User reviews

Let's talk about endings here for a moment (don't worry there's no spoilers here) - every minute of a film is building toward an ending, but so often films mess up all the great story they've built up in the last few minutes.

That's why I want to draw your attention to 'Field of Dreams'. I'm sure by now we're all familiar with the premise - an Iowa farmer hears a disembodied voice that says, "If you build it he will come", which in turn leads him to plow under his cornfield to build a full baseball diamond.

Many people have talked about the themes explored by this movie (and there are many - family, redemption, pursuit of dreams, etc.), or the very believable characters. All of that is great.

But what I especially appreciated about this film was the ending. Everything builds up to it, and like so many things in the film, it ends on a perfect, serene note. It would have been so easy to tack on an extra scene or two; so tempting to tie everything up with a nice bow; belabor the point; but one single shot sums everything up and fades to credits.

A crash lesson in endings done right.

Even a baseball buff like myself realises this is not a baseball movie. And you don't have to be to appreciate it. Not one of my favourite films but one that touched me for a long time afterwards. I didn't know what to expect at the start but as the story took these unexpected twists and turns the more engrossed I got caught up in it. Ray's confrontation with Terence Mann, Ani Kinsella's spontaneous outburst at the PTA meeting, giving Archie Graham a lift to the game. It was all a mystery till right to the end.

The most heart rending moment I guess was at the end. Not a dry eye in the house. Enough said. Without giving the story away I can only add a wistful hope, if only everyone had a second chance at saying what we really feel to our loved ones...before its too late.

When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a major league ballplayer. I guess that's a lot of children's dreams. But I knew at about age 12 I would never be good enough for that. Eventually I became a journalist, not an award-winning journalist like Terrence Mann, but one who enjoyed documenting people's triumphs and tragedies. That's basically what "Field of Dreams" is all about for me. It features the ups and downs of life, and how we handle the good and the bad through life's journey. This is one of those movies that brings out many kinds of emotional responses as you watch it. I especially love the scene when James Earl Jones delivers his message about baseball and how it has marked the time in America. He has the perfect voice for reflecting on how baseball represents the innocence in us. I became a huge baseball fan when it was instilled in me as a 5-year-old child. And my love for this game has never wavered despite all the ugliness in today's professional game that exposes it mostly as a multi-billion dollar business where team loyalty is disregarded. When I attend a ballgame (pre Covid-19), all that ugliness is temporarily forgotten about as I "walk out to the bleachers, sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon". Many times I try to make a point of watching this movie just prior to the MLB season's opening day. I remind myself this game can represent the good in humanity despite the greediness it shows among those who run it.

Very rarely, you see a film that means one thing when your father is alive, and another when he is dead. When I first saw this movie, my father was still alive, we had not spoken for 8 years, and I thought, cute, but it knows nothing about real life ! When I saw it again, he had been dead for over a year, and I cried like a baby.

I'm English, so for me the baseball element was lost, but what did hit home was the awareness that we are all flawed people, and the expectations we have for our parents, are way and beyond what we achieve ourselves as we grow older.

The film is not about baseball, it is about a second chance ! An opportunity to say hiya Dad, I was didn't know then, but I'm older now and understand more about the way the world works.

In terms of the film, Cosner has never had a better role, Lancaster as Doc Graham finally showed what a great actor he really was, and James Earl Jones was simply perfect.

In short a great film, James Horner's theme music is wonderful, the visuals are fantastic, the acting is as good as you could hope to see.

