the fact that he can dothat, and I'm sure now he's.
The family's made a ton ofmoney off of it.
Like, to Matt's point, they'vedone a couple of actual major league
baseball games there.
And I've had.
I had tickets in a shoppingcart for the.
(21:30):
The New York.
I think it was.
Boston game that they had there.
And I was like, never mind.
I can do a lot of things withall that money, but I wanted to go
really bad for no other reasonthan that would be dope.
This is.
See a game in this.
Probably the most famous.
One of the most famousbaseball fields that isn't actually
a baseball field for any otherreason than to be there.
(21:54):
Anyway.
Yeah, it's.
It's.
It's one of those movies thatno matter how much.
Because I'll tell you a secret about.
I don't actually love KevinCostner all that much.
Like, he's not.
I think we talked about thisyears ago when we did Robin Hood,
Men of Era, Prince of Thieves.
It's not my favorite actor.
(22:14):
He's kind of wooden, kind ofshitty most of the time, unless he's
being goofy in some situations.
And on occasion, he's really good.
Like, there's some movies.
I think it was like, what was it?
Mr.
Something.
Anyway, he did a movie wherehe's kind of a little psycho, and
that was great, but for themost part, I don't love Kevin Costner,
and I don't love a young KevinCostner hardly at all.
(22:34):
But he does these movies that.
No matter how much I don'tlike one that was on our vote list,
that for Love of the Game,it's one of my favorite movies, and
yet I can't.
I don't like him, but I likethe movie.
You know what I mean?
So this is.
This was probably the firstcase of that where I'm like, I don't
love Kevin Costner, butthere's a really great cast and there's
(22:56):
really great story, and it's areally good movie in terms of making
you think and feel something.
And I'm like, man, it's hardto deny, but Kevin Costner's not
my favorite.
Like, trying to think of amoment, like, where he's having a
fight with his wife, and I'mjust like, boy, just inject that
passion there.
Like.
(23:19):
But anyway, that was just oneof my things.
Like, if I'm gonna.
As much as I love this movie,like, Kevin Costner drives me crazy.
But then Zach, his acting gota lot better later on.
But the younger version ofhim, he's just sometimes, like, too,
like, too cool.
Like, too, like.
I don't know.
It doesn't.
I don't feel like he's, like,fully emotional, but, like, you still
(23:40):
got that, like, smoothness to you.
Like, that's.
You'd probably be.
You'd probably be losing your.
If that's what's actuallyhappening later.
Kevin Costner has.
At least in some things, he'sfar better.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's gotten much better as faras, like, delivering moments and,
like, dialogue and, like, hisearlier movies, including this one.
(24:01):
Like, sometimes I'm like,well, you didn't believe in that
line.
Like, that's.
That's the most wooden.
Yeah, you said it best.
Like, the.
The belief behind it.
Like, the.
The real raw, like, making mebe like, no, this isn't Kevin Costner.
This is Ray.
Because they're like, this is happening.
And sometimes you're like.
Well.
And then there's moments inthis movie because I don't have a
(24:23):
lot of bad things to say aboutit just because what they call it,
nostalgia called.
It's a good movie.
But the scene where he figuresout he's gonna go get Terence, man.
And they're sitting in the,like, the city council, the school
board.
I don't remember even what themeeting was for.
Fanning books.
Yeah.
And then it was Like, I lovethat moment, that moment with his
(24:47):
wife and she is like bouncing around.
She comes out especiallybecause she's like, I really got
him.
Like, I.
I love her in that moment.
But like, his response of justbeing like, dude, kick him in the
balls.
What a dick.
You just had like this momentand all he's thinking about is going
and seeing Terence man, likedrawing the weird on his.
(25:08):
Like, I'm like, oh, you some.
But like, I just didn't enjoy.
Like, I think there's someediting that could have taken place
even at a under two hours.
Like, that scene was very long.
And while the her moment,losing it is great, the build up
and then the after effects ofit, like I did that doesn't really
add much value.
(25:29):
All it did was show me how hefigured out he wanted to go see Terence
man, which you could have donejust by having him read a book, for
crying out loud.
Or sitting out plowing hisfield reading some Terrence man while
he's doing it.
I don't know.
That was just my thing.
I think there was some editing mistakes.
Isn't this movie only like anhour and 45 minutes though?
(25:49):
Yeah, it's short.
What's funny is it's short,but it doesn't.
It.
It definitely feels long at times.
Oh yeah, for sure.
And I think part of it isthere's just a lot of it that I don't
care about.
Maybe that's just me being adick, but like, there's some philosophical
(26:09):
that they get into.
