Written by: W.P. Kinsella (book); Phil Alden Robinson (screenplay)
"Field of Dreams" is a film about baseball and yet not about baseball. It is, instead, about the things that tie one generation of Americans to the previous and the next. Baseball is merely the medium the film uses to discuss this theme.
Kevin Costner shines in this film (which, I hate to say, he rarely does). He brings the confusion and anguish of Ray Kinsella to life. His supporting cast does a great job, too. James Earl Jones as Terrence Mann steals every scene he is in and plays well off Costner. (And, as a brief side note, the Mann character was modeled after J.D. Salinger, but he threatened to sue, and so the character was altered enough to avoid litigation.) Burt Lancaster plays one of the most memorable characters and manages to navigate the emotional climax of the film.
Baseball serves as the backdrop to the story, but runs like a red seam through the entire film. I wouldn't categorize this as a sports film, though. It's a story, more, about family. It's about the search for history and the resolution of dreams left unfulfilled.
This is, by far, one of my favorite movies, and the end nearly brings me to tears every time I see it.
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