The Sandlot (1993) (Movie Review)

  Of the many things I love and enjoy, sports in general has just never been one of them. I love exercising, and I frequently do outdoor activities like bike riding, or rock climbing, but I’ve just never been one to sign-up for any kind of sport. I certainly don’t have any animosity for sports, there are just other actives I’d rather do outdoors. As such, I feel even less about sports themed movies, as the majority of them repeat the exact same formula, and while it’s led to some decent films, it’s just never been a genera that’s won me over. Having said that, regardless of my lack of interest in sports, or the sports movie genera … 1993’s “The Sandlot” will always stick with me as one of my personal all-time favorite movies. While it can be categorized as a Baseball movie, it’s really less about the sport, and more about childhood friendships, and the fun experiences they shared together. You could actually categorize this film in the same vain of coming of age adventure movies like “Stand by Me”, or “The Goonies”. Another way you could view this film is … as Roger Ebert put it … a Summer time version of "A Christmas Story", as it does replicate the same life-and-times atmosphere, while laced with a lot of comedy. The sports elements only really serve as the one thing that binds the friendship of these kids together, which I think most viewers can relate to weather their sports fans or not. 

  Just like the aforementioned “Stand by Me” and “A Christmas Story”, “The Sandlot” is told from the perspective of an adult who’s reflecting back on his childhood, and as a result, a good chunk of the film is told through narration. The movie was directed by David Mickey Evans, who also provides the narration through the film, and it gives the movie a personal touch. Our lead boy is named Scott Smalls, who just moved to a small neighborhood area, and is really just trying to fit in, while also trying to get along with his new step-dad. Over time, he eventually becomes friends with a group of boys who are all obsessed with Baseball, and have their own little Dimond called the Sandlot, where they play an endless game without really keeping any score or choosing teams ... it’s just them doing what they love. 

The film continues over the course of one Summer, and we see all the little experiences that shaped this Summer into the greatest time of Scott smalls childhood. The movie can almost be viewed as a collection of little vignette’s, as it’s all about experiencing little moments … some funny, some scary, some charming, and some downright thrilling. The one narrative thread in the picture revolves around the urban legend of a mysterious neighbor’s backyard, and a dangerous pet dog on the other side, which the kids colorfully refer to as The Beast. Another thing that ties these boys together is a mutual love for Baseball legend Babe Ruth, who’s their idle, and we see the almost psychotic lengths they go through just to safe guard something as simple as a baseball with his signature on it.              

   Without question, the absolute best thing this movie has going for it is a perfectly chosen cast of child actors. Each kid shines with a distinct personality, charisma and they create this welcoming atmosphere in which I feel like I’m one with the group.

In most cases, a group of child-actors can be really challenging to work with, as the filmmakers need to work around their schedules, the kids might not get along, and some times they just don’t feel like acting. By contrast, the kids in “The Sandlot” never once feel like they showed up to a set to act. They share a sense of comradery, like their real friends that have known each-other for years, and for as corny as they get at times, the performances are solid all around. The main boy is named Scotty Smalls, who’s the new kid on the block, and the most level headed. Watching this movie as a kid, I always singled out Smalls as the most relatable, as I too had to move to a number of places during my childhood, and had to cope with making new friends. He’s also the one who’s most out of touch with knowledge of the game, which leads to one of the films most quoted lines … “Your Killing me Smalls!” Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez is the team leader, and the good-looking star who’s the best player on the team. Despite being the conventional ring-leader, he also shines as the moral compass, who’s always encouraging Smalls to push himself, always giving helpful advice, and always keeping the team organized. He’s just an all-around great guy, and the one member I wish I could have been the most like back when I was a kid.

   The remaining kids at first glance may seem like your typical cliché young sports team, with a token fat kid, a token Nerd with big glasses, and a token African American … but there’s so much more to these boys that go beyond just being token tropes. The fat boy named `Ham', and the Geeky boy named `Squints' are both brimming with a distinct personality, charm and have stuck with me as iconic characters in their own right. The African American boy is named DeNunez, who’s a cool kid, and it's awesome to note that he's played by the same child actor who played Fool in Wes Cravens 1991 picture "The People Under the Stairs". A personal favorite team member of mine is a boy who’s lovingly referred to by the group as `Yeah-Yeah'. Aside from being a delight every time he’s on screen, the kid always reminded me of one of my own childhood cosines, who looked and acted just like him in every sense. In fact, I remember asking my cosine multiple times if they were related, as it was uncanny just how similar they were. Then there’s two brothers named Timmy and Tommy, and their only shtick is that the youngest always repeats everything the elder brother says. My least favorite of the group is a tall boy named Grover, who’s … well … just a really tall kid, and that’s it.

