FIELD OF DREAMS

'''Field of Dreams''' (1989) is a movie about a farmer who becomes convinced by a mysterious voice that he is supposed to construct a baseball diamond in his corn field. It stars Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffmann, Ray Liotta, Timothy Busfield, James Earl Jones, Frank Whaley and Burt Lancaster in his last film appearance. The film's underlying theme concerns the fulfillment of dreams and overcoming regrets for things done, or not done, in life.
The movie was directed and adapted by Phil Alden Robinson from the novel ''Shoeless Joe'' by W. P. Kinsella. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
The character played by Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley, Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, was a real baseball player. The background of the character is based on his true life, with a few factual liberties taken for artistic reasons.
The fictional author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) is based on the reclusive author J. D. Salinger. Salinger was the author sought out by the main character in the original novel. In 1947, the real Salinger wrote a story called ''A Young Girl In 1941 With No Waist At All'', featuring a character named Ray Kinsella. Also, a minor character named Richard Kinsella appeared in Salinger's most famous work, ''The Catcher in the Rye''.
The baseball field built for the film has become an attraction with the same name.

Contents

Synopsis

Places featured in the film

References

External links

Synopsis

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is a novice farmer, living in rural Iowa along with his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan), and their young daughter Karin (Gaby Hoffmann). The dialogue begins with Ray telling the audience about his deceased father, John Kinsella's (Dwier Brown) love for the game of baseball, the Chicago White Sox, and Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), who was banned from baseball for his part in throwing the 1919 World Series. He talks about how his father seemed "worn down" by life at a relatively young age. This opening narration lays the groundwork for most of the main elements of the story.
Ray is working in his cornfield near dusk. He hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come." No one else can hear it. The next time he hears the voice, he has a brief vision of a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield, and Shoeless Joe standing in the field. Ray is driven to clear part of his crop and build the ballfield, having the feeling that Shoeless Joe will somehow appear in his field. Annie is skeptical but she tells him he should follow his vision and intuition. Ray also explains to his daughter (and to the audience) more detail about the Black Sox Scandal that resulted in eight players being banned for life.
The finished field sits idle for the better part of a year, with snow covering the field in the winter, as bills begin to pile up due to the reduced size of the corn crop. One night the next summer, Karin tells Ray there's a man standing in his field. It is, in fact, Joe Jackson. Ray and Joe play some catch and batting practice. Joe asks if he can bring other members of the 1919 team to the field. At the end of their practice session, Joe asks Ray, "Is this Heaven?" Ray answers, "No, it's Iowa." Joe walks to the edge of the outfield and vanishes into the corn.
Joe Jackson does bring friends along, first the other banished members of the 1919 team, and later other deceased ballplayers (and an umpire) so that they can have games. The bills continue to mount for the Kinsellas. Annie's brother, Mark (Timothy Busfield), who is unable to see or hear the ballplayers, tells Ray that he will soon go bankrupt and must sell the farm, unless he gets rid of the field and returns it to farmland.
One night, Ray hears the voice again, telling him, "Ease His Pain." He has a feeling that the "him" refers to prominent '60's author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), who Ray recalls had once written an article about the good old days of baseball. Ray drives to Boston, Massachusetts, to find Mann, who is hostile at first, but Ray convinces him to go to a Boston Red Sox game with him at Fenway Park. At the park, Mann expresses his frustration that people still turn to him for answers, although his time as a leader (the 60s) has passed.
During the game, the voice tells Ray, "Go the distance", a baseball term for pitching a complete game, or metaphorically, for completing a mission. On the scoreboard, Ray sees statistics for a 1920s ballplayer named Archibald "Moonlight" Graham from Chisholm, Minnesota, who played in one major league game with the New York Giants, but never came to bat. Ray asks Mann about what he has just seen, but Mann reacts as if he saw nothing. After the game, Ray drops Mann off at his home and makes a U-turn, only to see Mann standing in the street in front of him. Mann says "Moonlight Graham!" out loud, and Ray knows Mann did see the sign. Mann also heard the voice, and says it means that they are supposed to drive to Minnesota and find Graham.
The lengthy trip allows Ray the chance to elaborate on his opening narration again, explaining his father's love for the game and for Jackson - and how Ray rebelled against his father, refusing to play catch, insulting his father's hero-worship of the "criminal" Jackson, and creating a rift that remained unresolved before his father's death.
In Minnesota, Mann and Ray learn a great deal about Graham's life. He was the town's beloved doctor, who has been deceased since 1972. Mann wonders what is special about this doctor and what is his place in this story. That night, while Mann phones his own father from a motel, Ray takes a walk through the downtown, which is deserted. Ray notes with some bewilderment that he seems to be back in the year 1972. The only other figure walking on the street turns out to be Doc Graham (Burt Lancaster). The two walk over to Graham's office. Graham talks about how he regretted never having had a chance to bat in the major leagues.
Ray offers Graham a chance to come to Iowa, but Graham turns him down. Ray and Mann drive back toward Iowa the next morning, uncertain of the next step. They pick up a young hitchhiker (Frank Waley) who turns out to be a ballplayer in search of a team - a young Archie Graham. They return to the farm in Iowa, where there are now full-fledged games being played. Mann and Graham are amazed by the scene. That night, the young Graham suits up and finally gets his at-bat with major leaguers. The great irony, however, is that Graham hits a sacrifice fly in the game, so, according to baseball scoring rules, still would not have an official at bat (although he would have 1 RBI).
The next morning, Ray, Mann and the family are watching the players practice when Mark shows up again, telling Ray that he's bankrupt, and needs to sign the sale papers now or he gets nothing when the bank forecloses in a few hours. Mark still cannot see the players, and in a comical scene, he walks right through the infield as a pitch is being thrown, nearly being hit. Ray knows the financial reality, and is considering signing it. His daughter tells him matter-of-factly that he doesn't have to sell the farm, because "People will come." Mann takes up this theme and reiterates that people will indeed come to the farm, to recapture fond memories of their youth, willing to give a $20 admission fee to Ray, because "for it is money they have and peace they lack." Mann talks at length about the constant of baseball throughout much of American history, and its symbolism of youthful innocence.

