The Sandlot (1993)

FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER!

So The Sandlot is just about the greatest childhood movie...EVER! This is the kind of movie Hollywood is incapable of making anymore. No, it's not a mega-blockbuster capable of making billions of dollars worldwide, but it's a perfect slice of the pure innocence of childhood where a young boy's entire existence exists on a baseball diamond.

Scottie Smalls is the new kid in town. His new dad is Dennis Leary, a baseball fanatic and all the kids in town are all-stars on the baseball diamond. Too bad Scottie has a plastic baseball mitt, a duck-bill baseball cap, and his mom (who is Marian Ravenwood from Indiana Jones) knows more about baseball than he does. That's when he meets Benny, who introduces him to...dum dum dum...THE SANDLOT!

This movie isn't really about baseball; it's about the utopia that is childhood in suburbia. In a lot of ways this movie reminds me a lot of The Wonder Years (my favorite show of all time) with the monologue and the 1960s and the 60s music. It's what being 12 is all about: hanging out with your friends, getting horny over girls even though you're not old enough to know what to do with them yet, getting into trouble, and chillin' with blind Darth Vader and his monster gorilla dog. Being a kid is awesome!

The movie doesn't have much of a plot until the last third of the film...and it doesn't matter. There are so many call-outs to things that I remember fondly: endless summer days where there was nothing better to do than hang out with your friends, campouts, spending hot days at the pool, throwing up at the carnival, beating down on douchebag kids who think they're hot shit, and trying to steal back stuff that ended up in neighbors' yards.

And everyone had friends like the Sandlot crew. There's the leader (Benny), the fat kid (Ham), the funny nerd (Squints), the brothers (Timmy and Tommy Timmons), and "the new kid" (Smalls). My favorite was easily Squints. That pimp move he pulled on Wendy Peppercorn at the pool...LEGENDARY! Of course, you gotta give it up to Benny and that pickle he ran on The Beast. RESPECT!

It's one of my favorite childhood movies...and I don't even like baseball! As someone I can't recall once said, "Baseball is what we were; football is what we are." This movie is about a more innocent time when all people had to worry about was nuclear warfare and complete annihilation. Ah, the innocence...

Why It's Awesome:

It's a harmless, fun, and poignant film that represents all the best parts of childhood. Oh, and it has NO SEQUELS. I repeat, NO SEQUELS!

Best Quote:

Ham: You're killing me, Smalls!