Field of Dreams – a movie review

 Field of Dreams  (1989)              

This is my all time favorite movie.  There are multiple reasons for that including …

• It is a movie about a difficult father-son relationship, and I can certainly relate to that.
• The music is beautiful – one of my most favorite movie soundtracks.
• The fact that I have visited the film site in Dyersville Iowa on two occasions.  (A link to some pictures is at the end of this review of Field of Dreams.

Facts and Tidbits

• Starring Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Burt Lancaster and James Earl Jones.
• Directed by Phil Alden Robinson and scored by James Horner, who unfortunately died in a plane crash in June of 2015.
• James Horner was a prolific film composer who wrote the music and for some of many well known movie soundtracks, including …
  • Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan (1982)
    • This was his first major score and it established him as a leading, mainstream composer.  Interestingly, Horner was hired to score Star Trek II because he was not very well known, and therefore not as expensive.  But by the time the director wanted him to do another Star Trek (IV), Horner had become too expensive.
  • Aliens (1986)
  • An American Tail (1987).
    • He was nominated for, but did not win, the Oscar for best Original Song – Somewhere Out There – which he co-wrote.
  • Field of Dreams (1989)
  • Braverheart (1995)
  • Apollo 13 (1995)
  • Titanic (1997)
    • He won the Oscar for Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Original Song for My Heart Will Go On which he co-wrote.  He also found the experience of working with film director James Cameron so terrible that he vowed never to work with him again … but he eventually forgave Cameron and scored the biggest box office hit of all time in 2009 – Avatar.
  • A Perfect Storm
  • A Beautiful Mind
  • Avatar (2009)
• Classic phrase: “If you build it, he will come.”

Click on the following 12 minute You Tube video.  It involves the film’s director, Phil Alden Robinson interviewing James Horner about Field of Dreams.  It includes a short version of one my favorite individual pieces of music from the movie.  The music begins at approx. 4:50 in the video.

Here is one other You Tube video – the final scene when Ray meets his father.

This a bit of a thought-provoking video asking the question “Was Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones’ character) already dead in Field of Dreams?

Finally, here is a You Tube video from the 25 year celebration of the filming of the movie.

As I indicated earlier, I have visited the film site in Dyersville Iowa on two occasions. Click on the following link to view some of those pictures out on the Photobucket.com website.  For tips on how to view pictures on Photobucket, scroll down to the end of this post.

http://s937.photobucket.com/user/rwkoehler/slideshow/Field%20of%20Dreams?sort=9

Tips when Using Photobucket

• The previous links will take you directly to a slideshow of pictures and collages, related to the locations, which reside on the internet on the Photobucket.com website.
• Once the slideshow begins, the display begins showing slides at a Medium speed.
  • Slow displays each slide for 10 seconds
  • Medium displays each slide for 6 seconds
  • Fast displays each slide for 3 seconds
• To change the display speed, click on the word Slow, Medium or Fast at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To non-display the bottom toolbar, and thereby maximize the picture on your screen, click on the   icon at the bottom right of the Photobucket screen.
• To display, or to redisplay a specific slide, you may click on the thumbnail at the bottom of the Photobucket screen.
• To Pause the display at a specific picture, click on the      icon at the lower left of the Photobucket screen.

 

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