The Sandlot

The Sandlot is a 1993 American coming-of-age sports comedy film co-written, directed and narrated by David Mickey Evans, which tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962.

Plot
In the San Fernando Valley during the summer of 1962, Scotty Smalls is the new boy in the neighborhood, seeking desperately to fit in. He would be welcomed on the local sandlot baseball team that practices every day, which only has eight players. Smalls, however, cannot play baseball; on his first visit to the sandlot he finds himself in the outfield with a fly ball descending toward him which bounces off his glove, causing the other boys, except Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez, the team's leader, to burst out laughing. Smalls, humiliated, leaves the baseball field.

Smalls asks his stepfather to teach him to play, and while his stepdad agrees, Scott cannot successfully catch or throw the ball. Benny soon teaches him what he needs to know, and with Benny's support, he gets a place on the team.

Meanwhile, behind a wall at the end of the sandlot is a backyard inhabited by "the Beast", an English Mastiff so large and savage that it has become a neighborhood legend. One day, the boys' last ball lands in the Beast's backyard. Smalls attempts to retrieve it, but the others, knowing about the Beast, stop him. That evening, they tell him all about the Beast, and that his owner, Mr. Merle, got him when he was just a puppy when thieves were plaguing his junkyard, Merle's Acres. After a couple of weeks, the puppy became the Beast; he grew enormous and aggressive, killing and devouring the thieves, bones and all. Eventually, Squints' grandfather, who was the police chief at the time, had Mr. Merle chain up the Beast in the backyard and keep him under his house forever. Smalls also learns that many baseballs end up in the backyard, and then they just disappear.

The next day, at a local swimming pool, Squints pretends to drown so that he can kiss the lifeguard, Wendy Peppercorn, whom he has a crush on. She does not take too kindly to it, and they are banned from the pool. Nonetheless, she realizes that Squints has feelings for her.

One day, Benny busts the guts out of their baseball and Smalls steals his stepfather's ball. After that ball also ends up with the Beast, Smalls discovers the ball was special; it was signed by Babe Ruth. Smalls' stepfather has gone to Chicago for a week-long business trip, putting Smalls and the others on a race against time to recover the ball before he returns. They make many attempts to retrieve the ball, but the Beast thwarts each attempt. One night, Benny has a dream in which Babe Ruth gives him advice, and Benny explains to him about the Beast, saying that he ate one kid who hopped the fence and went into Mr. Merle's backyard.

The next day, Benny puts on PF Flyers, shoes "guaranteed" to make a kid run faster and jump higher, and goes into Mr. Merle's backyard, despite protests from his team. Benny retrieves the ball, but the Beast breaks his chain and escapes, chasing Benny through the streets, a theater, a picnic, the local swimming pool and eventually back to the sandlot. Mr. Merle's fence falls on top of the Beast, but Smalls and Benny manage to get the fence off him; he shows the kids that he has been keeping all the baseballs they hit into the backyard in a small hole. Smalls and Benny then meet Mr. Merle, who reveals that the Beast's real name is Hercules, an English Mastiff, and that he knew Babe Ruth, because he was also a baseball player who went blind after getting hit by a baseball. Mr. Merle trades the destroyed Babe Ruth-autographed baseball for a baseball signed by all of the 1927 New York Yankees, which Smalls gives to his stepfather as a gift to make up for the other ball.

The sandlot boys enjoy the rest of the summer and the next few years, with the Beast as their mascot. Over the next three decades, the boys grow up and go into different careers. Benny and Smalls remain close; Benny becomes a famous ML player, while Smalls becomes a sportscaster.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) A very original story. It breaks free from the traditional sports film formula in that it doesn't focus on winning.
 * 2) It is highly nostalgic for all the right reasons.
 * 3) Excellent narration.
 * 4) The Sandlot as a whole is diverse with all the members being interesting in their own way, especially Benny, Ham, and Squints.
 * 5) Scotty is a very likable character as despite being shy, reclusive, and academic, he is willing to try new things and take risks becoming more so as the film progresses when he is accepted as part of the Sandlot and hangs out with them regularly.
 * 6) Benny is a very kind character who is willing to take Scotty under his wing despite his lack of baseball talent.
 * 7) The scenes that don't focus on Scotty trying to make friends, being taught baseball, the Sandlot retrieving Bill's autographed Babe Ruth baseball, and confronting the beast fit well with the rest of the plot to showcase what else Scotty did during the summer of 1962.
 * 8) Lots of memorable quotes such as "For-ev-ver! For-ev-ver! For-ev-ver! For-ev-ver!" and "You're killing me, Smalls!"
 * 9) Lots of funny moments here and there.
 * 10) The trash-talking scene between Ham and Phillips of the rival Tigers Little League team is epic and the same goes with the Sandlot facing off against the Tigers where they win in a huge landslide.
 * 11) The methods of retrieving the ball are very creative.
 * 12) The main cast members did most of their own stunts.
 * 13) The scene where Benny dreams of Babe Ruth emerging from his closet and giving him advice by motivating him to go over the fence to get the ball is both inspiring and heartwarming as well as having one of the best morals in film history being "Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered but legends never die, follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong."
 * 14) Amazing score which evokes both a sense of emotion and nostalgia.
 * 15) Awesome soundtrack.
 * 16) Terrific cinematography.
 * 17) It showcases Americana with great pride.
 * 18) The chase scene is very entertaining.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The sequels were an absolute disgrace to the original film.
 * 2) Minus Scotty and Benny, some of the main characters get too much emphasis such as Ham and Squints while others are underused such as DeNunez and Bertram.
 * 3) What Squints did to Wendy Peffercorn is deemed a very sexual assault.

Reception
The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and the audience alike. It holds a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews, with its consensus says, "It may be shamelessly derivative and overly nostalgic, but The Sandlot is nevertheless a genuinely sweet and funny coming-of-age adventure." while IMDB holds a film a 7.8/10 rating.

Trivia

 * After the boys were done filming, Tom Guiry's older brother (Tom Guiry was the one who played Smalls) took the boys to a nearby movie theatre and snuck them in to watch Basic Instinct.