Field of Dreams

Movie cover for Field of Dreams

Terence Mann from Field of Dreams

I was sitting here watching tv and thinking about what to write about. The SF Giants recent win? David Beckham's response to Donovan's criticism? Stephen Curry's summer league debut?

But then my sister turned to Field of Dreams and we watched James Earl Jones make one of the most epic monologues in the history of sports movies. I'm talking about the scene when Terence Mann tries to convince Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to keep his magical baseball field despite his brother-in-law's attempts to get Ray to sell the farm because he faces foreclosure.

Every time I go to a Giants baseball game I see Mann's monologue written on the wall, but you can't actually experience the beauty of his speech unless you watch the movie.

The deep and calm voice of James Earl Jones, in sharp contrast to Ray's wife's brother's insistence that Ray sell, with the ball players slowly gathering to watch and a slow drum beat in the background for added dramatic effect.

Another reason why the monologue is so great is because so much of what the writer Terence Mann says is true.

Here is the monologue, with my favorite parts in bold.

Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

I especially like the last sentences I bolded. Field of Dreams is just an amazing movie.