Ray is convinced. He turns the papers back to Mark and refuses to sign. Mark is now angry and waving his arms. He accidentally knocks Karin off the little bleacher section. She lands on the ground and cannot breathe. Ray looks to the field. Graham walks to the edge of the field, and as he crosses the threshold, he transforms into the old Doc Graham. Graham immediately diagnoses the situation, and clears Karin's windpipe from the piece of hot dog that she was choking on. Mark can now see Doc Graham, and all the ballplayers. Graham thanks Ray for the chance to bat against major leaguers. Graham walks back across the field to the well-wishes of the respectful players before he disappears into the corn. Before Graham disappears, Shoeless Joe Jackson yells to him, "hey rookie, you were good." Mark, someone stunned by all of this, tells Ray, "Do ''not'' sell the farm."
After this drama, the players decide to "call it a day" and return to the corn. Jackson remains and invites Mann to follow them into the corn and see what's on the other side. Mann, seeing a chance to revive his own flagging passion for writing stories, accepts Jackson's invitation. Ray is frustrated, since he himself is "not invited". He tells Mann he expects a "full description". Mann gingerly walks into the corn, laughing as though being "tickled".
After Mann has gone, Joe tells Ray, "If you build it... ''HE'' will come", and nods toward another player, a catcher, the only one besides Joe who hasn't gone into the corn with the others. The player removes his catcher's mask, and Ray recognizes him as his father as a young man. Ray now thinks Jackson must have been the voice: "It was YOU." Jackson answers, "No, Ray. It was ''you''." Jackson then walks away and into the corn.
The catcher approaches Ray, neither of them quite willing to verbalize their relationship. Ray introduces Karin, "This is my fa-; this is John." John thanks them for building the field. Annie and Karin leave the two men to talk. John repeats Joe's earlier question, "Is this Heaven?" Ray answers, "It's Iowa... ''Is'' there a Heaven?" John answers, "Oh, yes... It's the place where dreams come true." John says goodnight and starts to walk toward the corn. With dusk approaching, Ray blurts out, and on the verge of tears, "Hey... Dad? Do you want to have a 'catch'?" John, also welling up, answers, "I'd like that."
As reunited father and son begin playing catch, the camera pulls up, high into the twilight sky, revealing a long line of car headlights of people coming to the baseball field.

Places featured in the film

Except for a few location shots for Boston, notably Fenway Park, much of the film was shot in and around Dubuque County, Iowa^[1]. The home and field were on adjoining farms near Dyersville, Iowa. The field was retained as a tourist attraction. The house is a private residence. Other places that were used in the film were:

★ Dubuque was featured in the following:

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★ University of Dubuque- Kevin Costner's character Ray looks up information on Terence Mann in the school library. When Ray and Annie are walking to their truck Blades Hall and the Van Vliet main administration building are shown.

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★ Hendricks Feed. The store where Ray had gone to purchase supplies is located in downtown Dubuque.

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★ Terence Mann's apartment and neighborhood - This was located near 17th Street and Central Avenue in Dubuque, although the scene takes place in Boston.

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★ Airline Inn. This roadside motel is about three miles south of Dubuque along US Highways 61/151. This is the motel where Ray and Terrance stayed while traveling to Minnesota.

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★ Downtown gas station. The gas station where Ray gets directions to Terence Mann's place was originally just south of the intersection of 3rd and Locust Streets in Dubuque. The gas station is no longer there, torn down to facilitate economic development.

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★ Zehentner's Sports World. In one of the scenes cut from the final movie (outtakes available in the 15th Anniversary Commemorative DVD), Ray buys equipment at a local sporting goods store and discovers its employees are the first people who don't think he's crazy. Now since closed after 60 years in the business, Zehentner's was located near 9th and Main.

★ Farley, Iowa. The PTA meeting about Terence Mann's books was at Western Dubuque Elementary/Jr. High School, in Farley.

★ Galena, Illinois - Galena was used to represent parts of Chisholm, Minnesota.

★ Local Dubuque attorneys Dan McClean and Bill Conzett were featured in the kitchen scene as Timothy Busfield's partners. The two lawyers, playing bankers, were the only two "bad guys" in the film.


The film used local roads quite extensively to represent the drive from Dyersville to Boston, Boston to Chisholm, and Chisholm to Dyersville. The following are some of the local roadways used:

★ U.S. Highway 20 - Part of the highway between the Illinois towns of East Dubuque and Galena was used to represent the drive from Boston to Chisholm. The Citgo station where Ray and Terrance stopped was along the highway west of Dubuque. When Ray and Annie are driving home from town, parts of the highway west of Dubuque are shown.

★ U.S. Highway 52 - Parts of the highway north of Dubuque were used in the drive from Chisholm to Dyersville.

★ U.S. Highway 151 - A portion of this highway that is about six miles south of Dubuque is seen in the scene where Ray and Terrance are in the van and talking about Ray's father.
Other Roads:
Interstate 90 - Near La Crosse, Wisconsin - The first scenes from Dyersville to Boston.

★ Huntington Avenue in Boston, near the campuses of Northeastern University and Wentworth, the site of the first world series game, and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - As Ray rides along, practicing how he will greet Terence Mann, he drives along this heavily traveled route, away from Downtown Boston and towards Natick.

References

1. Filming locations for Field of Dreams (1989)

External links

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★ Field of Dreams Movie Site