The Sandlot

The Sandlot
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Mickey Evans
Produced by	Mark Burg Chris Zsand lotarpas
Written by	David Mickey Evans Robert Gunter
Narrated by	David M. Evans (uncredited)
Starring	Tom Guiry Mike Vitar
Music by	David Newman
Cinematography	Anthony B. Richmond
Editing by	Michael A. Stevenson
Studio	Island World
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	April 7, 1993 (1993-04-07)
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$33,832,313

The Sandlot is a 1993 American comedy-drama sports film about a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. The film was filmed in Utah and directed by David M. Evans. It was released with the title The Sandlot Kids in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Plot

The film is told through the perspective of Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), who is reminiscing about the summer of 1962. Smalls moves with his mother (Karen Allen) and stepfather Bill (Denis Leary) to a new neighborhood outside Los Angeles and has a hard time making new friends. One afternoon, he decides to follow a group of neighborhood boys, and he watches them play an improvised game of baseball at a small field, which they call the “sandlot.” Smalls is reluctant to join their game because he fears he will be ridiculed based on his inexperience. Nevertheless, he chooses to play with them, but fails to catch a simple fly ball and properly throw the ball back to his infielders. All the other players, except for Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar), begin to laugh at Smalls for committing defensive miscues, prompting him to leave the sandlot in embarrassment. Benny, who is the best player in the neighborhood, shields Smalls from the insults of his peers and invites him to rejoin their game. He proceeds to give Smalls advice and helps him earn the respect of the other players.

As Smalls continues to play with them, he begins to learn many of the customs of the sandlot, while experiencing many misadventures with his new friends. He learns that players avoid hitting home runs over the sandlot’s fences, as the property beyond them is guarded by a massive and ferocious dog, a 300-pound English mastiff called “The Beast.” One day, Benny hits a ball so hard, that he ruptures its leather, causing the ball's entrails to come out. The group does not have 98 cents to buy another baseball, and is forced to retire for the afternoon. However, Smalls runs to Bill’s trophy room, and steals his stepfather's autographed ball, in hopes of preserving the game. The team is impressed with Smalls’ gesture, and allows him to have the first at bat with the ball. He proceeds to hit the ball out of the sandlot, but is shortly enveloped by fear once he realizes that he has lost Bill’s ball. The situation is further worsened when Smalls realizes that the ball was autographed by Babe Ruth, and is almost irreplaceable.

Believing that The Beast's owner will not give them the ball back, Smalls and his friends begin engineering elaborate plans to recover the ball from The Beast. After five failed rescue attempts, Smalls prepares to accept his fate. Around the same time, Benny has an enlightening dream, where he is visited by Babe Ruth, who encourages him to run into the Beast's domain, and use his speed to recover the ball and escape. Ruth leaves Benny with the words, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” Benny rallies his friends the following morning at the sandlot, and prepares to recover Smalls’ baseball. Using his PF Flyers ("shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster, and jump higher"), he steals the ball from the Beast, and successfully manages to elude the dog as it chases him through town. At the end of the race, the Beast is injured after a fence collapses on him. Smalls feels responsible for the ordeal, and helps The Beast escape the rubble. After being rescued, The Beast, whose real name is Hercules, becomes much more friendly and affectionate towards the boys, even showing them where he had buried all the baseballs that had gone into the yard over the years. Benny and Smalls then decide to tell the dog’s owner, Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones), about the ordeal, and reveals he would have given them the ball back if they had just asked him. They eventually learn that Mr. Mertle was a professional baseball player in the Negro League and was a friend of Babe Ruth. Mr. Mertle, whose career ended after a hit by a stray pitch blinded him, agrees to give Smalls a ball signed by Murderers' Row – several of the best Yankee hitters in the late 1920s. In exchange, the boys are to visit Mr. Mertle once a week to talk baseball with him. Smalls proceeds to give his stepfather the ball that Mr. Mertle gave him.

While Bill is pleased with the Murderer's Row ball, he is still upset about the Babe Ruth ball, but he only grounds Smalls for a week. Smalls goes on to explain what became of all his friends, and the future careers they pursued. The film then jumps 30 years into the future, where Smalls is a radio sports commentator for the Los Angeles Dodgers (wearing the same hat Benny dissed when they were kids), and Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is one of the team’s star players, wearing #3. While he is in the twilight of his career, Benny manages to steal home in the movie’s final moments, before flashing a thumbs-up to Smalls in the press box.

