Some might go with "Field of Dreams" or "The Sandlot". Any of the three would be correct. BTW.. The Atlanta Braves Rule!
My dvds own. All of them bought for 3 dollars each http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=35309311
I'd agree this is up there. "Field of Dreams" really can't be considered a baseball or sports movie. The AFI didn't list it on their top 10 sports films, but they did put it on their top 10 for fantasy films as that seems to be the more fitting genre for it.
Am Yisrael Chai!
Thats a joke, I love the movie, but first off it isnt a baseball movie, it is a love story centered around baseball, secondly the sandlot??? Good movie, but not one of the best baseball movies ever. Field of Dreams, one of the best of all times, but youre correct not really a baseball movie, more of a father/son retribution movie. How bout Bull Durham??? Major League (only the original), or The Natural to name a few
shareHow could Field of Dreams not be a baseball movie? That's crazy.
Anyway, Field of Dreams, Major League and The Natural are my fave baseball movies.
Field of Dreams barely deals with baseball. It is a fantasy tale and a father-son film, not a baseball movie. Baseball is just a device used to tell a story that has nothing to do with baseball.
Major League
Bad News Bears
Mr. 3000
Field of Dreams
Tons of others before this one...but it's been a while since I've seen this. Maybe I'll give it a go again. I don't remember much baseball in it though.
I saw this movie the other night for the first time and thought it sucked as a baseball movie. it was a good love story with baseball in the background, but the baseball parts were ridiculous. vin scully couldn't have been any more annoying with his constant baseball/life cliches. i hope he wasn't like that doing dodger games. the no-hitter scene - c'mon, how many diving plays were there in the last 3 innings??? and the new owners saying their first order of business was going to be to dump costner? who says that? as far as the best baseball movie between story line and believability of the baseball portion, I would have to go with Bang the Drum Slowly or 8 Men Out. Though a couple of the 8 men looked like they couldn't play baseball worth a damn.
shareFew baseball movies feature many guys who look as if they are baseball players, let alone MLB players. FLOTG probably has the most.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
dude!
i am a firm believer in: "to each his own" but, by any objective standard, 'mr. 3000' is almost unwatchable (and i like bernie mac). 'the bad news bears'??? c'mon, walter matthau or billy bob, aside from nostalgia, neither is a classic.
'for the love of the game' is a baseball movie. it's a great one, and i don't even like baseball that much. i'm pretty sure no one on this board can question what it's actually like to pitch in the majors, much less what it's like to chase the perfect game on the eve of your retirement. so let's just give the script a break and say that, at the very least, it's passable. to actually give a sports movie character real feelings, history, and emotions. scandalous.
"tons of others before this one"? i won't give you five, and none of the four you list.
When I first saw this movie, I was 16. I enjoyed it. The baseball storyline was fun to watch. There are other baseball movies that I enjoy watching more - for various reasons(The Natural, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot, Major League 1&2) - but there is something about this movie that I love. I appreciate the storyline much better now than I did when I first saw it. Billy Chapel is a flawed figure - someone who has loved one thing for his entire life (baseball), only to see that part of his life coming to an end. Through a strange twist of fate, someone enters his life who slowly begins to take the place of baseball. It didn't happen overnight, but it happened nonetheless.
After throwing his perfect game, Billy is shown by himself in his hotel room. After finding out that he had no messages on his answering machine, he breaks down and cries. He does this for two reasons - first, the idea that baseball is over is emotional. Second, the thought that he had lost the true love of his life was overwhelming.
As a baseball coach at the high school level, I see many different types of families. I enjoy the Jane/Heather aspect of the movie. The flashbacks are 100% necessary to establish the full storyline. Baseball movies are never just about baseball. Major League, Bull Durham, The Sandlot and Rookie of the Year are crossover comedies. Field of Dreams is a crossover fantasy movie. The Natural and For Love of the Game are crossover dramas.
When you consider Crash Davis, Ray Kinsella, and Billy Chapel (and Roy McAvoy) it isn't hard to realize that Costner is at his best when he plays flawed character rather than heroic ones. Not that he isn't a great action star but he is actually a very good actor when he doesn't let his ego get in the way of his humanity. Watch the special features for the 20th anniversary edition of Field of Dreams and you will get a sense of how Costner feels about baseball. He is great in his baseball movies because he really appreciates the game and loves it.
sharei put this second behind the natural. i was very impressed with the way they really took their time with the scenes of him on the mound. Really captures the awesome almost astronaut like quality of being an athlete in his situation, and the way he was so distracted at this crossroads in his life, all the inner turmoil...really excellent. Costner is so believable as a major leaguer. i never really knew about this movie and just started watching it tonight. i noticed the first scenes of him warming up had a real understated verisimilitude to them and so i started watching the movie in earnest. very, very impressed.
shareAnd for crying out loud anyone who doies list Bull Durham as one ofthe best baseball movies but list Bad News Bares and Mr 3000 isn;t to be taken seriously. And For Love of the Game is a baseball movie and a very good one.
share'to each his own'? never saw that.
