May 1, 2008

 

 

An afternoon at the ballpark – onscreen – will be just the thing for baseball fans of all ages on Memorial Day at the Michigan Theater. On Monday, May 26, catch a baseball-movie doubleheader starting with Field of Dreams at 1:30 pm followed by It Happens Every Spring at 4pm.

• The Barton Theatre Organ will be playing baseball songs
• Admission will be free for US veterans all day (and all weekend)
• Two movies for the same admission price
• Besides the regular array of treats and the best popcorn anywhere, we’ll have Cracker Jacks on hand for purchase
• Door prizes, including tickets to a Detroit Tigers game
• Bring your whole team - group ticket pricing is available for 10 or more – please call 734-668-8397, ext. 29.

Has it really been 20 years since the voices in his head told Kevin Costner to build a ballpark in his Iowa cornfield? Yep – Field of Dreams debuted in 1989. Directed by Phil Alden Robinson from W. P. Kinsella’s novel, Shoeless Joe, it also features Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and a true Hollywood athlete, Burt Lancaster, among others. Liotta and his ghostly teammates validate Costner’s sporting hallucinations in this heartfelt fable. (107 minutes. Rated PG.)

"The Bull Durham stud is playing a foursquare Iowa farmer this time. He's the kind of average Joe that Jimmy Stewart embodied in such vintage Frank Capra corn as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It's a Wonderful Life."
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.

It Happens Every Spring (1949) stars Ray Milland as a college professor trying to scrape together enough money to marry the lovely Jean Peters, who plays his fiancée. Directed by Lloyd Bacon, the film follows the absent-minded chemist Milland as his invention of a wood-repelling fluid takes him to the big leagues and eventually the World Series. He’s sweetly incongruous both as a professor and as a pitcher. Also featuring Paul Douglas, Ed Begley and Ray Collins. (87 minutes. Unrated.)