Posted by redcped on 1/19/2020 12:31:00 PM (view original):
I also confess to an abiding love for the film, even though it does somewhat unapologetically pull at the heart strings. I can even forgive them for making Joe Jackson a right-handed batter and removing J.D. Salinger from the book's narrative ... after all, they replaced him with James Earl Jones, and it's hard to imagine the movie working without him.

I was hoping someone would mention Salinger! That was my favorite part of the book (titled Shoeless Joe, incidentally). I liked W.P. Kinsella a lot when I was younger. He's got several good baseball-themed novels and short story collections. The first time I saw the film I was pretty annoyed that they changed so much, but with repeated viewings I've come to appreciate it.

I read a lot of Kinsella for a time, too. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy was pretty good. I certainly understand why there was probably no way Salinger’s estate would have allowed him to be portrayed in the film. But it worked out well.

I remember when Kinsella's novel was published (1982) there were rumors that he actually was Salinger, writing pseudonymously. Not only because Shoeless Joe seemed like something Salinger could have written, but because Salinger was cranky and litigious and people figured it was fishy he didn't sue over the character.

By the way, Salinger was still alive when Field of Dreams came out (he didn't pass away until 2010), so it wouldn't have been his estate the filmmakers had to worry about, but the old hermit himself!

I hadn’t realized he was still alive. That’s interesting speculation about his authorship too. Did Kinsella give interviews? Wasn’t he a public figure somehow?

https://robdarnell.com/2015/08/21/an-interview-with-w-p-kinsella/

Posted by redcped on 1/20/2020 1:12:00 PM (view original):
I hadn’t realized he was still alive. That’s interesting speculation about his authorship too. Did Kinsella give interviews? Wasn’t he a public figure somehow?

My memory could be faulty, but I think when Shoeless Joe came out he was barely known in Canada, and not at all in America. I definitely recall reading in a newspaper (Toronto Star, or maybe Globe and Mail) that there was speculation he was really Salinger. After Field of Dreams was made he got a lot more famous, of course.

There is a certain irony in the fact that Field of Dreams whitewashes the history of segregation in major league baseball yet makes the J.D. Salinger character black in order to prove to Salinger that the character is not supposed to be him, thus avoiding the lawsuit that he did threaten (to the moviemakers, not the book's author). So you have James Earl Jones reciting in his dulcet baritone the glory days of a game that was as rigorously segregated as any sport or business in America.

That said, still one of my favorite movies and always makes my eyes mist over.

The game, despite the crimes of humanity, was adored by people of all color. Their love for the game put that aside. Many times in its history it brought about real change in people, and in society. It brought people together.

Posted by DoctorKz on 1/20/2020 2:45:00 PM (view original):
The game, despite the crimes of humanity, was adored by people of all color. Their love for the game put that aside. Many times in its history it brought about real change in people, and in society. It brought people together.

True.

Posted by DoctorKz on 1/20/2020 2:45:00 PM (view original):
The game, despite the crimes of humanity, was adored by people of all color. Their love for the game put that aside. Many times in its history it brought about real change in people, and in society. It brought people together.

i dont agree.....total segregated racism never brought people together....give me a break.
branch rickey and jackie robinson were the heroes...not baseball and "the bringing together " was as slow as a little turtle ..
there were very few black people going to major league games before 1947.
how many more years of negro leagues would there have been without individual heroes in the land of the free.

Bubble Boy didn't grow up in an era of White Only and Colored Only restaurants and hotels...baseball was one of the few things in society that did help bridge those divides. Major League owners were slow to help bring about change. Boston was probably the worst. They were terrible times, especially if you were Jackie, Frank Robinson or Bob Gibson. Somehow they persevered, they succeeded. They earned everything they got.

It was the first major sport where black men rose to prominence. They found acceptance, albeit slowly...fans accepting them into the game forced owners to allow them in.

It is certainly possible to accept both of the following premises:
-- Major League Baseball was an inherently racist institution for much of the 20th century (certainly well beyond 1947)
-- MLB was ahead of many institutions in the country in integrating black people into its mainstream

As a diehard lifelong Red Sox fan, I never accepted for a second the "Curse of the Bambino." But if I could imagine a world in which cosmic justice existed, I think the Red Sox interminable years without a championship could be considered just punishment for Tom Yawkey's racism, being the last club to integrate, and passing on innumerable black stars whom they could have signed in the 1950s. Red Auerbach's Celtics arguably led the NBA in integrating the sport of basketball. The Bruins were the first NHL team to play a black player. The Red Sox could easily have done the same for baseball, if they had so chosen.

This is the quote that makes me think of WIS when I watch the film.

Posted by dino27 on 1/18/2020 4:58:00 PM (view original):
the game will be in a newly constructed stadium near the movie set.....8,000 tickets to be sold.
the actual dimensions of the movie field is actually : 280 LF.....300 CF..... 280 RF.
correction of other post.

I stand corrected. Now let's see how hard it is to get a ticket