It was the film that helped to launch the career of a Hollywood legend and was a star-studded fantasy movie loved by fans and critics – and is now being shown on ITV tonight.
Kevin Costner took the lead role of Iowa farmer, Ray, in the smash hit Field of Dreams. Joining him as some of the legends on the ghostly baseball film are Ray Liotta and Shoeless Joe Jackson, James Earl Jones as Terence Mann, Burt Lancaster in his final role as Doc Archibald Graham and Amy Madigan as Annie.
Released in 1989 and directed by Phil Aiden Robinson, Field of Dreams was based on the novel, Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella. As well as being commercially successful, Field of Dreams was also loved by critics. At the time one wrote: “A work so smartly written, so beautifully filmed, so perfectly acted, that it does the almost impossible trick of turning sentimentality into true emotion.”
The film was nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score. Today, Field of Dreams holds an impressive 88 percent approval rating on movie review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes. One review says: “This is a story about passion, not just for baseball, but also a passion to do something with our one precious life even if people think it’s crazy.”
Another wrote: “It’s hard to imagine a cynicism so hardened that it won’t crumble at the sight of a lush green baseball field nestled into an Iowa cornfield and at this movie’s final inspiring scene of youth and innocence recaptured.” While a third added: “Too idiosyncratic and witty merely to wallow in sentimentality, Field Of Dreams will surely stand as a classic update of what made Old Hollywood so magical. It’s still a wonderful life.”
The film also holds a special place in the heart of fans. One wrote: “This film is pure magic! I have seen this movie probably a hundred times in my life.. I’ve just finished watching it again tonight and I still get the same feeling I got the first time I saw it.” Another said: “One of the greatest films ever made. Men, get ready to cry. My favorite movies are ones that elicit an emotional response. “If you build it, he will come.”
Meanwhile a third added: “This is still probably my favorite movie of all time after seeing it over 30 years ago. A lesson in the value of having faith and valuing family along with paying a homage to baseball when it truly was Americas pastime, it is sentimental nonsense in the best way, as Ray says to Terrence Mann when returning back to Iowa to after picking up Moonlight Graham, “It’s Perfect!””
Field of Dreams is airing on ITV4 at 6.50pm on Sunday, January 4.
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