  At last, it’s worth noting that unlike every other children’s sports movie of the time, this team didn’t have a token girl member.

Despite this, I think the film can appeal to female viewers just as much as it appeals to boys, because in the end, it's still about close friends coming together, which anyone can relate to. In fact, my sister loves this movie just as much as I do, and the lack of a girl presence never bothered her. While it certainly doesn’t hurt the movie, I still would have also liked to see what the film would have done to make a girl member stand apart from a conventional trope, the same way both the fat kid, and Geek kid in this movie stand out as memorable characters. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if that direct to video squeal was made just for the satisfaction of including a girl on the team. PS ... I didn't like that squeal at all ... I'll leave it that. 

  Also, there's a strong supporting cast of A-list adult actors, who likewise add to the films appeal.

It’s funny the amount of times I watched this movie as a kid, and I never once noticed that the mother was played by Karen Allen … also known as Indiana Jones love interest Marion from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. Despite no-longer being a bomb-shell, she makes up for it by breathing a lot of life into the role of an all loving and encouraging mother. Denis Leary is also perfectly cast as Smalls step-father named Bill. Despite being a genuinely nice guy, Denis Leary has this restrained sense of intimidation, which is fitting for a step-dad. However, the actor who completely steals the show by far is James Earl Jones as the elusive neighbor Mr. Mertle, who secretly loves Baseball just as much as Benny. From “Field of Dreams”, to “Conan the Barbarian”, to a number of Tom Clancy adapted books-to-movies, to various voice acting roles … James Earl Jones is always a winning talent, and despite only being on screen for a few minuets … this is arguably my favorite performance of his whole career. "George signed this ... I take it back, your not in trouble ... your dead where you stand!" He is just so infectiously lovable in this film, and he plays it as if this is the role he’s wanted his whole life.     

  Another charm to the film is it’s early 1960’s setting, which gives the movie an almost timeless quality. Had it been set at the time of its release, it would probably feel very dated, but the early 60’s setting gave it an extra nostalgia stamp for all the adults who grew up during that time. It also helps in retrospective, as looking back on “The Sandlot” … it just doesn’t feel like another cliched 90’s sports movie, like so many others of its time. Also, the film is set during a time when Baseball was the definitive all-American sporting event without question, and for me, it cares over into “The Sandlot”, making it feel like an all-American classic. In fact, this is one of my favorite movies to annually watch on Independence Day. Add on to that, there’s a great little scene set during the 4^th of July celebration (appropriately matched with Ray Charles “America the Beautiful”), in which the kids have a night game, but are distracted by all the bright colors exploding in the night sky … that is with the exception of Benny, who just keeps running in the background. It’s a great moment, one that defines Benny’s character as one who lives for Baseball, and for whatever reason … whenever the 4^th of July comes around, I always think of this scene.

  Again, the greatest strength of “The Sandlot” is just experiencing all the little moments, and it’s refreshing for a sports movie from it’s time to break away from the repetitive formula of just about every other sports movie. While there are some exceptions, like 1989’s “Field of Dreams”, the majority of sports films follow a team of losers, who through a series of training and montages work their way to winning the championship. “The Sandlot” all but ignores the formula in favor of something unique, although there is a short section of the film in which they do face a rival team. It’s short, doesn’t become the focus of the film, and dose lead to some of the movies most quotable lines … “If my dog was as ugly as you, I’d shave his butt, and tell him to walk backwards.” 
       

  Despite being branded as a sports movie, “The Sandlot” can just as easily be categorized first and foremost as a Comedy. I distinctly remember watching this film as a kid and referring to it as one of the funniest movies I ever saw, and even looking back as an adult, I still get a big belly laugh from watching this film.

 

For me, the most important thing about a funny sequence is the lengthy build-up to the punch line, and this film does a damn good job building-up the joke before it hits. A perfect example is the swimming pool sequence, in which the boy Squints fakes drowning in the deep-end, just so he could score a kiss with the overly-attractive life-guard. The concept is amusing enough on its own, but what really sells the hummer is how it slowly builds and builds … and then just before making his move, there’s a brief moment when Squints breaks his acting, and shoots a cocky smirk at his friends. That simple exchange alone, paired with his friends bewildering reaction cracks me up before the joke even happened. Also, just as a side note, this scene closes with one of the boys saying “oh man, he’s in deep shit” … which as a kid was my introduction to that particular swear word. I’d never heard it before, but I certainly wouldn’t forget it afterword’s, because repeating said word got me in a lot of trouble with my parents.

