Kevin Costner starred in the film (Image: undefined)
It is the film that helped catapult a Hollywood legend to stardom, a star-studded fantasy picture beloved by both fans and critics alike — and it is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Adapted from the novel, Shoeless Joe, written by WP Kinsella, a fantasy story about a farmer who builds a baseball field among his crops so the ghosts of long-dead baseball heroes can meet to play.
Kevin Costner took on the lead role of Iowa farmer Ray in the blockbuster hit Field of Dreams. Alongside him, featuring as some of the legends in the ghostly baseball tale, are Ray Liotta and Shoeless Joe Jackson, James Earl Jones as Terence Mann, Burt Lancaster in his final screen appearance as Doc Archibald Graham, and Amy Madigan as Annie.
Released in 1989 and directed by Phil Aiden Robinson, Field of Dreams was adapted from the novel Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella.
Beyond its considerable commercial success, the film also won widespread critical acclaim.
Ray Liotta played one of the ghostly players (Image: Universal/Gordon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
One reviewer wrote at the time: “A work so smartly written, so beautifully filmed, so perfectly acted, that it does the almost impossible trick of turning sentimentality into true emotion.”
The film earned three Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Original Score.
To this day, Field of Dreams boasts an impressive 88 percent approval rating on the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.
One critic notes: “This is a story about passion, not just for baseball, but also a passion to do something with our one precious life even if people think it’s crazy.”
The film was a huge success (Image: Universal/Gordon/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
Another wrote: “It’s hard to imagine a cynicism so hardened that it won’t crumble at the sight of a lush green baseball field nestled into an Iowa cornfield and at this movie’s final inspiring scene of youth and innocence recaptured.”
While a third added: “Too idiosyncratic and witty merely to wallow in sentimentality, Field Of Dreams will surely stand as a classic update of what made Old Hollywood so magical. It’s still a wonderful life.”
The film also occupies a cherished place in the hearts of devotees.
One wrote: “This film is pure magic! I have seen this movie probably a hundred times in my life.. I’ve just finished watching it again tonight and I still get the same feeling I got the first time I saw it.”
Another said: “One of the greatest films ever made. Men, get ready to cry. My favorite movies are ones that elicit an emotional response. “If you build it, he will come.”
Meanwhile, a third added: “This is still probably my favorite movie of all time after seeing it over 30 years ago. A lesson in the value of having faith and valuing family along with paying a homage to baseball when it truly was Americas pastime, it is sentimental nonsense in the best way, as Ray says to Terrence Mann when returning back to Iowa to after picking up Moonlight Graham, “It’s Perfect!”
Field of Dreams is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
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