Cast

The Sandlot baseball team

• Tom Guiry as Scott "Scotty" Smalls - a shy and academic boy who recently moved into the neighborhood. Grows up to become a radio broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers
• Mike Vitar as Benjamin Franklin "Benny the Jet" Rodriguez - the leader and eldest of the boys who is deemed as the best player on the team. Grows up to play for the Dodgers
• Patrick Renna as Hamilton "Ham" Porter - a chubby boy who is usually the catcher of the team. He becomes a professional wrestler called The Great Hambino
• Chauncey Leopardi as Michael "Squints" Palledorous - a smart aleck who wears glasses with thick black frames. Marries Wendy Peffercorn and buys a drugstore.
• Marty York as Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClennan - given his nickname as he frequently says "yeah-yeah" before beginning a sentence. He joins the army and later becomes a developer of bungy jumping
• Brandon Quintin Adams as Kenny DeNunez - The team pitcher. He plays Triple-A ball, but never makes it to the majors. He later owns his own business and coaches his son's little league team.
• Grant Gelt as Bertram Grover Weeks - wears glasses like Squints but with thin frames. He grows up to become obsessed with the 1960s, and is never seen again.
• Victor DiMattia as Timmy Timmons - the elder brother of Tommy. Becomes an architect.
• Shane Obedzinski as Tommy "Repeat" Timmons - the youngest and smallest boy on the team and Timmy's younger brother. He becomes a contractor.

Other characters

• Arliss Howard as adult Scott "Scotty" Smalls
• Denis Leary as Bill, Scott's Stepfather
• Karen Allen as Scott's Mom
• James Earl Jones as Mr. Mertle
• Marley Shelton as Wendy Peffercorn
• Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth
• Wil Horneff as Phillips

Reception

Critical reviews

The Sandlot drew mixed reviews from critics. The film has a 61% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews. The sites consensus says "It may be shamelessly derivative and overly nostalgic, but The Sandlot is nevertheless a genuinely sweet and funny coming-of-age adventure." Critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, comparing the movie to a summertime version of A Christmas Story, based on the tone and narration of both films. He said of one scene, "There was a moment in the film when Rodriguez hit a line drive directly at the pitcher's mound, and I ducked and held up my mitt, and then I realized I didn't have a mitt, and it was then I also realized how completely this movie had seduced me with its memories of what really matters when you are 12." Bob Cannon of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, praising its simplicity and strong fundamentals.

Leonard Klady of Variety gave the film a mostly negative review. He praised the cinematography and score, but felt the baseball team did not come together, and that the film, while sincere, was "remarkably shallow wade, rife with incident and slim on substance."

Box office

The film grossed $4 million in its opening weekend and a further $32 million through ticket sales. Figures for worldwide, VHS and DVD sales are estimated to be at $76 million. Since its release on both VHS and DVD, the film has become a cult favorite.

Defamation suit

In 1998, Michael Polydoros sued 20th Century Fox and the producers of the film for defamation. Polydoros, a childhood classmate of David Mickey Evans, the author and director of The Sandlot, claimed that the character Michael "Squints" Palledorous was derogatory and caused him shame and humiliation. The case reached the Supreme Court of California, which ruled in favor of 20th Century Fox.

Sequels

• The Sandlot 2 (2005) – A direct-to-video sequel in which a new Sandlot gang is featured. The only returning cast member is James Earl Jones in his role of Mr. Mertle.
• The Sandlot: Heading Home (2007) – Another direct-to-video sequel starring Luke Perry as Tommy "Santa" Santorelli who gets knocked back to 1976 from 2007 and relives his childhood. Chauncey Leopardi reprises his role as Squints.

Soundtrack

The film's original score was composed by David Newman, and was unreleased until 2006, when a limited edition was released as part of the Varése Sarabande CD Club.

Songs in order of appearance:

1. "Finger Poppin' Time" - Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
2. "Smokie Part II" - Bill Black's Combo
3. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
4. "There Goes My Baby" - The Drifters
5. "This Magic Moment" - The Drifters
6. "America The Beautiful" - Ray Charles
7. "Green Onions" - Booker T & The MG's
8. "Tequila" - The Champs
9. "Wipe Out" - The Surfaris

External links

• The Sandlot at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sandlot at AllRovi
• The Sandlot at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Sandlot at Box Office Mojo