Essential Adaptations: Susana Orozco on FIELD OF DREAMS
The rare exception to the phrase “the book was better” is the all-American film FIELD OF DREAMS based on the book Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. Both the film and the book follow the main character, Ray Kinsella, who hears a voice telling him to do certain tasks. At the beginning of the film we learn that Ray (Kevin Costner, in his second of three baseball films) and his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan) are hippies who’ve decided to buy a farm in Iowa and become farmers because it seems like a fun thing to do.
One night, out in his corn field, Ray hears the now-famous phrase, “If you build it, he will come” and sees an image of a baseball field and of his favorite player, Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta.) It’s a hard sell to his wife, but an even harder one to everyone in town and to his lenders at the bank. Ray is the town idiot who plowed under his crop to build a baseball field and put everything on the line. One of my favorite scenes is Ray telling his daughter, Karin, (and us) about Shoeless Joe’s career. He’s passing on a tradition of telling our children about our sport’s heroes and their legends. It’s also vital that Karin (Gaby Hoffmann) believe her father because her belief in him is pivotal to the film’s finale.
Eventually, The Voice delivers on its promise and Shoeless Joe appears in Ray’s field. The next day, more players show up and the game begins. This is where we find out that not everyone can see the players. Only Annie and Karin can see them because they believe in Ray. Soon, he’ll need to convince someone else to believe in him, because now he hears his second task, “Ease his pain.” In the book, this leads to the reclusive writer J.D. Salinger. In the film, it’s reclusive writer Terrence Mann (James Earl Jones), after Salinger threatened legal action against Kinsella. Mann hears The Voice as well (“Go the distance”) during a baseball game and joins Ray on a side-journey to find one-time player Moonlight Graham (Burt Lancaster.) While all of this is happening, Annie must hold back her brother and the bank lenders on foreclosing on the farm.
One of the ways the film benefits is that it cuts supporting characters from the book and puts the main focus on Ray, his small family, and his relationship with his father. In the book, Ray has a twin brother, Richard, who travels with a circus. It’s Richard who has the broken relationship with his father, but by focusing that pain on Ray, we have an emotional journey for our protagonist.
Throughout the film, Ray gives us hints about his relationship with his father. While driving back home, he confesses to Terrence how they became estranged. It’s a great setup for the emotional punch in the gut the audience is about to experience. We believe we’re here because of Shoeless Joe and Terrence Mann and Moonlight Graham. The script has led us to believe this. The finale is set up when Annie’s brother arrives to take over the farm, he squabbles with Ray, and Karin is put into a life-and-death situation. Doc Graham saves the girl’s life and reveals himself and his teammates to Mark, who now sees that big picture — mostly in dollar signs.
It’s just at the end, when the story is wrapped up in a neat bow, that Shoeless Joe smiles at us and turns his head towards a single man. This is that moment that makes the film wonderful — the kind of moment that lifts our heart and tells us that everything is going to be okay. Ray finally gets to reconcile with his father and play a game of catch with him. The perfect ending to a perfect book adaption.