Like there's another partwhere it's with the doctor before
he becomes the young man.
Like they're having thisconversation and talking about his
wife.
And I love that part.
Like, that's the crazy part islike, I love the actors that are
supporting, but like, I don'tthink it needed to be as long.
Like when he tells the story about.
And I get why he had to tellit, but.
(26:31):
And I love that story bit.
But like the lead up to all ofKevin Costner's trying to convince
him to come with him.
Like, that could have beenlike five minutes shorter and it
wouldn't have felt so like,Jesus, what are you trying to get
at?
You sound like a whiny little,like trying, like he doesn't want
to come.
Just move on, dude.
(26:52):
Like, talk to the man and go on.
And then.
I don't know.
That's just.
There's parts of it that driveme crazy because I'm like, I don't
need this.
That seems my biggest gripewith the movie.
Because I don't understand it.
I don't get the time travel.
Sure.
Alleged time travel.
And it just.
That feels more so than anything.
It's a little bit like a.
(27:13):
What?
Yeah, because there's just noreason behind it.
And so I get the.
I get the later.
You know, you meet KidMoonlight Graham just hitchhiking
on the road.
Right.
That makes sense.
Still fits in with the movie.
But going to see Doc Graham,you know, because he's been dead
for 10 years and somehow youwent back in time 10 years to have
(27:35):
a conversation with no otherexplanation of how or why this is
possible.
Yeah, that as.
As a kid, I didn't care.
Right.
But as I got watching itthrough, now that I'm kind of understanding
what's actually happening.
Yeah, that's.
That's weird.
Yeah.
That's a moment I could havedone without.
Well, and I get why they do it.
Like, I just wish they'd havedone it differently because to your
(27:55):
point, like, they could havemade him wake up and he was dreaming.
And I'm okay with that at that point.
Right.
The other piece.
But I know why they did it.
The conversation had to happenso that it made sense.
When he steps over and givesup his.
You know, he gets his one shotand then he gives up on it to save
his.
The kid.
Because, like, you get tounderstand who he is.
(28:17):
So I don't actually hate thefull on, like the.
His bits of the conversation.
I'm with you.
I don't like that we don'tknow how he gets there.
Like, all you need to do ishave him wake up and then explain
it to Terence Manley.
And I just had this weird dream.
And then to me, it's even more.
Because then he's got aquestion, like, did it actually happen
or was I just infusing that?
Because I've been readingthese articles and I want to talk
(28:39):
to him, and then all of asudden we see the younger version
of him.
Because I do like that we getto see what we don't get to see in
the corn.
Right.
Like, these guys pop out ofthe corn and they come and play baseball,
and then they disappear intothe corn.
And then we.
We see a younger version ofhis dad that we find out later.
And it's all the youngerversion of these players.
But how did they get there?
(29:00):
So I like the idea of seeingGraham come out and he's young, he's
ready to rock.
I just feel like there was.
It could have playeddifferently, to your point, than
him just walking down thestreet and going, wait, what the.
I just entered a time warp.
So, yeah, that part's alwaysbeen weird to me because I get what
they're trying to do.
They're basically trying toshow that, God, all dreams are meant
(29:21):
to be realized.
And some of the things you doin your day to day life carry just
as much importance and youhave to make that, that choice.
And that's what they'reshowing of him stepping off the field.
But I think like you said,they could have done a rewrite where
it was a dream and then we'relike, oh, this, the young version
of this player showed up onthe field and he still steps off.
And they could have made itwork somehow.
(29:42):
It's just, I mean, it is puzzling.
Call it what it is.
People just gloss over itbecause this is a good movie all
around.
And I mean, this movie doesn'tmake sense anyways because people
are coming out of the corn.
So, like, that's the thing.
Like, so while we don't likehow they did it, like, the other
part of this movie doesn'tmake sense either that people don't
come out of the corn and play baseball.
(30:02):
So it's like we just.
I mean, if I was the writers,I'd be like, well, like, it's kind
of what we did.
So you can either accept allthe weirdness or don't like it.
And yeah, I think I'm, I thinkI'm okay with it because the premise
all around doesn't make sense,but that's what this movie is.
But I think the way you'redescribing Jay would have been a
(30:23):
little bit better becausethat's the only part that it was
weird that was like, wait,this is a physical human being, but
now is playing baseball, nowsteps out the field and suddenly
age back to the super old dude.
Like, okay, you can haveghosts come out of the cornfield,
but you can be a physicalhuman being, then play, then age,
then like, yeah, that mighthave been a little much, but I get
(30:44):
what they were trying to show.
But it's hard to kind ofexplain some of that away.
