In case you’ve been fortunate enough to see ‘A Christmas Story’, you would understand what I mean when I say that ‘The Sandlot’ is a summertime variant of the same vision. Both films depict awkward prepubescent boys left to fend for themselves while grappling with the crazy changes that life throws at them.
None of these films bear any links to dull nature of the mundane world; they both draw from an area of nostalgia and reminiscence that makes reality seem minuscule.
Set in a small U.S. town during the early 1960’s, “The Sandlot” revolves around Scott (Tom Guiry), a boy who has recently moved into the neighborhood. Just like any new kid, Scott wants to fit in. Unfortunately, he has no experience playing baseball and the local sandlot team already has eight players. Becoming the team’s ninth player is out of the question. To make things worse, Scott doesn’t even know who Babe Ruth is. So when Scott asks his stepfather to teach him how to play catch, the scene is almost embarrassing to watch. He knows rather poignantly that he will not enjoy the activity, but his stepfather is willing. By the end of the day, Scott’s worst fears come true. While on the sandlot, trying to set up left center field, a fly ball starts descending towards his head. By the end of the game, Scott learns his lesson: he has no business setting up in the outfield.
Luckily for Scott, Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, one of the most understanding players in the league, is willing to teach him tactics rather than banishing him off the field. Without the help of Rodriguez, Scott would have never started his baseball career or enjoyed one of the best summers of his life.
During dusty summers, the boys would often have a baseball game followed by a dip at the municipal swimming pool. There, they would be enchanted by the beautiful lifeguard in red, even if only for a moment. Likewise, they would also be haunted due to the massive beast dog behind the sandlot wall, which, when glimpsed, looked like a dinosaur. This dog was once a savage menace, so terrifying that it became an urban legend.
On an unfortunate day, the boys lost their last ball when it crossed the boundary of the Beast’s territory. Luckily, Scotty dashed home to grab his step dad’s famed ball that was signed by Babe Ruth. Although he didn’t recognize the name at first like all the other boys, he soon did when watching the ball sail over the fence. The players explained to him why his step dad would be enraged when finding out that his ‘trophy’ became the Beast’s lunch.
All of these events are depicted in a unique, out worldly manner. This is certainly not your regular tale of children and a baseball game. It’s so unconventional, it doesn’t even end with the sandlot team winning the Big Game. Or the Big Game not existing at all. (The one game they play is pitifully easy). These kids don’t seem to care about winning or losing. With all their creative strategies to retrieve that baseball, they are merely learning to cope with fears and growing up. The story has incredible boundaries which children tend to believe in.
David Mickey Evans, the movie director, together with Robert Gunter, the script writer, seem to stay in the same point of view as that of Jean Shepherd and his childhood tales in Northern Indiana.
Even an ordinary day can be changed in an instant within the lasting memories which are engraved in sharp colors.
Winning has become the main goal of too many kids’ movies, where children are viewed as young athletes and children’s values don’t matter. This traditional way of thinking is broken in this movie, which permits the children to have an imagination without the values and influence of adults. There was a scene in the movie when Rodriguez was hitting the ball, and it was a real pleasure to understand how spectacularly the movie was made, which brought back memories of when I was twelve.
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