#269. Baseball

As America’s pastime, baseball has been a boundary breaker for decades. It has leveled the playing field for different races and genders and is enjoyed by people of all ages, both as athletes and spectators. Of course, the one place where this is obvious is in film. We see the struggles of a league comprised entirely of women in A League of Their Own (1992). We observe the youthful exuberance of children playing pickup games of baseball in The Sandlot (1993). We even get a glimpse into the statisticians who can find the most efficient way to build a winning team in Moneyball (2011). Almost every facet of baseball has been covered in cinema, which is why some of the more fictional representations of this sport resort to more supernatural means. This week’s two films show there’s more to the game of baseball than it would seem.

Field of Dreams
Year: 1989
Rating: PG
Length: 107 minutes / 1.78 hours

The late 1980s and early 1990s heralded a spike in the popularity of baseball. At the time, I was just entering elementary school and picked baseball as my sport of choice to play. Meanwhile, Hollywood was allowing Kevin Costner to start making films about baseball. While he started with Bull Durham (1988), he continued the trend shortly afterward with Field of Dreams (1989). Throughout the years, he would also star in For the Love of the Game (1999) and The Upside of Anger (2005). But with Field of Dreams, we all saw that baseball was a family affair. Other films also emphasized this point, such as Trouble with the Curve (2012) and Angels in the Outfield (1994), the latter of which also included a plot device that hearkened back to the ghostly apparitions of its predecessor, Field of Dreams.

Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) was raised being told the story of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal by his father. This was partly due to his father idolizing “Shoeless” Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta). Inspired by a voice in his head, Ray builds a baseball field in his field of corn only to find one night that Jackson has arrived to play baseball. He and the other disgraced players, all long dead, appear on the field and begin to play a game. The voice returns to Ray, who then finds Terence Mann (James Earl Jones) and Archibald Graham (Frank Whaley) and helps them come to terms with some of their lost, baseball-related dreams. Meanwhile, Ray’s family is in financial trouble because of his decision to destroy some of his crops, but after he reconciles with his dead father, the word about the famous players finally gets out, and people come from miles around to watch these legends play ball.

The Natural
Year: 1984
Rating: PG
Length: 138 minutes / 2.3 hours

Over the years, many baseball players have made themselves household names due to a variety of reasons. Most of the time, it is due to their talent on the field. Sometimes, it’s because of something that sets them apart from the rest of the players. For instance, Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player to play for a professional team placed him in the history books. His story was told in the film, 42 (2013). Lou Gehrig was a talented baseball player for the Yankees before he was diagnosed with ALS. His story was told in the film, The Pride of the Yankees (1942). Jim Morris entered Major League Baseball much older than other rookies. His story was told in the film, The Rookie (2002). And yet, sometimes the fictional talents, like in Rookie of the Year (1993) and The Natural (1984), are more entertaining to watch.

After Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) lost his father as a boy, the tree where he died was struck by lightning. From the glowing embers of the wood, Roy fashions a bat that he names “Wonderboy.” Years later, Roy is a promising baseball player who travels up to Chicago to try out for their team. On the way there, he strikes out “The Whammer” (Joe Don Baker) at a local carnival, piquing the interest of sportswriter Max Mercy (Robert Duvall). Unfortunately, after a failed assassination by Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey), Roy’s baseball career is finished. Years pass, and Roy is signed on to play for the New York Knights, where his batting skills are proven through the use of Wonderboy. Despite corruption, Roy brings his team all the way to the pennant, his pitching skills now having been rediscovered. Undeterred by another accident, it’s up to Roy to win the game for his team.

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 of the best baseball movies

#223. Joseph Gordon-Levitt

While this blog has covered the careers of many child actors, very few have started as young as Joseph Gordon-Levitt. What is interesting to note here is that his career took the somewhat traditional path to stardom, especially when one considers child actors. Starting at the age of four, from roles in a musical theater group to television commercials, Gordon-Levitt eventually made his way into regular television in the form of TV shows and made-for-TV movies. Soon, he was cast in leading roles in films like Angels in the Outfield (1994). Almost 10 years after he started his acting career, Joseph Gordon-Levitt hit it big with a lead role in the comedic sitcom, 3^rd Rock from the Sun. Most people have known him from his role on this show, but after his brief stint studying acting in the early 2000s, he has come into mainstream film roles to critical acclaim. This week’s two films show the range of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s acting skills.

Looper
Year: 2012
Rating: R
Length: 119 minutes / 1.98 hours

Since much of Gordon-Levitt’s early career was in the comedy genre, many were skeptical of his skills in more serious and action-based roles. While he did portray Cobra Commander in the 2009 film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, much of his action film experience would come a year later in the Christopher Nolan masterpiece, Inception (2010). Now that he had his foot in the door, Nolan cast Gordon-Levitt in the finale of the Dark Knight saga, The Dark Knight Rises (2012), as a young policeman by the name of John Blake whose legal name is Robin. Of course, this wasn’t the only role he filled in 2012. He also had a bit part in Lincoln, starred in the bicycling-themed Premium Rush, and had the lead role in the sci-fi adventure Looper. Since then, other big name directors have cast him in serious films like Snowden (2015) by Oliver Stone and The Walk (2015) by Robert Zemeckis.

30 years before the invention of time travel, a group of hitmen known as “loopers” are used to kill targets who were sent to them from the future. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is just one of them, hoarding half of the silver bars he receives as payment. When he kills a target who has gold bars, he knows his loop has been “closed,” and that he has just killed his future self. With this big payout, Joe moves to China, indulging in the drugs and parties to which he has become accustomed. Eventually, he finds himself back in the killing game, working as a hitman again. When his loop is set to be closed, his wife is killed in the process, leading him to be sent back in time unbound and unmasked. This creates an alternate timeline where the original Joe (Bruce Willis) is on a mission to kill the gang boss who wanted him dead 30 years in the future. Meanwhile, young Joe is the only one who can stop him.

(500) Days of Summer
Year: 2009
Rating: PG-13
Length: 95 minutes / 1.58 hours

As I mentioned before, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is no stranger to comedies. And while his early career was in more of a sitcom and family-friendly vein, his later work deals with relationships in a more serious context. One of his last films before going off to college was that of the Shakespearean modern interpretation that is 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). Afterward, other comedies touched on a variety of serious subjects, such as 50/50 (2011) wherein Gordon-Levitt portrays a very young cancer patient, just trying to feel normal and loved. There was also Don Jon (2013), his directorial debut, which addressed the serious problem of pornography in modern society. Of course, perhaps his best romantic comedy was (500) Days of Summer (2009), not only for its fun tone but the reality that not every relationship works out in the end.

While the season of summer only lasts just over 90 days, the time Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) spent connected with Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) numbered 500 days. Tom met Summer through his job at a greeting card company where he writes the interiors to a variety of cards. Summer was the assistant to Tom’s boss, and the two eventually start dating. The film moves back and forth between the 500 days, showing that there were definite highs, where Tom was at his creative best at work, as well as devastating lows which led him to quit his job. About 2/3 of the way through the 500 days, the two break up, and Tom eventually has to come to terms that she has moved on, as she eventually invites him to her engagement party. Finally pursuing his dream of using his architectural training, Tom has reached the end of the 500 days just as he meets a nice young woman named “Autumn” (Minka Kelly).

2 sum it up: 2 films, 2 gems from Gordon-Levitt

Bacon #: 2 (The Juror / Alec Baldwin -> She’s Having a Baby / Kevin Bacon)