The Sandlot (1993)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

David M. Evans

Writers (WGA):

David M. Evans (written by) &
Robert Gunter (written by)

Release Date:

7 April 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Family | Sport

Tagline:

The adventure of a lifetime,the summer of their dreams...the dog of their nightmares

Plot:

Scotty Smalls moves to a new neighborhood with his mom and stepdad, and wants to learn to play baseball...

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Dog | Treehouse | Team | Fence

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Tom Guiry	...	Scotty Smalls
Mike Vitar	...	Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez
Patrick Renna	...	Hamilton 'Ham' Porter
Chauncey Leopardi	...	Michael 'Squints' Palledorous
Marty York	...	Alan 'Yeah-Yeah' McClennan
Brandon Quintin Adams	...	Kenny DeNunez (as Brandon Adams)
Grant Gelt	...	Bertram Grover Weeks
Shane Obedzinski	...	Tommy 'Repeat' Timmons
Victor DiMattia	...	Timmy Timmons
Denis Leary	...	Bill
Karen Allen	...	Mom
James Earl Jones	...	Mr. Mertle
Marley Shelton	...	Wendy (as Marlee Shelton)
Herb Muller	...	Young Mr. Mertle
Daniel Zacapa	...	Police Chief (as Garret Pearson)

Also Known As:

The Sandlot Kids (Australia) (UK)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some language and kids chewing tobacco.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:F (Ontario) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Argentina:Atp | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Australia:PG | Germany:6 | UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate no. 31898) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Dodger Stadium - 1000 Elysian Park Avenue, Chávez Ravine, Elysian Park, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Early in the film the narration describes how Babe Ruth came up to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning with the tying run on base and supposedly pointed to centerfield and called his famous homerun in the 1932 world series. Facts are that the Ruth homerun was hit in the 5th inning of a game that was already tied. The game was also played at Wrigley Field in Chicago making it a Cubs home game so Ruth could not have batted in the bottom of any inning.

Goofs:

Continuity: After being kicked out of the pool and Squints is staring at Wendy, his towel changes positions between each shot.

Quotes:

[the Sandlot Kids and their arch-rivals come face-to-face]
Phillips: It's easy when you play with rejects and a fat kid, Rodriguez.
Benny: Shut your mouth, Phillips!
Ham Porter: What'd you say, crap face?
Phillips: You shouldn't be allowed to touch a baseball. Except for Rodriguez, you're all an insult to the game.
Ham Porter: Come on! We'll take you on, right here! Right now! Come on!
Sandlot Kids: Yeah!
Phillips: We play on a real diamond, Porter. You ain't good enough to lick the dirt off our cleats.
Ham Porter: Watch it, jerk!
Phillips: Shut up, idiot!
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Bambi (1942)

Soundtrack:

There Goes My Baby

"Man, this is baseball. You gotta stop thinking. Just have fun."

Though nothing particularly grand or truly memorable in comparison to other films seen in the genre, "The Sandlot" is still an enormously enjoyable and genuinely funny little kid's film from 1993 which concerns the shenanigans caused, and the misadventures experienced by a group of baseball-playing and wise-cracking adolescent friends in the suburban pre-Vietnam days of the early 1960's. James Earl Jones turns in a nice little cameo appearance here as a blind and surprisingly jovial septuagenarian who is befriended by the kids once they learn that he's not the mean and creepy old man with the big scary dog unlike what they had been initially lead to believe he was through local urban legends which we all have heard at one time or another in our lives. Even though it's painfully obvious that the flick's initial demographic was aimed at young pre-teen males, it still has an entertaining enough of a story as well as a fun-loving and laid-back sort-of nostalgic charm about it that's hard not to enjoy regardless of whether you're 40 years old or 10 years old! (***** out of *****)