Ready to feel old? Field of Dreams turns 30 this year! One of the all-time great baseball movies, its message still resonates today. It's why people flock to a cornfield in Iowa by the thousands, just as they have every year since its release.
This movie is one of the reasons why I fell in love with baseball. I'm fairly certain I wore out the VHS tape when I was a kid, and it's still one of my favorites. Back then, it was just because I really liked the movie. But as I grew up, I got it more and more. And I began to love it on a different level. I think that's probably true for a lot of people, which is why it's still so relevant.
It's damn near impossible for me to not cry at the final scene in Field of Dreams. I think I've managed not to once or twice, but the ending gets me pretty much every time. Because ultimately, at its core, that's what Field of Dreams is about. It's a story about fathers and sons.
Ray Kinsella got to play catch, as an adult, with his father as a young man. That's every boy's dream. But beyond that, it mended a broken relationship. So what if it was from beyond the grave? Ray needed to forgive his father and he needed his father to forgive him. That final scene represented that in such a beautiful way. Because baseball was that one thing they had in common.
Everything that Ray did led up to that point. He just didn't realize it. Until John took his mask off and everything clicked. "Oh my God, it's my father." Suddenly it all made sense. Even though they didn't say it, they both knew who the other was. It didn't need to be spoken. Just like their mutual forgiveness didn't need to be spoken. They just needed to do something that fathers do with their sons all across America everyday.
In that moment, it brings everyone back their own childhood and the memories of playing catch with their dad. It doesn't have to be baseball. It could just as easily be another sport. Or musicians. Or artists. Or...I think you get my point. For an instant, Ray wasn't a man with a world of problems. He was a carefree boy spending time with his dad. Which was exactly what he needed.
Yet it's a story of redemption and forgiveness for the other characters, too. Terence Mann, played marvelously by James Earl Jones, was lost until Ray found him and suddenly gave him purpose. Shoeless Joe and the rest of the Black Sox (this year is also the 100th anniversary of that infamous World Series) sure needed it. (Eight Men Out is also one of my all-time favorite movies.) And Archie finally got the chance to bat, correcting the one regret he had in his life.
And, as Terence reminds us in the most James Earl Jones scene of the movie, it's baseball that binds the generations. Baseball has endured so much, yet it's still here. And it will continue to be here. Just like it was for our parents and grandparents. Just like it will be for our children and grandchildren.
Ultimately, I think that's the thing about Field of Dreams that speaks the most to people. Life is full of ups and downs with very few constants. Baseball is one of those constants. And it's fundamentally unchanged. You can close your eyes, go back to your childhood, and baseball will be there. And it'll be exactly the same.
Maybe that's why so many people have made the pilgrimage to Iowa every year since the movie's release. As Gabby Hoffman's Karin correctly predicted: "People will come." Maybe they love the movie and/or baseball. Maybe they just want to see a real-life movie set. But, more likely, they're looking for something else. Maybe they're trying to find some of that childhood innocence for themselves. Or maybe it's something more.
Either way, "Field of Dreams" is the perfect title. When Ray asks his father if there's a heaven, he responds: "Oh yeah. It's the place dreams come true." The movie tells us that it's OK to dream. The entire story is a fantasy, which is completely irrelevant but also the entire point. It doesn't matter that it can't actually happen. Because in dreams, nothing is impossible.
At its heart, though, Field of Dreams tells the story of a son's relationship with his father. Theirs wasn't perfect. Nobody's is. That doesn't mean you don't love each other, even if you don't always show it. And on Father's Day, that's something worth remembering. Don't you think?
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