GUEST COLUMN: "The Sandlot" Movie Review

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The Sandlot Movie Review

by Kevin Gardner

The Sandlot is a 1993 film that follows the misadventures of a group of young baseball players. David Mickey Evans co-wrote and directed the film. The central character is a shy fifth-grader named Scott Smalls.

The Plot

Scott Smalls moves to the suburbs of Los Angeles in 1962 with his mother and stepdad. Scott has a hard time making new friends, so his mother orders him out of the house to go find some. That's when he discovers a group of boys who play baseball on a nearby sandlot every day. 

Smalls has no idea how to play the game. He can't even throw. There is definitely no Easton baseball sponsorship in his future. The other boys make fun of him in the beginning, but Benny Rodriguez, their leader and the best player on the lot, decides to take Smalls under his wing. Eventually, Scott gets better at playing the game and he even smashes a home run, which is a mixed blessing. Hitting a homer is of course exciting, but because the kids have a limited number of balls to play with, it also means the end of the game. 

The reason for this is that beyond the outfield fence lives a monstrous dog the boys refer to as "the Beast." Smalls' homerun isn't just a mixed blessing though. It's a disaster. After Benny knocked the cover off their last ball, Smalls stole a ball out of his stepdad's trophy room to replace it and it was that ball that he whacked into the lair of the beast.

Smalls had no idea that the ball, which had been signed by Babe Ruth, was valuable when he swiped it, but his teammates quickly made him aware of what a dumb move it was to play baseball with a ball signed by the legendary player. The boys go through a series of hijinks attempting to retrieve the ball, but don't have any success.

Finally, inspired by a dream he had, Benny decides to leap the fence. A lengthy chase scene ensues. It concludes when Benny returns to the Beast's lair with the dog in hot pursuit, only to have the fence crash down on top of it. The boys rescue the dog from the fence and he leads them to his stash of baseballs.

The boys have a chat with the dog's owner, Mr. Mertle, who turns out to be a former pro ballplayer. He agrees to swap one of his many autographed balls for the chewed-up Babe Ruth ball if the boys will come to talk baseball with him once in a while. Scott gives the ball, which has the autographs of the entire 1927 New York Yankees team, to his stepdad and the boys keep playing ball in the Sandlot until they all move away. The film concludes in the present day with Scott, now working as a sports commentator, calling Benny, who went on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, stealing home. 

Review

The Sandlot is a nostalgia-fest that mostly appeals to kids and men of a certain age. The friendship between the boys and their love of the game is the heart and soul of the movie, while the wacky events and the incredibly fake-looking dog, are mostly played for cheap laughs. The movie does have some genuinely funny moments, along with a few moments that don't play as well in the #metoo era. Overall, it's an enjoyable coming-of-age tale that fans of the game and men who grew up in the '60s can appreciate. 

The film's young cast is mostly stellar, with the extremely memorable Patrick Renna, as "the Great Hambino." Unfortunately, the weakest member of the cast is its young star, Tom Guiry, whose wooden acting brought unintended laughs at times. Well-known actors Dennis Leary, Karen Allen and James Earl Jones round out the adult cast.

The Sandlot frequently makes appearances on annual "best baseball movies of all time" lists. While its ranking on that list is certainly debatable, there is no doubt that it is a cult classic with a lot of charm and lasting appeal.