For most this is a feel good movie, for me this is a reminder that it is never too late to make amends, I just miss my Father

I've just joined the club and the first film I felt the need to comment on was this, "Field of Dreams". Why? Because, firstly, it's haunted me since its release and secondly, because it had such a cathartic effect upon me. Like so many young people, I lost my dad when I was in my teens. I was fifteen. I'm fifty-nine now. The lost opportunity, the grief, cling to you like lead. When you need to discuss the paradoxes of this world with someone, you find they are gone. They will not return. Though by no means a perfect film - would we ever really want to see a perfect film? - it has heart, a centre to it that opens gateways for those bereft, even though unaware, by loss. I remember watching it the first time on the back row of a cinema with my ex-wife - long after back rows had any import - and, at the end, having to physically contain the need to sob uncontrollably. This had never happened to me before (unless you go back to Elvis riding into the hills at the end of Flaming Star when I was but a snivelling - and probably dysfunctional - early teen. The movie is a masterpiece in that it lives with you decades after its first viewing. In that you cannot analyse it, breaking it down cynically into manipulative parts. I've seen thousands of films and with each one that I feel has entered my soul I always ask myself, has it reached beyond Field of Dreams? In some respects the answer is yes, yet these are technical analyses of product. I've never had to do that with Field of Dreams. It is itself and defies scrutiny as would Gandhi defy psychoanalysis. It is, to itself, true. The cast are great. To this day, despite much, I like Kevin Costner. My sole concern is, why the hell can't I buy "Shoeless Joe", the novel upon which it was based and which I read in the late eighties? It contains much more background and is, in itself, an absorbing read. Dave Marshall

I truly believe that every once in a blue moon, a film can contain a sense of wonder, magic, and the power of dreams. The title says it all. "Field of Dreams" is destined to become (if it hasn't already) an American classic, and easily one of the most engrossing films of the eighties. Throughout the decade, we have seen a crock of films that capitalized on getting as much of anything the characters could grasp (hence the "me decade"). This film, made in 1989, reaffirmed what we learned from Hollywood in the forties, that dreams can come true and people can be saved by what they choose to believe in. And to top it all off, baseball is its subject. The great American pastime takes on a mystical quality that is nothing but immortal.

Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella, a corn farmer that seems to be stranded in his life, only choosing his profession because it allowed him to get away from the idealized dreams of his father that never became reality. One day, while roaming aimlessly through his cornfield, he hears a unknown voice speak to him, saying the words that have become synonomous with the film itself, "If you build it, he will come." He is compelled by the strange message, and even convinces his wife what he heard was real and definite. He believes that the simple words mean he is to build a baseball diamond in his field, and he sets out to do just that, and he indeed does one heck of a job. After at least half a year passes, following endless strains on their patience, who should show up in the field but Shoeless Joe Jackson, the famous alleged criminal from the 1919 Black Sox Scandal who was dismissed from the game of baseball forever, until now...

After all that is said and done, the film takes a back road and curves it into this storyline brilliantly. Ray receives a second message which he deciphers as getting a famous civil rights writer, Terence Mann (played wonderfully by James Earl Jones), to come visit his new ballfield. Of course it is to be expected that Mann begrudgingly resists Ray to join him, but he too becomes propelled by the power of the field's magic, and his life (like Ray's) is changed forever. Even Burt Lancaster shows up out of thin air (literally), but that's a different part of the plot altogether that I wouldn't dare reveal in fear someone reading this review has incompetently not seen this picture.

"Field of Dreams" is one of the strangest films I've seen, and possibly one of the best. When it throws its subject matter at you, you wonder how a story so preposterous can ever work. But somehow, I was deeply moved like Costner and Jones were by the miraculous incidents put in front of me. This film is not like any fantasy film I've seen, but in a way, it is like many that I've encountered. Some of my favorite movies elicited such an amazing feeling of warmth and grace in me that I was afraid to analyse it for fear that it would ruin the awesome impact I received. "Field of Dreams" is exactly like that, an odd piece of moviemaking that overwhelms you with its wonder and positive qualities that in turn leaves no doubt it is a classic, just from the way it moves you while watching it. Therefore, I'm not going to try to pick it apart and attempt to show the world my "field" of brilliance. All I will say is this is the kind of movie Hollywood should be reeling out more often, a tiny masterpiece that lets others be refreshed in their faith and believe in their crazy little fantasies. Ray Kinsella did, and now, so do I. Rating: Four stars.