  The absolute funniest scene in the movie by far has got to be the carnival scene, which still cracks my up to this day. Sense the kids idolized Babe Ruth, they felt the need to emulate everything that he and other sports stars are known to do … one of which is chewing Tabaco. So, during a celebration at a carnival, they decide to show-off by opening a bag of Tabaco, unaware that Chaw and Fair Rides don't mix at all. Again, the reason the hummer works so well is all due to the build-up. The kids are overly cocky, ignorant, and despite that sudden burst of adrenaline and flavor … we gradually see the Tabaco take effect on the kids while on a spinning ride. The subtle shift from relentless cheering, to pale-face stomach turning is priceless, and the payoff is great. At the time, this was the most over-the-top vomiting scene I’d ever viewed on film … until it was upstaged by “Stand by Me”. Despite the gross-out imagery of gunk accidentally hitting people on ground level, what really sells this scene are the over-blown sound designs paired with the kid’s reactions. Also, the incorporation of the song “Tequila” by The Champs was brilliant, and now I can never listen to that song without thinking of this scene. Aside from being funny as hell, this scene also serves as a great drug PSA for kids, and why they should stay away from such things.     
          

  Now, for all the joyful and funny moments in “The Sandlot”, it also wasn’t without some scary highlights too … which brings us to the Urban legend surrounding the mysterious dog, so lovingly referred to as … The Beast. When I first watched this movie as a little kid, the very first thing that drew my interest was the built-up mystery and danger revolving around this dog, and the more we caught little glimpses of it, the more excited I got. I distinctly remember getting chills at this one moment when one of the kids looks over at the boarded-up fence, and we see the silhouette of the dog’s shadow … and it almost resembles a T-Rex, which was awesome.

One night when telling stories at a sleepover, one of the kids tells the legend of the Beast, how the origin of this intimidating dog took shape, and that it might have been responsible for the death of hundreds … including a little kid. As he tells the tale, the movie suddenly materializes into a choppy, black and white flashback, with creature effects that look like they came from out of the 1940’s, and stock-cliché robbers with stripes and masks. Despite it’s cheap aesthetic and goofy tone, this scene genuinely boasts an eerie atmosphere, and the boys voice adds some intimidation to the story’s context. Of course, we all get a big laugh from the over emphasized … “Keep the dog locked-up until … FOR-EV-ER”. Yet for me, the real highlight is what follows just after the tale concludes. Smalls doesn’t believe in the story, which results in the other kids forcing him to look out their tree-house window, and into the ruined backyard where the beast dwells. Even though nothing physically appears on screen, I’ll never forget that frightening tracking-shot through the trashed yard, which picks up rapidly in speed, with the music and sound design building, and reaching back to the boys terrified reaction of something dangerous down there. It was all around an effectively spooky moment, and a great way to close a night of creepy tales. 

 

   A running problem the boy’s face is accidentally hitting their baseballs into the backyard of the Beast. At first, it’s just a bunch of minor inconvenience, but then things get dead serious one day when Smalls accidentally knocks his dads prized trophy-ball signed by Babe Ruth into the Beasts den. With Smalls in danger of getting smacked down by his unpredictable step-dad, and the boys being devoted fans of Babe Ruth, they all unite in a pledge to retrieve that baseball no matter the odds.

This culminates into one of my favorite sequences of any child-hood movie I grew up with … which is watching the trails of these kids as they utilize different methods of retrieving that ball. It’s kind of in spirit with the classic road-runner cartoons, as it’s all about executing various schemes to get one prize, and yet the plans keep blowing-up in their face … sometimes literally.

I love the progression of their schemes, as they start as basic as using a pan to the retrieve the ball, and eventually their plans keep escalating to the point when one of the kids is leeward down into the Beast layer. My favorite of their failed plans by far is when they hook-up three vacuums in an effort to suck the ball-up into their tree-house. This plan backfires so bad that … after the Beast pinches the pipes, the kids need to make a quick retreat before their tree-house explodes … which was both a deeply thrilling and thoroughly hilarious sequence. It almost made me jealous watching this as a kid, because for all the excitement my friends and I would have over the summer, we never experienced anything as thrilling as escaping a blown-up tree-house.  

