You know how everyone has those movies they’ve never seen that make you go “seriously?!” Well, this week for Disc Dive I address one of mine with The Sandlot.
Title: The Sandlot
Director: David Mickey Evans
Released: April 7, 1993 (Theatrical – United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
Disc Format: Blu-ray
Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), by his own admission, is not like the other neighborhood kids. He’s gone so far as to call himself an egghead. One day he wanders out to the sandlot where the neighborhood kids play baseball, just to watch from a distance. A pop fly comes his way, he botches the catch, and has to retrieve the ball from the fence line. Something on the other side of the fence is angered by his presence and makes a commotion that spooks him. He tries to throw the ball back to the boys but doesn’t know how. He runs home in embarrassment, thinking he’s lost all hope of making friends.
His mother pushes his stepfather, Bill (Denis Leary), into teaching Scotty how to play catch. After some trial and error, Scotty catches one. The only problem is his mitt caught the ball but his face caught his mitt, leaving him with a gnarly black eye. Later, Benny (Mike Vitar) stops by to see if Scotty wants to come play ball, even offering up an extra mitt. Scotty might not be the best player, but he’s a warm body that gives the boys a full team. The rest of the boys aren’t as willing to accept him, but they do give him a nickname. From here on out he’s Smalls.
With Smalls in the outfield, Benny hits him a routine pop fly. Smalls stumbles, falls down, and runs the ball back to home plate to avoid being embarrassed by trying to throw it. The boys snicker, but Benny takes the time to help him out. Next time, Smalls catches the pop fly and throws it into second base like a natural. He’s earned their respect, he’s now part of the crew.
The next day, Ham (Patrick Renna) crushes a ball over the fence and Smalls starts scaling it to go get the ball back. The boys rush over and tell him to forget it. The ball is gone forever. It belongs to The Beast now. Smalls peeks through a hole in the fence and sees the ball, then sees a giant paw swipe it away. That night while the boys are camping out, they fill Smalls in on the legend of The Beast.
Their next game, Benny absolutely destroys a ball, literally hitting the cover off of it. The boys are in awe but also bummed because the day is over without a ball. This is where Smalls steps up. While Bill is out of town, Smalls goes into his office and grabs a baseball on display. One that happens to be signed by Babe Ruth. When Smalls is up to bat he gets all of it, launching it right into The Beast’s yard.
Instead of rounding the bases, he runs out to the fence. Bill will lose his mind if Smalls loses that ball.
I picked this up as part of a sale as a blind buy. Yes, really, I’d never seen The Sandlot before. Maybe if I had that nostalgic connection to it I’d feel a bit different about it. Without it, I can’t say that it lives up to the hype I’ve heard over the years.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing here. The kids have chemistry together and each is given their own time to shine. It’s funny, it’s light, and I can see why as a kid this could be a favorite. It’s not just a straight baseball movie. It’s a movie about friendship and adventure that happens to involve baseball.
In fact, some of the more memorable moments are the ones where baseball is an afterthought. The campout in the treehouse. The scene at the pool. The boys at the carnival. It’s all kids just being kids, with baseball being the thing that brought them together.
While all of the child actors excelled in their roles, it’s Mike Vitar as Benny that stood out to me. Sure, guys like Ham and Squints have more memorable lines, but Benny is the glue that holds the group together. He acts almost as an elder statesman of the group and his willingness to spend time with Smalls and make him feel part of the group is what gives the film its soul.
The Sandlot is an entertaining watch with real heart. And when talking about kids films, that’s not nothing.