If you are looking for a movie that won't disappoint, make for easy watching on one of those nights when you just don't want to have to think about it to much, then "Field of Dreams" will tick all your boxes.

Was it worthy of an Oscar Nomination for Best Movie, I personally think not, but you really have to make your own mind up on that one!

A very enjoyable movie nonetheless 👍

'Field of Dreams' is a touching fantasy film. A family tries to build a baseball field inside a corn field which they have. A father hears a mysterious voice from the corn field and decides to build a baseball field for someone who is mentioned by the mysterious voice. The family doesn't have enough money to keep the field, and it sometimes makes them suffer. Who is the mysterious voice? What do they build the field for? You can find out the answer at the end of the film.

This film mentions family ties and fate. I think that not only family ties but also people who believe and help you are the most important thing to live and make dreams come true, not money. Also I am sure that fate never changes through this film. We cannot change fate, so we should live without regret.

I got a lot of valuable lessons such as ties and how important never giving up is. I highly recommend 'Field of Dreams' to those of you who are big fans of baseball. I am sure that baseball is a lasting popular sport and it never changes even if the world changes.

When this movie came out in 1989, I drew parallels to my father that had just died. He never wanted to have a catch with me as he was too old, having me late in his life. I had twin sons in the 1980's and played ball with both of them. Fast forward to a Saturday morning July 31, 2010. RAGBRAI, the most famous bike ride in America the rides across Iowa, was starting its 7th and last day in Manchester to Dubuque, Iowa, passing through Dyersville, the location of the Field. Several of the riders stopped and we had a pickup game on the Field. I had lost one of my sons to a tragic accident the year before, and had a truly wonderful warm thought from the movie playing on the Field that my catch was not with my dad, but my son. Tears came to me and the movie did it. I still had to ride the twentysome miles into Dubuque for the finish, and my eyes were not dry on that hot morning the whole way. My son was on that Field that day having a catch with me. The movie touched so many mens' hearts. Mine came 21 years after the movie came out. To do that makes it a special movie.

Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to 1989's Field Of Dreams.

Plot In A Paragraph: Ray Kinsella (KC) an Iowa corn farmer, starts hearing voices, he interprets them as a request to build a baseball diamond in his crop field.

Is this heaven??

I don't like baseball, never have had even the slightest interest in the game, so why do I cry like a baby every time I watch Field Of Dreams??

I will admit from the off, I am bias. I love this movie. It is not just one of my favourite KC movies, it's not just my favourite movie of 1989 (and in a year that featured Last Crusade, Lethal Weapon 2, Batman, Back To The Future 2, Dead Poets Society and the classic Weekend At Bernie's, you know how high that praise is) one of my favourite movies of the 1980's, it's one of my favourite movies in general.

KC, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster are all perfect. Everything about this movie is perfect, not just the casting, the performances, the screenplay, the directing, the atmosphere and the score all knock it out of the park (yes pun intended again)

I will deliberately avoid talking about the movies ending (so I don't ruin it for those who have not seen it) but I cried like a baby when I seen it in 1990, and I have cried every time I have watched it since, and I watch it a couple of times a year. It doesn't matter if I sit and watch it all, or catch the last twenty minutes on TV, I will be in floods of tears. If I'm not already crying, the way KC's voice breaks, will do it!! EVERY TIME.

I read somewhere that the best motion pictures find meaning in not aspects of the story but rather in the underlying emotional core and heart that defines the story. Field Of Dreams is a perfect example of that saying. It's no surprise that Field Of Dreams is still entertaining and touching people regularly today (it plays regularly on TV in the UK) more than 25 years after its release.

A timeless classic. 10/10 for this reviewer.

This film is about regrets, following your dreams or attempting to follow them. Sometimes they don't work out, but that is ok. I really loved how supportive the family was in this film, and wish more people could be like that. Overall just a warm, good-feel movie.

Costner was born for this role. If you read my reviews of his other movies, you will generally hear me complain about his acting abilities. In fact, I am very unkind to him normally. Why? This character is, in essence, Costner. That is the only character he knows how to play, but it is perfect in this film.

