OK, so James Earl Jones doesn't actually appear in The Empire Strikes Back, but there's no mistaking him as the voice of Darth Vader. Or of course as Terrence Mann in Field of Dreams.Field of Dreams is one of the best baseball movies ever (download episode #11 of the At Home Film Festival Podcast to hear my discussion with John Jordan about our favorite baseball movies). It's a great, nostalgic look at what baseball has meant to generations of fans through the past century in America. As we go further down the road of overpaid players, corporate greed, advertising plastered across every surface of every stadium, and more news about steroid use coming out every couple weeks, it's nice to have a reminder of what the game of baseball should really be about.
Plus, as a guy, this is one of the few movies where it's acceptable to shed a tear or two. The film culminates with a simple line when Kevin Costner says, "Hey Dad? Wanna have a catch?" That moment somehow encapsulates the entire father-son dynamic. The things left unsaid between father and child can lead to resentment later in life... but those innocent moments of our childhood - sharing time at a baseball game, or simply playing catch - somehow encapsulate all the love and caring and mutual respect that we forgot was always there.
See, I'm getting choked up just thinking of the scene. Time to move on to the next DVD.
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