MAKSQUIBS CINEMATHEQUE: THE SANDLOT (1993)

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Thursday, August 31, 2023

THE SANDLOT (1993)

This small town whimsy about a sandlot pickup baseball gang hoped to catch the backdraft of other idyllic tween-age memory pieces. (Think A CHRISTMAS STORY/’83, STAND BY ME/’86 or tv’s THE WONDER YEARS/’88.) Thirty years after a popular release, its following has only expanded. So, what a surprise to finally watch the thing and discover it’s terrible! Then again, a glance at the admittedly not always reliable IMDb ratings of other films by debuting director David Mickey Evans clues us in with some of the lowest ratings ever seen. Ranging from 5 (out of 10), to 4s and a 2. (That last for ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE JR.) Evans all thumbs at everything he tries: horrible child acting (adults Denis Leary & Karen Allen also dreadful), slapstick action split into unmatched edits on gags that need to play out in a single take, character & story moves that wouldn’t surprise a toddler. Like a junkyard dog who’s really a sweetie pie at heart (ditto owner*); a baseball signed by Babe Ruth to get ruined; a bonding game of catch with tough-to-please stepfather; pretty lifeguard to trick into a kiss; heck, there’s even a token Black kid on the team. Sheesh.

ATENTION MUST BE PAID: When the new kid shows up, the sandlot boys all excited to finally have nine players so they can field a full team. But since somebody’s got to be at bat, they're still fielding eight. As Casey Stengel famously said about his 1962 METS, ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?’ (BTW, with only two kids available for the outfield, they also stick the hopeless kid in Center-Left when everyone knows Center-Right is where the worst player goes.)

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: *That junkyard owner is James Earl Jones as a one-time pro player from the old segregated Negro League, now blind. (Laying it on kinda thick, no?) For Jones in a baseball pic less maudlin than FIELD OF DREAMS/'89 try the underrated Negro League baseball pic BINGO LONG TRAVELING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS/’76. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2021/07/the-bingo-long-traveling-all-stars-and.html

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Thursday, August 31, 2023

THE SANDLOT (1993)

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