Field of Dreams
Promotional poster by Olga Kaljakin
Directed by	Phil Alden Robinson
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon and Charles Gordon
Written by	W.P. Kinsella (novel Shoeless Joe) Phil Alden Robinson (screenplay)
Starring	Kevin Costner Amy Madigan James Earl Jones Timothy Busfield Frank Whaley Gaby Hoffmann with Ray Liotta as 'Shoeless Joe' and Burt Lancaster as 'Doc Graham'
Music by	James Horner
Cinematography	John Lindley
Editing by	Ian Crafford
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	April 23, 1989 (1989-04-23) (USA)
Running time	107 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$84,431,625

Field of Dreams is a 1989 American fantasy/drama film, directed and adapted by Phil Alden Robinson from the novel Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella. The movie stars Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffmann, Ray Liotta, Timothy Busfield, James Earl Jones, Frank Whaley, and Burt Lancaster in his last film appearance.

Field of Dreams was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Score, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Historical connections 3 Honors 4 Locations 5 Music 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) is a novice farmer who lives in rural Iowa with his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan), and their young daughter Karin (Gaby Hoffmann).

While walking through his cornfield, Ray hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, they will come", and sees a vision of a baseball field. Believing he is somehow being asked to build it, and fearing he is in danger of "turning into" his father—whom he resented for his lack of spontaneity—Ray strongly wishes to do so. Although skeptical, Annie is supportive. Watched by incredulous neighbours, Ray plows under his corn and builds the field. A year passes without incident.

Ray and Annie are eventually forced to consider replacing the field with corn to stay financially solvent. At this point Karin spots a man on the ballfield who Ray discovers is Shoeless Joe Jackson, a baseball player idolized by his father. Joe is thrilled to be able to play baseball again and asks to bring others with him to the field. He later returns with the seven other players banned in the 1919 Black Sox scandal, emerging from the corn by the outfield.

Soon after, Ray is told by his brother-in-law Mark (Timothy Busfield)—who cannot see the players—that he will go bankrupt unless he replants the crop. Ray later hears the voice say "ease his pain." After attending a PTA Meeting which involves a heated discussion over the books of 1960s author and activist Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), Ray decides the voice is referring to Mann who has since become a recluse. Mann wrote that as a child he dreamed of playing with the Dodgers at Ebbets Field but was never able to. Although reluctant for another expensive flight of fancy, Annie agrees for Ray to find the author in Boston, after they share a dream of the two men watching a baseball game together.

Although Mann rebuffs Ray's initial approaches, Ray eventually persuades him to attend a baseball game at Fenway Park. Ray hears the voice again, which urges him to "go the distance," and sees a statistic for a 1920s ballplayer named Archibald "Moonlight" Graham (Burt Lancaster), who played one major league game but never batted. Terence initially claims ignorance, but admits sharing the experience when Ray is about to leave. The two then travel to Minnesota to find Graham.

Arriving at Chisholm, the pair discover that Graham died 16 years earlier and so they return, confused, to their motel. That night, while out walking, Ray is somehow transported to 1972, the year of Graham's death. Ray quickly finds him, and the two talk about Graham's quitting baseball. Although he stands by his decision, Graham says he still dreams of playing baseball. Ray offers to fulfill his dream, but Graham declines and Ray returns to the present.

Ray then returns, with Terence, to Iowa. On their way they pick up a young hitchhiker, who introduces himself as Archie Graham (Frank Whaley)—the young "Moonlight" Graham. At the farm, enough players have now appeared to play regular games. Graham joins the other players, who tease him for his youth and enthusiasm. He finally gets a chance to bat, hitting a sacrifice fly.

Mark—still unable to see the baseball players—arrives at the farm to try to convince Ray to sell, as he and his partners have bought the mortgage. Karin says Ray doesn't have to sell the farm, saying "people will come" and pay to watch the ball games. Picking up the thread, Terence Mann says "people will come" to relive their childhood innocence, "for it's money they have, and peace they lack." After some hesitation, Ray refuses to sell.

A frustrated Mark scuffles with Ray, and accidentally knocks Karin off the bleachers. She lies on the ground, unconscious and not breathing. "Moonlight" Graham runs over and, after a moment's hesitation, crosses the field boundary, instantly becoming the old "Doc" Graham. He quickly recognizes that Karin is choking, and causes her to cough up the food blocking her throat. Ray realizes that Graham has sacrificed his youthful form and cannot return to the field as a player, and apologizes profusely. After reassuring Ray, Graham walks to the outfield, exchanging respectful words with the players before disappearing into the corn. The subdued Mark—finally able to see the players—now urges Ray not to sell the farm.

As the players return to the cornfield, Joe invites Terence to join them. Ray is angry at not being invited, but Terence admits to having given the nostalgic interview about Ebbets Field (which he had previously denied), realizing that this is how he can regain his youthful passion for writing, and he convinces Ray to stay behind to take care of his family. He approaches the corn and chuckles as he walks into the stalks and disappears.