I'm sure everyone is familiar with the catch phrase "If you build it, they will come". If you like "emotion" movies, definitely go for this.

It's a good movie, but it's not great. James Earl Jones is good. Ray Liotta is fine as well. It's a nice story, but that's all it is.

Films don't get better than field of Dreams. When you got back to the late eighties and early nineties you will find that Kevin Costner was the biggest actor to employ at that time as he starred in lots of major films like Dances with wolves which of course he directed, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, A Perfect World, JFK and Field of Dremas which I think delivers his best performance of all those films.

Costner is Ray who one day takes a walk into his corn field only to hear a voice saying 'If you build it, he will come'. This sends him crazy as it's all he can hear. He thinks on to what the voice maybe wants him to do and let's his feeling be known to his family and the only idea he can come up with is that he should build a baseball pitch in the middle of his field. He does with the backing of his family and nothing comes of it till one night somebody in a 1920's baseball kit turns up on his field out of the blue ready to play Baseball. This happens to be the great Shoeless Joe Jackson who is now dead but has come back to play the game he was once banned from playing. The story unfolds to more odd goings on and sends Ray onto a journey of self discovery with some beautiful moments ahead. Field of dreams is not a film that gets mentioned when it comes to Costner's career but I think it holds his best and most touching performance. Anybody who likes a feel good film like It's a Wonderful Life will ultimately fall in love with this film by the end as the more it goes on the more you find out why Ray was guided to build the pitch and follow the voice which he throughout the film makes no sense of what it he is looking for.

It touches you in all the places and just makes you feel good about yourself and sends an important message out about spending as much time your family as much as you possibly can til it's to late.

Trust me, you cannot go wrong with this film.

It's American. It's corny (pun intended, I'm sorry). When I stop and think about it, it's laughable but the immutable truth is that this is naively beautiful on almost every frontier. I have watched this film so many times and though inside I know the ladled sentiment should be cringeworthy-especially for a cynic such as I...it somehow never fails to utterly absorb me.

Horner's musical score is haunting and mesmerising and adds so strongly to the whole ethereal feeling that this film exudes.

The acting is extraordinary in that they pull off corny lines without provoking me to laughter or cringing, with the possible exception of James Earl Jones speech "...the one constant is baseball...".

I even have to admit that Kostner is good (painful though it is).

You may not like or understand baseball...it doesn't matter. This is not a film about baseball. Its about relationships (particularly about father son relationships) and it tugs on every heart string.

There was a review of this film which first intrigued me enough to watch it several years ago. I cannot remember who said it but if memory serves me well his summation of Field of Dreams was this...

"Could you ever really love someone who didn't cry at this film, even just a little?"

Nuff said.

It is truly a rare movie indeed to which I would give a 10. But this is one of my all-time favorites.

This is a movie about themes like reconciliation, destiny, redemption, idealism, disappointment, the difficulty of relationships, especially that of the father-son relationship.

In this movie, the baseball field is where all such issues achieve resolution.

This is such a gentle movie, full of such sincerity, and moving emotions. Although it is by no means an upbeat movie, it is nevertheless ultimately a very optimistic and positive movie.

As some reviewers have noticed, some suspension of disbelief is required.

A movie with no guns, violence, gangsters, no gratuitous sex, just down-to-earth good people, and a good message. What a gem.

P.S. Interestingly, there really was a Moonlight Graham. See his baseball career stats here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/g/grahamo01.shtml. Some of the details of his life are altered in the movie; cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_Graham.

A classic combination of sport, family, fantasy, faith, reconciliation, and redemption, all set in the heartland combine to put this film at #1 on the all-time list for me. I know, I know,...what about Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane, The Godfather? You're telling us that Field of Dreams ranks higher? I saw Field of Dreams on Father's Day following its release, having no clue how the issue of father-son relationships would be addressed in the film. By the time the closing credits were rolling, this film had left a lasting impression because I could identify with so many of the themes in the film. The acting is fine/adequate, and as a whole this film may not compare to the "greats" I've previously mentioned. But it delivered in a powerful way with things I can relate to and treasure. I'd appreciate any comments and strongly recommend it to those who haven't seen it. Thank you.