Yeah, well, and it's a, it'sa, it's a thing for me too, because
my favorite character outsideof Terence Mann in this movie is
the Doctor.
Like, I love that storylineof, hey, this became the most important
(31:04):
part of my life and I moved onwithout baseball.
And while I would have lovedto, because I love the stories, like,
I just wanted to wait and geta picture one time, right?
Like, that I can relate tothat, that's great.
But I also just don't like the.
How they get him there all the way.
And so it's, it's kind of adouble edged sword for me because
I love it.
But I hate it too because Ilove that character and I love when
(31:25):
he.
I get super emotional when he.
Every time I watch.
It doesn't matter when hesteps off and he switches back and
you see that first momentwhere his shoes and his pants turn
into that brown suit.
Like, dude, I feel thatbecause I'm like, that's.
Baseball's a game.
And while to some it's theirjob and it's important, like for
(31:46):
most of us that play it, it'sa game that we do as kids and sometimes
we get to do it as olderpeople and sometimes we get to go
and play fat guy softball andrelive the days that we played base.
You know what I mean?
There's all these things thatyou can connect to baseball and in
any sport really.
But what's really important islike he found his life with, with
(32:06):
his wife and with being adoctor and helping these kids and.
And you get to see that moment.
So I love that and I love theold man.
The old man plays him amazing.
Like that little sly smilehe's got all the time and then.
But it's just.
Yeah.
Like, I just think they couldhave done it better to make it a
little more cohesive.
But you're not wrong.
(32:26):
It's pretty wild goddamnpremise to begin with.
And I just want to walk back.
I get.
The other thing I relate toreally bad is like when Rey loses
his at the end because hewants to go in the corn.
I'm like, yeah, me too.
I want to go on the court.
Why does this dude get to goin the court?
I wanna, I wanna get.
And then it's like, how's he gonna.
(32:47):
I do laugh too, because he'slike, you're gonna write about it.
I'm like, well, okay, so youjust get to go to like heaven and
come back and write about itor wherever the hell you go in the
corn.
Like, that's another weirdline that I'm like, wait, what?
How's that gonna work?
Can you just come back if you decide?
Because I'm definitely goingin the corn if that's the case.
(33:08):
So I also would say this isone of the few movies that has made
corn not spooky, buttechnically spooky because they're
ghosts.
But every other movie with cornfields.
Speaking of, when we reviewedearlier Children of the Corn.
But signs.
There's so many other scarymovies, like, good for this movie.
Holding it down for the cornin the good way.
(33:29):
When I love James Earl Jones.
He's walking in there, he'sjust giggling like that.
But I.
James Earl Jones to me islike, that guy is amazing.
And his speech at the end,still to this day, like, that's another
one.
Like the last 20 minutes ofthis movie.
This damn emotional that happens.
(33:49):
It like, you know, like.
And it just like tugs on your heartstrings.
As he's talking about.
People come Ray, like, it's just.
They want to come and watch baseball.
I'm like, it's just likesumming up my feeling of baseball
because I know a lot of peopledon't love baseball these days.
I still could sit down.
Anytime we go to a major city,I find a way to go to watch a baseball
game.
(34:09):
In fact, we're going toSeattle this year sometime and I'm
already looking at are theMariners playing and let's go.
T.
Mobile park is.
It's a good park.
It's fun.
Oh, yeah.
No, I.
I love baseball in person, butbaseball and tv?
No chance.
Yeah, I could watch itanytime, anywhere.
I even, like, flip on andwatch like, the Little League World
(34:31):
Series.
Like, oh, I like Little League.
I'll watch that.
I'll watch some playoffbaseball because the monoimano matchups,
the tension is real.
But play the regular seasonbaseball is too much baseball.
It's too long.
Yeah, no, I.
I watch all the time.
It's great.
It's constantly on.
When it's on, if I.
Because I'm like, well,there's nothing else to watch.
I'm gonna turn some baseball on.
(34:52):
I love baseball.
Good choice, Alec.
Good choice.
Should we rate it?
Let's do it.
All right.
Alec.
My movie.
I go first.
Kick us off, buddy.
I think I'm gonna give Fieldof Dreams a four and a half.
I love the story, the journey.
I even love the fact thatit's, you know, the.
(35:14):
The field of dreams, right?
You have at the end, you getall these dreams that are kind of
ticked off.
Doc Graham gets his wink.
Terrence Mann gets a story.
You know, Ray gets to playcatch with his dad.
But it is the pretty much thattime travel thing that pulls me out.
And it's such a crummy time toget pulled out because right after
(35:35):
that is when it starts to ramp up.
