A question about Terrance Mann - Field of Dreams (1989) Discussion

[–] JR541 12 years ago

Because he didn't know that a guy with a magic baseball field was going to show up at his door.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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[–] doowopfan 12 years ago

Um, yes he did. He said later he gave an interview to get Ray to drive up and find him. You didn't read my post did you?

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[–] MovieKnut 12 years ago

He said later he gave an interview to get Ray to drive up and find him.

Terrance Mann later admitted giving the interview, and conceded that this interview was what caused Ray to search for him. However, he does not say that he gave the interview with the intention of inciting Ray to find him.

You can't palm off a second-rater on me. You gotta remember I was in the pink!

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[–] Molly-31 11 years ago

Ah, another fan of Here Comes Mr. Jordan.

You've got me?! Who's got you?!

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[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 12 years ago

he gave an interview . . . to get Ray to drive up and get him.

I do not understand where you're getting the idea from that he gave the interview to get Ray to drive up and get him. The dialogue says nothing like that. He initially told Ray that he didn't say that, or at least didn't recall saying it (he says both, one right after the other) in any interview, because he thinks Ray is crazy and he wants to get rid of him. At the end, he's simply admitting that yes, he did give that interview--he remembered it just fine.

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[–] doowopfan 12 years ago

I am getting the idea that he gave the interview because he says to Ray that he gave an interview. The one to get him to drive up and get him. He says this right before he says "Well you were kidnapping me at the time you big jerk." So if he did all that to get Ray to come get him, why try to chase him away?

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I did sixty in five minutes once...

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[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 12 years ago

We were both misreading each other I think. I read you as believing that the purpose for Terrance giving the interview in the first place was to cause Ray to drive up and get him--and that's what I was intending to ask you above, too--why you believe that the purpose of him giving the interview was to cause Ray to drive up and get him, because the film never says that.

That's a strange thing to think--that that was the purpose of Terrance's comments ("I'll say this to this reporter because in the future it will cause some guy named Ray from Iowa (or just some guy, period) to drive to my place, get me, and magically take me to Ebbets Field"), but it was based on the wording of your post and you not understanding why Terrance would deny the interview and just be trying to get rid of Ray. (Also, from both years of dealing with philosophy in an academic setting and from years of talking to people online, I'd never assume that anything conceivable is too off the wall for someone to believe--I've run into just about everything imaginable.)

At that point, we've seen absolutely nothing of Ray explaining the background for why he's there. In fact, we see Ray comment that he's going to explain this later, suggesting that at the point in question, Ray hadn't explained to Terrance the background for why he was there--he was simply bringing up the interview as a way to start easing into his motivation. Why didn't Ray just explain everything at that point? Because Ray knew it would sound like he was simply insane. Ray was coming across that way anyway, though, which is why Terrance just wanted to get rid of him at that point.

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[–] doowopfan 12 years ago

I see but as soon as Ray put his hand out and said "I'm Ray Kinsella" instead of shutting the door Terrance should have known why he was there. It does bug me that when he gets his couple of minutes to explain (in the "want some cookies?" part) he starts talking about something Mann had written and about the '60s. I'd get to the point there. I think MY point however is at the ballfield, Mann says he gave an interview for Ray to come up and get him. That leads me to believe he wanted to go on this trek all along. If that is the case, he shouldn't have tried to chase Ray away.

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[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 12 years ago

I see but as soon as Ray put his hand out and said "I'm Ray Kinsella" instead of shutting the door Terrance should have known why he was there.

Why? He hadn't the faintest idea who he was.

I think MY point however is at the ballfield, Mann says he gave an interview for Ray to come up and get him.

He doesn't say that the reason he gave the interview was to cause Ray to get him. (And if you believe he does say that, then that's what I initially asked you--WHY do you believe that? No dialogue suggests it.)

Rather, when Shoeless Joe is asking if he wants to go through the cornfield, Mann says that there's a reason they're choosing him to go rather than Ray (not that he KNOWS the reason, he's just trusting that there is one given what he's experienced to that point). Re the interview, he only comments that he gave the interview that led to Ray charging up to Boston to find him. He's in no way implying that there was anything more to it in his mind at the time he gave the interview than an off-the-cuff comment. There's simply a fact that he gave the interview and a fact that Ray later read it and took it as a sign that Mann was who he needed to journey to. Mann initially thought he was crazy, but Ray managed to talk him into going to the baseball game. The only way that Mann ended up not thinking he was crazy was because Mann also heard the voice at the game and saw the Moonlight Graham info on the scoreboard--something unexplained happened to Mann, too, at that point, so he decided to trust Ray (even though he was still uneasy about it).

It seems like you're missing a major theme of the film--an underlying interconnectedness that most folks do not realize, reasons for all kinds of small things happening that they're not aware of, and sometimes there's a bit of a glimpse into that underlying reality that folks just have to trust, just have to have faith in, faith to follow, even though they at least initially don't completely understand it or why it is the way it is.

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[–] doowopfan 12 years ago

I don't have the movie in front of me but I am almost positive Mann says "I gave an interview" and Ray says "What interview?" and Mann says "The one that made you drive to Ebbits (sp?) Field to find me." And then Ray says something like "You lied to me" and Mann says "You were kidnapping me at the time you big jerk."
So I figured what Ray thinks Terrance is lying about is not knowing who he was when he went to Terrance's apartment. IF that is so then I can't see what Terrance would benefit by pretending he wouldn't know him. If he really didn't know him then what was that dialogue about?