This film could so easily have become 'Field of Corn'; the fact that it didn't is a tribute to the talents of director Phil Alden Robinson, and cast members Kevin Costner (as the guy who builds a baseball field and calls up Shoeless Joe, a player from the past, and eventually comes to terms with his own family troubles at the same time), James Earl Jones (as tetchy writer Terence Mann), and Burt Lancaster (as the jovial gentleman Dr Grahame).

What we have is a plot which, ok, is a bit hard to swallow - especially once a whole ghostly baseball match is created with two complete teams - but it is so well-written you don't quibble with the realities of the Kinsella's situation. It is a fairly touching film without being crushed under the sentimentality that could have so easily crept in.

This movie came out when I was 6 and I've been watching it ever since. You definitely can't go wrong with this movie it's a guy movie but in a good way, it has an amazing cast and a great storyline. This movie will never get old for me if you have never seen it I definitely recommend it you won't be disappointed.

Field of dreams isnt so much baseball film as you may expecting it to be if you are watching it for the first time,this is more story about journey of life and how dreams not matter how impossible and far are they are still possible if you know to make them for yourself,field of dreams is also a very good family film that interduces us to family that we care for since beginning even if sometimes they make weird decisions they are still very likeable and easy to relate to,i must say that costner did a good job here when you compere him to previous years untouchables,field of dreams was a good family film with a dose of sport

I think this Film belongs at the Smithsonian. Such a touching story and so Heartfelt. Love the characters so much especially for me DR GRAHAM. With the passing of RAY LIOTTA and Last Years FOX MLB Game in IOWA I felt like adding to the TIP Jar so to speak, to say what a GREAT GREAT MOVIE. When Kevin Costner took the FIELD in IOWA last season brought a Tear to my eye.

At least MR LIOTTA will finally get to meet up with the Boys again. RIP SIR.

I won't say that this was the worst movie I have ever seen, because there are sure a lot of stinkers. However this seems to be the worst well reviewed movie. A lot of people thought it was great; I just found it to be moronic. The reluctant corn farmer (played by Kevin Costner) hears voices telling him to build a baseball field in his corn field. He somehow is able to obtain the lights and necessary equipment to do so. Don't even try to make sense of any of the logic in this movie - there isn't any. Once the field is built a bunch of ghost baseball players come out of the cornfields to play ball. However only a few people (probably those who have used LSD) can see them.

Through it all despite the fact that his loss of cropland used to build this ball is going to cause the them to lose the farm Costner grinds on with steely resolve. Farmer Costner's wife played by some actress that I thankfully have never seen before.) supports him all the way with a kind of annoying perkiness and pluck that she must have learned from watching tapes of Kathy Lee Gifford and Katie Couric. As this ludicrous farce progresses Costner drives off to pick up a washed-up hippy author played by James Earl Jones. The character of Jones has nothing to do with the plot of the movie but apparently those who made it just wanted him in the movie. Costner and Jones then pick up the ghost of a ball player turned doctor (played by Burt Lancaster.) Lancaster loved being a doctor but always regretted giving up playing ball now he has a second chance until he save Costners daughter from choking on a hot-dog. She was accidentally pushed off the bleachers by the farmers evil banker brother-in-law who has come to foreclose on the farm's mortgage. Once Lancaster has become a doctor to save the child's life he can no longer play ball. As I wrote before don't even try to figure out this. films logic. Everything ends well however since there are cares lined up in front of the farm to pay 20 dollars to watch ghosts play baseball. the ghost of Costner's character's father, a one time ball player then shows up to play catch with his son - Oh how sweet! The best thing about the movie was that it finally ended. Do not watch this piece of garbage.