  After many failed efforts, the lead boy Benny gets a sudden confidence boost in a dream, in which he’s visited by none other than the ghost of Babe Ruth. He conveys to Benny a very humble and wise speech about the opportunities that lay in front of him, that he should find the courage to do what no-one else will, and that he should take the chance to make something of himself.

Inspirational Sport’s movie speeches are a dime a dozen, and there have been countless inspiring monologues in sports films ranging from “Mirical” to “Any Given Sunday”, but for some reason, Babe Ruth’s little speech to Benny has always stuck with me as one of my personal favorites. “Just remember this … there’s hero’s and there’s legends … hero’s get remembered … but legends never die … fallow your heart kid … and you’ll never go wrong”. I love that Ruth is very straight forward with him during this talk, and never goes too preachy with his delivery. Art LaFleur plays Babe Ruth in this scene, and delivers a charming performance. Also, I always liked this little detail of him admiring a baseball card of Hank Aaron, as it makes the scene feel all the more real. As we lead into the climax, we see Benny slip into a new pair of PF Flyers, and he gently tucks his old shoes away in the shoe box, as if he’s paying his final respects to his childhood, and beginning his first steps as an adult. This is further emphasized when we finally see the Beast as a regular Bull-Mastiff, as opposed to all the previous glimpses we’d seen of the dog. Sense this story was being viewed from a child’s perspective, all previous glimpses of the Beast depicted him as an over evacuated monster dog, but now that Benny is becoming an adult in this moment, he’s able to see the dog for what it really is.

  Now, we get our thrilling final confrontation, in which Benny hops the fence, and faces the Beast mono-E-mono. The two stare each-other down in a moment that’s shot, edited and scored like a classic Spaghetti-Western. In fact, the music cues feel eerily similar to Ennio Morricone’s score from “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly”. 

This little stare-down between Benny and the Beast is one of my favorite little movie moments ever, as the editing on display is beautiful, and I love all the little details. The way the music builds, the sound of Benny cracking his finger muscles, and with the striking sound of a whip … Benny just bolts after his target. This leads into one of my favorite foot-chases ever put to film, as Benny with the Ball in hand runs all across their small community, with the ever-persistent Beast at his heals the whole time. The chase actually works as a nice recap of all the locations the kids visit over their Summer break. It’s also hilarious how the dog is presented as this unstoppable machine, as it relentlessly jumps through glass windows, and tares through fences. This chase is also inter-cut with footage of 1941’s “The Wolf-Man”, which is being viewed in an auditorium that will eventually be crashed by Benny and the Beast. This marked my personal introduction to “The Wolf-Man”, making it my first glimpse into a larger world of classic monster movies. Still to this day, I can never watch “The Wolf-Man” without thinking of this scene from “The Sandlot”.

  After all the excitement, the kids end-up rescuing the Beast from a toppled fence, and afterword’s adopt the dog as their team mascot, which I’ve always loved. There’s just something special about having an animal that once scared and threatened the kids suddenly become their loving companion. We then get this … admittedly cheesy … yet still warmly uplifting sendoff for all the kids as they quietly fade out of the picture, while the narrator fills us in on what happened in their lives. Maybe it’s overly sentimental, but I love it … as if it’s the cheerful version of the ending from “Stand By Me”. We then get a quick glimpse of both Smalls and Benny as grown adults, each connected to their favorite sport, and both fondly looking back on the memories they made that Summer. I don’t know why, but this ending always gets me a little choked-up inside. 
  

  In the end, “The Sandlot” was easily one of my favorite childhood movies, … and it’s still one of my all-time favorites all these years later. It’s arguably one of the most purely nostalgic movies ever made … perhaps overly nostalgic … but that’s what makes it special. It is admittedly a cheesy movie, so the experience overall can either make you cringe … or if you choose to embrace the cheesy elements as a charm, it could make you feel all warm and cozy inside.

For me, it’s unmistakably the later, because while I freely admit that the film has no restraint with how silly it can get … I still wouldn’t have it any other way. Whether you’re a sports guy or not, I think the majority of viewers can find something to connect to. Watching this film is like looking through a window to the past, as it allows you to reflect on a time when you, and your friends would play games, get into trouble, and go on your own little adventures that the adults are completely oblivious too. Then finally, you can relate to being an adult looking at old photos of that wonderful time you had with your pals. It’s such a sweet and wholesome film with lots of excitement, big laughs, quotable lines of dialog, memorable scenes, and I just feel so touched by it every time. I may not be one for sports movies … Baseball least of all … but “The Sandlot” remains an all-American classic, and one of my personal all-time favorites.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1993 sports comedy “The Sandlot” … and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!