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[–] doowopfan 12 years ago

Okay, about 15 minutes after I typed that last one I think it clicked to me. Correct me if I'm wrong. Mann wasn't saying he did an interview to get Ray to come up and see him. He said earlier he did not give an interview. Ray said you didn't? He said he didn't even recall thinking it (or was that just about that quote Ray said? Just before Mann smiles and says "You're from the '60s!?). So later when he said he did give an interview he meant it like "You know that one I said I didn't give? Well I did."
Is that right so far?
So when he said it was the one that got Ray to look for him, he is saying "That interview you said made you come look for me? I said I didn't give it, but I did." I had taken it as "I gave an interview you were supposed to read to get you to look for me." Now that did always seem odd to me that he would predict the future about some farmer he never met (like a poster mentioned earlier). However, it seemed plausible to me that Terrance could do mystical things because he can see the ghosts. He is the only one outside of the family who can so I figured he had a mystique way about him.
But I don't see why he lied just because Ray had a finger gun. After Ray said "You lied to me (about doing an interview)" Mann says "You were kidnapping me at the time. You said your finger was a gun." If he figured he was being kidnapped, how is that a trigger to lie about an interview? How would that help is kidnapping situation?

Okay, I think I am done.

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I did sixty in five minutes once...

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[–] JR541 12 years ago

You figured it out.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

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[–] BrianRaess_Is_FinallyGone 12 years ago

Wow.

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[–] SquirrelBot3000 10 years ago

Sorry, but I think you're starting to confuse yourself here with this:

Ray did the research and found the biggest connection Terrence had to baseball at that point was the interview some decades before. The connection Ray had to him was simply that Mann had used his father's name as a character in a book he had written.

When Ray showed up, Mann simply took him as another fan who made a pilgrimage and somehow tracked him down at his apartment. Ray had a whole speech planned out, opening with one of Mann's quotes, which only confirmed Mann's suspicions at that point that he was just another starstruck hippie who couldn't let go of his work 20+ years later.

It was only when Ray yelled out that he was a pacifist that gave him the first opening to actually explain the situation to Mann, and even then he knew he was on borrowed time as Terrence was merely frustrated, not angered anymore. It wasn't until they were leaving the baseball game that it's implied they had begun talking about the field and Ray's situation earlier. Terrence questions Ray if he had gotten another message. The message would have been explained as part of the story, since it was the jumping off point for the story at that point.

Terrence had no idea Ray was coming, that anyone was coming. He simply gave an interview about his wish to play at the Dodger's stadium as a kid, which was nothing more than a link for Ray to find his interest in baseball, nothing more.

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[–] shirleysmomma 11 years ago

I see you guys talked to this death already lol but I will still throw in my two cents. I've read the book and have been obsessed with this movie for years. This was a difficult scene to shoot because it was hard to convey all of the emotions happening among the characters with dialogue. In the book and the movie Ray is pissed off and jealous that they did not choose him to go into the cornfield with them. Watching the movie and reading the book it's never clearly defined as to why Terrance Mann (J.D. Salinger) is there, what his purpose is at the magic field. It is implied and assumed that he was brought in so that the field could inspire him to write again. This scene is when it becomes clear to Mann why he is there. Ray is mad and jealous and throwing a small tantrum so to grab his attention and get him to open his mind to understand Terrance Mann admits to giving the interview. To reassure Ray that he was right in finding him and that going out into the cornfield was why he had been brought there. Of course Terrance Mann knew about this void in himself that was surrounded by baseball but after years of seclusion he was not willing to readily jump at the oppurtunity to run off with an apparently crazy stranger to fill that void. And realistically if you put yourself in Terry's shoes in the kidnapping situation it didn't take that much to convince him to go and he never really considered fleeing. He played along even if he did play hard to get at first. And if ray had given up and left I suppose Mann would have returned to the seclusion he knew and lived out his days.

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[–] shredder08 11 years ago

Mann's role and connection in the movie was always confusing to me, then I watched the movie tonight for the first time in YEARS and I think I finally got it: it wasn't so much the interview that he gave years back about always wishing he could play in Ebbets Field. Mann never put on a uniform and played with those guys, just got invited into the corn.

If the entire thing was ACTUALLY about Ray reconnecting with his dad and he misread the signs (the field for Shoeless Joe, easing Mann's pain, going the distance for Archie), then I think Mann was significant because Ray said that he stopped playing catch with his dad after reading one of his books. It was what basically drove them apart and they stayed apart until John died.

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[–] SquirrelBot3000 10 years ago

Actually, every statement the voice gave Ray (and Terrence) always had a double meaning. Yes, the entire series of commands the voice gave Ray all added up to a reunion with his dad, but as individual statements they all related to someone in particular:

"If you build it, Joe Jackson will come."

"Ease Terrence Mann's pain."

"Go the distance (to find Archibald Graham)."

That's the brilliance of the writing: they had a duality that all made sense both ways.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] hachmom-1 10 years ago

Ok I thought its because Mann's interview and writings are one of the sources of the dissent betw Ray and his father. Its what caused Ray to tell his dad he couldn't respect a man who had Joe Jackson for a hero. Then Terrence says this is Rays Karma, but its Mann's as well.

It is not our abilities that show who we truly are...it is our choices

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[–] Ken1260 10 years ago

Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 so the interview in question most likely took place 20 to 30 years before this movie even takes place so it's not strange that he doesn't remember giving such a specific interview.

Ray found the quote when he was researching Terrance Mann and make all the connections after dreaming that he should go to Boston and take Terrence Mann to Fenway Park to watch a baseball game.

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[–] pepperdog61 10 years ago

Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 so the interview in question most likely took place 20 to 30 years before this movie even takes place so it's not strange that he doesn't remember giving such a specific interview.

He does remember it, though. He just denies it to Ray in the apartment scene because at that point he considers Ray a pest and wants to get rid of him.

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