And so for that reason, I'mgonna give it four and a half.
But I will sit down and watchthis movie anytime, anywhere, hands
down.
Yeah, Agreed.
Maxim.
Let me give it a four.
(35:56):
I think that it's just.
Well, it's ironically not aslong as nearly many movies we watch
or that Hollywood makes these days.
And it just feels dang slow sometimes.
Like, this movie makes the.
The ending in this movie is so great.
The emotion.
But who we in the middle sometimes.
I'm just like, seen this enough.
(36:16):
Let's just get to the end.
It's really great movie.
If you haven't watched it,please watch it.
But it's.
It's something that I don'ttend to watch this movie like that
often just because it.
It's.
It's weighty and it's slow,but it's a good movie.
Yeah, I'm giving a four and ahalf with Alec.
(36:37):
I.
I think it's one of thosethings that there's.
There are little things thatkeep it from being a perfect movie,
if you will.
To me, the five, but it's verylittle things.
And I'm with Matson.
Like, it's one of those moviesthat I don't watch as often as I.
You probably think from like abaseball lover and sports movie lover.
But when I do watch it, I'malways glad that I did, and then
I'm always glad that I tooksome time in between because it.
(36:59):
It does get a little slow.
And it is.
I think if I watched it toomuch as an adult, I'd be like, nah,
I'm out.
This is.
This movie is a lot like Rudyto me.
Like, I love the movie Rudy,and that movie makes me feel more
emotional than this movie.
Like, Rudy, I have never.
And this isn't a bad.
I would love to cry during.
I've never cried during a movie.
Rudy.
Every time.
Still this day, I still.
It's like I could feel it.
(37:20):
It's like right there.
That's the movie that gets me.
But this is the same type ofWe've, like, really where sports
is the backdrop, but themovie, it's slow, but it's so good.
But they're like, man, it's along movie.
Rudy actually is long.
Whereas Feel the Dreams Ithought was long.
It isn't that long, but itfeels long.
Yeah, it does feel long, and Ithink it has such memorable moments.
(37:42):
I think that's the other thingthat I like about it is, like, it's
another movie that you can,like, watch bits of it and get what
you need to get out of it andbe okay.
But, like, some of it's great.
Like, I love the wink and itthrows the ball at it.
What are you doing?
He's like, he winked at me.
Yeah.
And then like Shoeless Joe'sgiving him tips and, and doink.
(38:04):
I just, I love that.
And then, yeah, like all the different.
And then the, the brother inlaw that at the end when he finally
sees, because Doc Graham comesout and he's looking, he's like,
don't sell Ray.
Don't sell this field.
Like, I just love like those moments.
One of the greatest last 15,20 minutes of a movie ever.
(38:26):
But like, it does take a whileto get there and there are some pain
points.
But yeah, four and a half for me.
I'll watch this movie inalmost any time as long as I haven't
watched it recently.
And even then I'd probablywatch it depending on who I'm watching
it with.
So I think the last thing I'llsay in terms of a sports lover, the
concept of older baseballplayers coming on playing newer baseball
(38:46):
players, like the age old,like LeBron versus Michael.
Like could you see who wouldbe the goat who would really like
throw it down or in any sport.
Like this movie touches uponthat because you finally have a place
where the olds can play thenews and it really is better.
Yeah, No, I agree.
Well, just the backdrop ofthat group of guys that first come
(39:08):
out that didn't get to playbaseball anymore because of the,
you know, the Chicago.
Yeah, what a.
What a mess.
And so to see them like readlike you said, the Field of Dreams.
Right.
That's why it's titled thatway as you see all these dreams come
true or, you know, get to be revisited.
So great movie, good choice.
Good way to kick off them themonth though.
(39:31):
Kevin Costner Sports filmsshould be fun to keep going with
it, but until we get my next episode.
Alec, tell everybody wherethey can find us.
Happy to.
So as JJ said, this is weekone of Kevin Costner Sports Films
kicking it off strong in March.
Special shout out to Rich andCB our patrons for selecting the
(39:52):
movies in this topic.
And thank you, Casey, forfinally getting JJ to put the topic
through.
But what did you guys think ofour verdict?
What do you guys feel aboutthe Field of Dreams?
Let us know in the commentsbelow what you guys think if you
agree with us or if you don't.
And with that, I'll kick itback to our very own Titan of terror,
(40:13):
wise year of Wap A jj.
Yeah, Appreciate it.
All right, well, there it is.
Week one in the books, weektwo to come.
And as always, we appreciateyou tuning in?
We'll catch you on the next one.
Hasta la vista, baby.
Cinematica.
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