That's the first thing to mind shortly after the movie started.
I heard Ray Liotta's voice saying, in hushed tones, "If you build it, he will come", and my instantaneous response had been, "whispers from a dead man."
He died two years ago, at 67 years old, from heart failure.
I've smelled that corn in the hot summer.
I've walked around the bases in that baseball diamond.
I've sat in those bleachers by that clapboard house.
I've touched home plate, and stood on it, too.
That place in Iowa is part of me now.
He died a little over a week ago, at the age of 93.
He was born in January, too, just like Elvis Presley, but four years before the King of Rock and Roll graced this lovely planet.
My friend Reggie shared this photo on fb.
She had vouchsafed it as being factual, something the folks at the Empire State Building had done to honor the passing of the one who will forever be the voice of Darth Vader.
It brought to mind an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" in which Sheldon had tracked down James Earl Jones to ask the man to be a speaker at the comic-con he was creating.
J E J said, "You do know I did other movies..."
to which Sheldon nodded...
"but you don't care about those, do you?"
Sheldon shook his head.
"You only care about "Star Wars", don't you?"
Sheldon nodded agreeably.
Then J E J said, "I like "Star Wars", too!"
(smile!)
So, how did I happen to have access to "Field of Dreams"?
AARP's MFG had hosted the movie on the 5th, but I had forgotten and missed it.
But... they had granted access to it until the 20th!
The screening was several days before the death of J E J, so it wasn't as if that was their rationale for either showing the movie or extending access.
Right place, right time, for me, and tonight was the night.
Even though I knew in advance where the tears would flow for me.
That's because it's always the same place, every time, ever since the first time I ever watched this baseball classic.
It didn't matter that Burt Lancaster was still alive back in 1989, nor that he would be for another five years after the movie debuted.
After all, it wasn't the actor I wept for...
it was the fictional character, Doc "Moonlight" Graham, that brought the tears.
When he choose to step off that magical diamond in the corn field, in order to save the little girl's life, he also choose to give up his dream of playing baseball...
again...
as he had earlier in his life, when he forsook sports to become a physician.
That part always makes me sob.
It's such an irreversible decision.
What a movie about life...
No comments:
Post a Comment