“…Thirty years later, a kid named Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez became a neighborhood legend. It was in the greatest summer of my life, when he taught me how to play baseball and he became my best friend. And he got me out of the biggest pickle I’d ever be in.”
It’s the Summer of 1962 and Scott Smalls (Tom Guiry) has just moved to the Valley, two weeks before the end of the 5th grade. His mother (Karen Allen) encourages him to get outside and make some new friends. Scott sees that eight of the neighborhood kids have a daily baseball game going at the local sandlot he decides this might be his opprtunity. However Scott’s baseball knowledge and skills are severely lacking—he has never heard of The Great Bambino, and even just playing catch with his stepfather (Denis Leary) resulted in a black eye. When the leader of the group, Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) takes him under his wing, Scotty soon finds he is having the best summer of his life. That is, until he makes a bad decision that could get him grounded for life, unless his new friends can help him make things right—but that means facing The Beast.
The Sandlot is a timeless coming-of-age comedy about a group of kids just having fun. Whether it’s playing baseball, scamming pool honeys or on a mission to rescue a prized possession from The Beast, the guys stick by one another. While watching the film I was reminded me of other films such as A Christmas Story and Stand By Me. The Sandlot is framed by sequences with an adult Scott Smalls who is reminiscing about a life-changing time in his youth, and this older version of the character narrates the events of the film.
The baseball gang are an interesting bunch, each with his own personality. There’s brothers Timmy and Tommy “Repeat” Timmons (Victor DiMattia, Shane Obedzinski), the bespectacled Mike “Squints” Palledorous (Chauncey Leopardi), Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan (Marty York), Bertram Grover Weeks (Grant Gelt), Kenny DeNunez (Brandon Quintin Adams), and heayweight Hamilton “Ham” Porter (Patrick Renna). For the most part the acting is quite good, and the characters felt like real kids who had actually been long time friends. The only exception was “Squints” whose delivery felt more like an actor reading lines rather than a real character.
The film is a lot of fun—whether it’s the dialogue between the kids (“You’re killing me, Smalls!”), the shear look of terror as the boys discover that Scotty doesn’t know who Babe Ruth is, or the extremely elaborate plans they go through to retrieve a ball from The Beast. There is some creative camera work in this film, especially where The Beast is concerned, from making it look larger than life (as the boys see him) to giving the viewer a Beast-eye view as he runs around causing havoc. While The Beast gets a bit over-the-top, it actually works perfectly for the film since the legend of The Beast has grown to epic proportions as it has passed along from one kid to the next.
For a film that is 20 years old, it still feels as fresh and relevant today as when I first saw it. I think the fact that it is set in a simpler time really helps as there is not a lot of outdated technology. The movie looks better than ever on this Blu-ray—despite couple instance of the picture being a bit blurry, it is definitely a lot sharper than the DVD release. The audio is excellent—when the kids are out on the baseball field, perfect use is made of all channels to really make you feel like you are right there on the playing field as well. And the rumbling menace of The Beast feels so real as you hear every link in his chain rattling along with the shaking and banging of the fence.
The only disappointment with this release is the lack of bonus features. There is only one short featurette, produced 12 years ago. For a special “20th Anniversary Edition”, I would have expected something new—such as a “Where Are They Now?” type of featurette or a new commentary with the actors. The only thing new to this release is a slipcover and a pack of baseball cards.
That said, I really enjoyed seeing this film again after 20 years, and highly recommended picking it up if you don’t already own it.
What’s Included:
Film (1:41:00)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 2.35:1
- Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
- English SDH, Spanish subtitles
- 480p / Widescreen 2.35:1, Full Screen 1.33:1 (Double-sided)
- Audio: English DD 5.1, English Dolby Surround, Spanish Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
- English SDH, Spanish subtitles
DVD:
Extras:
- Featurette (5:50)
Originally produced for the 2001 DVD release, this short behind-the-scenes featurette includes interviews with the cast and director, but feels more like a promotional ad for the film. - Theatrical Trailer (2:36)
- The Sandlot 2 Trailer (1:35) (only on DVD)
- TV Spots (3:44)
Collection of 7 30-second TV spots: “Adventure”, “Heart Warming”, “Winners”, “Summer”, “Fun”, “Midnight Review”, and “Review”. The Blu-ray contains a Play All option while the DVD does not. - Collectible Baseball Cards
A set of ten 20th Anniversary baseball cards. One for each of the boys as well as The Beast. Each card has a picture of the character along with a quote.
Final Thoughts:
This is just a repackaging of the previous DVD and Blu-ray discs bundled into one. The only things that are new are the disc art and a slipcover. The release also includes a pack of collectible the baseball cards and a 10% off coupon for PFFlyers.com (expires 9/28/13). I was disappointed that for this 20th Anniversary release they didn’t even include a new documentary or audio track with the cast, following up with them 20 years later.
While I really enjoyed the film and recommend it, if you already own the previous Blu-ray release, it’s probably not worth buying again just for the slipcover & baseball cards. However, if you don’t already own the title or are deciding whether to upgrade to Blu-ray, it’s definitely worth picking up and this is certainly the edition to get!