Just put it on the Underhill's tab.
As one who played and coached Little League, the original Bad News Bears is fantastic.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Mr. 3000? There goes any and all credibility. lol
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
That's prett bad "logic". I could say that about any sports movie, that particular sport is merely a 'device used to tell a story'...Bang the Drum Slowly, Longest Yard, Bull Durham, He Got Game, fillintheblank.
That does not preclude any of these from being deemed a sports movie, for that particular sport.
Otherwise, you might as well just play a replay of a three-hour baseball game and call it a "baseball movie".
Baseball , the actual game on the field, plays a minor role in FoD. Most baseball people I know, and I played baseball until I was 52 and still play adult tee ball, aka, softball, don't consider FoD to be a baseball movie.
Bull Durham is THE best baseball movie.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
I've heard more than a few film critics refer to Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, and For Love of the Game as Costner's Baseball Triology and regardless of what anyone things, Costner made Field of Dreams as a baseball movie. It is how the director saw it and just go to Iowa and ask anyone what they think. I watch these three films and The Natural during Spring Training just about every year.
shareNo and in my opinion its not close.
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
bull durham wasnt exactly a baseball movie either. yes it featured alot of baseball but it was more about an aging player coming to accept where his life is going, and a young player growing up and becoming a man. oh and tim robbins looked like a 13 year old girl pitching(no offense ladies). at least costner looked like a decent ball player. the natural wasnt really about baseball either it used baseball as a way to get across the things that are really important in life. still love both of those movies though.
share[deleted]
...the natural wasnt really about baseball either it used baseball as a way to get across the things that are really important in life. still love both of those movies though.
Although Bull Durham is kind of A Star Is Born set to baseball, it has the best baseball scenes of any movie. I don't mean the action on the field, but the experience of not just playing in the minors, but of playing the game. And yes, Tim Robbins doesn't have anywhere NEAR a million dollar arm, but he IS Nuke LaLoosh. lol.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
1. major league
2. mr. baseball
3. the natural
Just put it on the Underhill's tab.
It is a very very distant third, and thats only among Kevin Costner baseball movies....
since you said fictional we can leave out Eight Men Out, 61*, Pride of the Yankees, etc, but still.....For Love of the Game isnt even close.
in no order Sandlot, Bad News Bears, the Natural, Major Leauge and more are easy locks. Id even throw in some of the crappy comedies ie Rookie of the Year, Bad News Bears (Linklater version) and Major Leauge II over this turd.
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I have to admit that I enjoy watching "The Natural" (Imdb 7.4) but if you love this film I advise that you not read the book. Malamud's book is considered one of the best baseball books ever but Roy Hobbs takes the bribe at the end unlike the Hollywood version. I could not get into the romance in "For Love of the Game" (6.2). Liked "Eight Men Out" (7.2) but that is not intended to be fictional. For pure laughs you can't beat "Bad News Bears" (7.0) but I suspect you are concerned with serious baseball flicks. I can't stand Susan Sarandon so that eliminates "Bull Durham" (7.0). Major League (6.9). Highest rated film Field of dreams (7.7). Bang the Drum slowly (7.0)
shareNo way. Best baseball movie of all time has to be either "Field of Dreams" (one of James Earl Jones' best) or "Bull Durham" (just the original, not the awful sequels).
shareSequels to Bull Durham?? Might you mean Major League?
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Best Baseball Flic? "Torii Cantu is . . . The DH". Okay, so it's not a film yet but I'm working on it. Otherwise, it might be Eight Men Out. I don't like the Yankees but "Pride of the Yankees" was an emotional blockbuster even if Gary Cooper doesn't know how to swing a bat. The Natural distorted the novel too much to be considered great. For Love of the Game - Vin Scully's over-the-top remark about a Chapel becoming a Cathedral was too much for me.
shareI love this movie as much as The Natural, Field of Dreams or Bull Durham.
It ranks right there with 61* as the most underrated baseball movie of all-time.
Yay.
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