One of the Most Intriguing Movies I've Ever Seen

Rating: 9/10 (6 February 2011)

When I first saw this movie I probably would have given it a rating of 5-6 at best . . . maybe a 4-5 on merit, plus an additional 1/2 point for some great musical scores and another 1/2 point for sentimental value to this baseball fan.
It wasn't until my third viewing of this movie that I realized how extraordinary it really is, and yet I can understand why so many critics and viewers have panned it. So many of the metaphors and so much of the symbolism of the movie are so subtle that they are easy to overlook. It's not until they are put in the context of the entire movie (especially the flashback scenes) that the masterful weaving of the characters and different story lines becomes clear. This is a baseball game woven into a love story, but it is a baseball movie nonetheless . . . and by that measure it stands on its own as the best of all time -- without the supernatural elements of "Field of Dreams" and the aspects of "The Natural" that push the limits of credulity.
The 8th inning scene -- from start to finish -- is one of the best you'll see in any movie. As the lights flicker on at Yankee Stadium, the camera shows the setting sun off in the distance over the left-field upper deck, then pans back to a wider angle that includes a view into Yankee Stadium from beyond right-centerfield. This is one of those elements of this movie that keeps the viewer focused on a real baseball game in a real place, being played in the midst of all the parallel story lines of the movie. This scene was probably filmed from the Bronx County Courthouse, a building whose upper floors peek into Yankee Stadium from a few blocks east on 161st Street (this building can be seen occasionally during the movie looming beyond the Diamond Vision screen and the giant Budweiser advertisement in right-centerfield).
The scene is beautiful on its own, but the symbolism brings a whole other dimension to it. The skyline in the background in front of the setting sun is in northern Manhattan across the Harlem River. Even many die-hard baseball fans may not know that the group of similar-looking brick buildings closest to the stadium across the river are the tenements that were built on the former site of the old Polo Grounds where the New York Giants baseball team had played before moving to San Francisco in 1958. The metaphors in this short scene may have been unintended, but they're amazing to me . . . the sun setting on a glorious fall day, on the late innings of a historic baseball game, and on the career of a great pitcher whose personal life is facing a wrecking ball just like those old Polo Grounds. Time moves on and changes all, and among all of the characters in this movie only the sun and the great game of baseball will endure.
By the third time I had seen the movie, I decided that the portion of the 8th inning from the 3-1 count on Davis Birch through the last out of the inning was one of the most remarkable segments of any movie I've ever seen. The climactic at-bat of Davis Birch, the majestic musical scores, the heroic efforts of hard-luck rightfielder Mickey Hart, and Jane Aubrey's decisive "moment of truth" in JFK International Airport are all woven together perfectly over several minutes. Vin Scully's play-by-play during this scene came across as background noise of sorts the first time I saw the movie, but after listening closely I realized that he would be a major character in this movie even if his face were never seen. The timing of his play-by-play and the content of his broadcast at the moment of Jane Aubrey's decision in the airport -- and their influence on her decision -- were subtle and brilliant.
The work of director Sam Raimi and the rest of the crew may be overlooked by many viewers, but what should come across as the defining characteristic of the movie is that it is filmed as a REAL game, with so many elements that are easily taken for granted in an age of high-tech filmmaking. The interspersing of "live" baseball scenes with the more grainy TV and Diamond Vision views gave these scenes an aura of credibility that is missing from most sports-themed movies, and characters like Vin Scully, legendary Yankee Stadium announcer Bob Sheppard, the obnoxious but somehow likable Yankee fans, and even Yankee Stadium itself, all played key roles in this movie. The film would have been substantially diminished without these characters, and could never have been filmed anywhere but "the great ball yard in the South Bronx."
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who hasn't seen it, and I think anyone who HAS seen it should see it again with a more attentive view of some of the very subtle elements that make it extraordinary.