Cast: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, Chauncey Leopardi, Karen Allen, James Earl Jones
Director: David Mickey Evans
Producers: Dale DeLatorre and William S. Gilmore
Screenplay: David Mickey Evans and Robert Gunter
Cinematography: Anthony B. Richmond
Music: David Newman
U.S. Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Eight boys, led by Benjamin Rodriquez (Mike Vitar), make up a sandlot baseball team in Southern California during the late fifties. When Scotty Small (Tom Guiry) moves into town, he doesn't know how to catch or throw, despite the best efforts of his stepfather to teach him. That all changes, however, when Ben befriends him. Now, with their ninth man, the sandlot group is a full team. However, although their little field is a great place to play ball, it has a dark secret, for beyond the home run fence lurks The Beast, a fearsome dog about which frightful stories abound.
Kids and adults will enjoy The Sandlot, but for different reasons. Children will find in it an adventure with a sense of humor that they can relate to. Writer/director David Mickey Evans hasn't forgotten what it's like to be a boy in the middle of summer with nothing to do but swim in pools, pal around, and play ball. Meanwhile, adults will uncover a sense of almost-poignant nostalgia. The story is told Wonder Years-style, with a modern day baseball announcer looking back on his childhood (the narrative is at times too reminiscent of Kevin Arnold's ramblings). As is frequently the case when we look back on our past, events are tinged with a pleasant glow that leaves behind only the better parts of the memories. This is the feel that The Sandlot strives for.
The common theme bridging the age gap in the audience is baseball. In this film, the game means everything. There's no arbitration, salary disputes, or 8 million dollar contracts. In the world of The Sandlot, baseball is still America's number one national pastime, and, in the closing scenes with James Earl Jones, it's easy to get a sense of the greatness that underlies playing ball.
To classify this picture as a "male film" is to do it a great disservice. The Sandlot is no more for men and boys alone than Fried Green Tomatoes is just for women. Memories of childhood are frequently gender-independent. Men might have the inside track on some elements of nostalgia touched by The Sandlot, but they don't have a monopoly. And humor, as well as the love of baseball, is universal.
There are those who will see this as a silly fantasy, but they have either missed or chosen not to feel the magic woven by The Sandlot. Predictable as the movie is, the Field of Dreams quality is not the only thing to like about The Sandlot.
© 1993 James Berardinelli