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Show The Park Record 0 Section B Thursday, April 8, 1993 O Page B3 BSCS The Sandlot, filmed in Utah, is a lot of fun by AMBER McKEE Record staff writer The Sandlot Starring Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, James Earl Jones and Denis Leary Directed by David Mickey Evans Twentieth Century Fox What is it about baseball that inspires maudlin Hollywood attempts to characterize it? I mean The Slugger's Wife, Field of Dreams, Bull Durham, Eight Men Out, The Babe, League of Their Own, The Natural, Major League, just to name a few in the past ten years. You'd think they would have run out of names by now. Now sure, some of those were good movies. Some were even great movies. But movie big wigs seem to recognize the truism "if you make a baseball movie they will come." And pay $5 for the privilege to boot. The summer's current baseball fare, The Sandlot, is different in a couple of significant ways. First, it's a story about a boy and his eight friends, and growing up, and a giant mastiff named 'The Beast,' who terrorizes the group by stealing their baseballs. (Actually, that's not really the dog's name; that's just what they call him.) Second of all, it's about a boy and his eight friends and-well, you get the picture. And baseball is definitely a reoccurring theme. Interestingly enough, most of the movie was filmed in Salt Lake City: In fact, it was bizarre to be watching the movie and see scene with the sun setting off of the lake in the background, or Dirk's Field or Murray Park. . But enough of that The Sandlot $ P ! t r ''J k'i '' ' " T Y- U ft v:V ;. -4b; From left to right, characters in The Sandlot include: Ham, Timmy, Repeat, Benny, Yeah-Yeah, Scotty, Squints, Bertram and DeNunex. begins with Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) moving to a new town in the summer of 1962 with a new step dad (Denis Leary) and no friends. His mom, played by Karen Allen, urges him to go out and make some friends. ("Get into some trouble," she beseeches him. "But not too much.") He does so, but with great loathing, because he's kind of a nerd, a square-areal "LT as Squints (Chauncey Leopardi) puts it Scotty doesn't even know who the Great Bambino is, for Pete's sake. On his quest for friends, he spots a group of boys his age playing baseball, and figures that since they only have eight players and they need a ninth to have a team, maybe they'll let him play. Never mind the fact he doesn't know how. Most of them aren't crazy about the idea-see earlier "L7" comment-but the group's leader Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar) befriends him and teaches him how to catch a pop fly. The boys share various experiences throughout the summer, including trying chewing tobacco for the first time while riding on The Screamer (at Lagoon!). Parents, be warned, it's probably the ugliest moment of the movie. It deserved a GV rather than a PG rating-for graphic vomit But I won't ruin the fun by telling the rest The movie was written and directed by David Mickey Evans. Audiences may be familiar with the movie Radio Flyer, which he also co-wrote with Dale de la Torre. Actually, The Sandlot is like a funnier, extended version of The Wonder Years, but with no Kevin Arnold. Baseball or no baseball, it's great fun for kids and adults alike. Huck Finn remake may be the best one yet by RICK BROUGH Record contributing writer Is there a good reason to give us yet another version of Mark Twain's oft-filmed story? We've been inundated with adaptation of Huck-either done as pasteurized TV movies or musicals for Broadway or the big screen. But amazingly, writer-director Stephen Sommers, working out of the Disney Studios, may have given the best version yet Sommers has filmed Twain's book as if he had just opened it The movie combines the zest of a boy's adventure; the pictorial beauty of old-time America along the Mississippi; and, significantly the dark undercurrents in Twain's story, about the violent streak in our national character. It helps greatly that Huck is played by a skilled TenSomething actor, Elijah Wood, who has a mousy face and big, amazed eyes. (Other actors cast as Huck seem to be 15 going on 20.) It's also important that Sommers doesn't treat turn as a terminally cutesy symbol of American boyhood. Actually, Huck is a bit of a skunk. In the famous scene where he infiltrates a woman's living room disguised as a girl, he sucks up every loose knick-knack and scrap of food, and reflects (in voice-over voice-over narration) that the woman talks so much he'd "like to wring her scrawny neck." The woman though is smarter than she lets on. She asks Huck-in-drag to throw a bottle at a mouse, and he smashes the rodent with a pitch that could inspire Abner Doubleday to invent baseball. This is something no self-respecting girl could do, so Huck is exposed. Sommers comes up with fresh twists on the familiar storyas Huck sails down the river to escape his brutal Pap (played in fine simian style by Ron Perlman). He's accompanied by the runaway slave Jim (portrayed by Courtney Vance with dignity, humor and a kind of quiet despair). .r; Along the way, they pick up two river rogues, the King and the Duke, who cook up a plot to pose as British-bred siblings who are heir to the prosperous Wilkes estate in Mississippi. As part of the plot, Huck is their valet and Jim, drafted as a "Swahili warrior," makes vague "abba-dabba" noises. British actor Robbie Coltrane i plays the Duke as a bellicose rogue. ' Jason Robards as the King seems slightly miscast. The role doesn't seem to be a comfortable fit for him, though he chews away at it Continued to B4 Our ratings system: A classic Recommended Double-feature material Time-killer For masochists only Tr 11:00-2:30 PM TpC all items cooked to II order I v y5g3jK ctyutah V Park City Resort w) Center I V 649-BAJA I einfifir FURNISHINGS Dieters Special Help us thin out! Due to large overstock, we are offering the largest over all savings in our history. Every item in the store IS ON SALE! ... . - r .. Sf ' -or;.'- Reg - $995 Now $699 Dont sleep on it too long - It'll be gone! Hurry in for best selection. Our one of a kinds, collectors items and original arts wont last long! 30 -50' 55. OFF M Now EVERYTHING $537- 2182 Highland Drive (Sugamouse) - Salt Lake City, UT (801 ) 466-2344 Fax 466-4022 Monday thru Saturday 9:30 am to 6:30 pm 90 Days Same As Cash On Approved Credit CVMISI !M SO. .Hlltl. Ik'Doi I iilly: v:)C) 7:1)0 & 'MM) tilt. Milt. 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