Field of Dreams (Exclusive Series) (Tubi)

Initial release date: April 21, 1989

Studios: Universal/ Gordon Company

Tagline: If you believe the impossible, the incredible can come true.

All his life, Ray Kinsella was searching for his dreams. Then one day, his dreams came looking for him.

Plot: When Iowa farmer Ray hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying “If you build it, he will come,” he feels the need to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, Ray builds a baseball diamond on his land, supported by his wife, Annie. Afterward, the ghosts of great players start emerging from the crops to play ball, led by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. But, as Ray learns, this field of dreams is about much more than bringing former baseball greats out to play.

Cast

Kevin Costner - Rat Kinsella

Amy Madigan - Annie Kinsella

Gaby Hoffman - Karin Kinsella

Ray Liotta - Shoeless Joe Jackson

Timothy Busfield - Mark

James Earl Jones - Terence Mann

Burt Lancaster - Dr. “Moonlight” Graham

Frank Whaley - Archie Graham

Dwier Brown - John Kinsella

Michael Milhoon - Buck Weaver (3B)

Steve Eastin - Eddie Cicotte (P)

Charles Hayes - Swede Risberg (catcher)

Art LaFleur - Chick Gandil (1B)

Writer/director: Phil Alden Robinson (Sneakers; The Sum of All Fears)

Rated PG (107 minutes)

The 1989 baseball classic ‘Field of Dreams’ is one of the most beloved baseball movies out there. This compelling drama also delivers a few moments that can be funny.

‘Field of Dreams’ is also very heart-warming and sentimental. Still today, the last few minutes of the movie can make you shed a tear or two. If you have seen it, you know what I’m talking about.

The movie also features some great performances from Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster in a small, yet pivotal role.

You can rent ‘Field of Dreams’ online or can also find it on the Tubi app. Quick side note: The Tubi app (which I just heard of not long ago) is actually a really decent app where you can find some good movies and shows. The app is free but it shows a few ads every so often so that’s not so bad.

Here are some interesting tidbits for ‘Field of Dreams’:

• The studio built the baseball diamond on an actual farm in Dyersville, Iowa. After the filming was completed, the family that owned the farm kept the field and added a small hut with inexpensive souvenirs for sale. As of 2018, visitors were free to come to the field and play baseball as they pleased between April and November.

• There was an actual Archibald “Moonlight” Graham. The people Terence Mann is interviewing in the bar were people who knew the real “Doc” Graham. They found out about the movie and the inclusion of the Graham character. They drove from Chisolm, Minnesota to Iowa. The stories the men hated were actual stories about Graham.

• After the movie was completed, test audiences didn’t like the original film title ‘Shoeless Joe,’ because they said it sounded like a movie about a bum or hobo. Universal called Robinson to tell him that ‘Shoeless Joe’ didn’t work, and the studio changed the title to ‘Field of Dreams.’ When Robinson heard the news of the change, he called W.P. Kinsella, the author of the book, told him the “bad” news, but apparently he didn’t care, saying that ‘Shoeless Joe’ was the title the publishing company gave the book. Kinsella’s original title was ‘Dream Field’.

• The last theatrical film of Burt Lancaster. He was 74 at the time of filming.

• The movie’s line “If you build it, he will come” was voted as the No. 39 movie quote by the AFI (out of 100).

• It’s the only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not to win any Oscars.

• Phil Alden Robinson read ‘Shoeless Joe’ in 1981, and liked it so much that he brought it to producers Lawrence Gordon and Charles Gordon. Lawrence Gordon worked for Fox, part of the time as its president, and repeatedly mentioned that the book should be adapted into a film, but the studio always turned it down because they thought the project was too esoteric and noncommercial.

• Lawrence Gordon left Fox in 1986 and pitched it to other studios; Universal accepted it in 1987.

• The film debuted in just a few theaters and was gradually released to more screens so that it would have a spot among the summer blockbusters. It ended up playing until December.

• An MLB game was held on the infamous field with the Yankees and White Sox on August 12, 2021. A second Field of Dreams game is currently scheduled for August 11, 2022 with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs.

• In 2017, the US Library of Congress selected the film to the National Film Registry.

• In August 2021, it was announced that the film was being remade as a series for the Peacock streaming platform.

https://youtu.be/Ut06d4dptWo