Shoeless Joe then says to Ray, "If you build it, HE will come", and glances toward a player near home plate in catcher's equipment. The player removes his mask, and Ray recognizes his father as a young man. Ray assumes the voice was Joe's, but Joe assures him, "No, Ray, it was you," before walking away into the corn.

Ray introduces his father to Karin, catching himself before telling Karin who he is, and introducing him simply as "John". After a brief exchange, his father heads toward the outfield to leave. Ray, finally and emotionally addressing him as "Dad", asks if he would like to play catch. As they begin tossing the ball back and forth, the view pulls back to reveal a trail of car headlights approaching the field, extending to the horizon.

[edit] Historical connections

The character played by Burt Lancaster and Frank Whaley, Archibald "Moonlight" Graham, is based on a real baseball player of the same name. The character is largely true to life, excepting a few factual liberties taken for artistic reasons. The real Graham's lone major league game occurred in June, 1905,[1] rather than the final day of the 1922 season as depicted in the film. The DVD special points out that the facts about Doc Graham, mentioned by various citizens interviewed by the Terence Mann character, were taken from articles written about the real Dr. Graham.

The author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) is fictional but inspired by the life of reclusive author J.D. Salinger. Salinger is the author sought by the main character in the original novel. In 1947, Salinger wrote a story called "A Young Girl In 1941 With No Waist At All", featuring a character named Ray Kinsella. Later, Salinger's most famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, features a minor character named Richard Kinsella, a classmate of the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, who digresses a lot in an "Oral Composition" class. (Richard Kinsella is the name of Ray's twin brother in the original novel.)

The DVD special notes that in studying sites for filming, the producers ran across a monument in a Dubuque cemetery that listed the city's Civil War dead. One of the names was John Kinsella.

[edit] Honors

In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Field of Dreams was acknowledged as the sixth best film in the fantasy genre.^[1][2]

[edit] Locations

Except for a few location shots for Boston, notably Fenway Park, much of the film was shot in Dubuque County, Iowa^[3], and Jo Daviess County, Illinois. The home (then and now a private residence) and field were on adjoining farms near Dyersville, Iowa. The baseball field built for the film has become an attraction with the same name. For the film's final scene, Dyersville was blacked out as part of a community event that also involved commuters to the field. The cars in the final shot were instructed to switch between their high beams and low beams to allow for the illusion of movement.

Other places used in the film are:

• Dubuque:
  • 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 Van Vliet Hall - which at the time was the main administration building - are shown.
  • Hendricks Feed. The store where Ray purchases supplies is located on Central Avenue in downtown Dubuque.
  • Terence Mann's apartment and neighborhood were located near 17th Street and Central Avenue in Dubuque, although the scene is set in Boston. In the full screen version, the Dubuque County Courthouse can be seen in the distance when Ray returns Terence to his apartment after the game.
  • Airline Inn. This roadside motel is about three miles south of Dubuque along US Highways 61 and 151. This is the motel where Ray and Terence stayed while traveling to Minnesota.
  • Martin's gas station. The gas station where Ray gets directions to Terence Mann's place was located at the southeast corner of the intersection of W. 3rd and Locust Streets in Dubuque. The gas station has since been demolished.
  • 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. Zehentner's was located near 9th and Main, and is now closed after 60 years in business at that location.
• Farley, Iowa. The PTA meeting dealing with Terence Mann's books was at Western Dubuque Elementary/Jr. High School (now Drexler Elementary/Jr. high), in Farley. The portion of the school that was featured in the establishing shot for the scene was demolished in July 2009.
• Galena, Illinois - Galena was used to represent parts of Chisholm, Minnesota.
  • Dr. Graham's office is located across the street from the Jo Daviess County Courthouse.
  • The establishing shot of Chisholm was shot next to the DeSoto House Hotel.
• 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, using the geographic features of the Driftless Area to represent the eastern United States. 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 Terence 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. the scene where Ray and Terence pick up the young Archie Graham is near the Junction of U.S. 20 and Illinois 84 north of Galena.
• 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 Terence are in the van and talking about Ray's father.

Other Roads:

• Interstate 90 near La Crosse, Wisconsin. Where the first scenes from Dyersville to Boston were shot.
• Huntington Avenue in Boston, near the campuses of Northeastern University and Wentworth, and the street where the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the site of the first world series game can be found. As Ray drives along this heavily traveled road that leads into downtown Boston, he rehearses how he will greet Terence Mann.

[edit] Music

In addition to James Horner's atmospheric score, portions of several pop songs are heard in the film's music track, including "Jessica" by The Allman Brothers Band, and "China Grove" by The Doobie Brothers.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Field of Dreams

• Field of Dreams at the Internet Movie Database
• Field of Dreams at Allmovie
• Field of Dreams at Rotten Tomatoes
• Field of Dreams at Box Office Mojo
• Field of Dreams Movie Site
• Field of Dreams Ghost Players
• Field of Dreams at the Baseball Movie Guide

v • d • e Films directed by Phil Alden Robinson 1980s In the Mood (1987) · Field of Dreams (1989) 1990s Sneakers (1992) 2000s The Sum of All Fears (2002)

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