Field of Dreams (1989)

Kevin Costner: Ray Kinsella

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Quotes 

• John Kinsella : Is this heaven?

  Ray Kinsella : It's Iowa.

  John Kinsella : Iowa? I could have sworn this was heaven.

  [starts to walk away] 

  Ray Kinsella : Is there a heaven?

  John Kinsella : Oh yeah. It's the place where dreams come true.

  [Ray looks around, seeing his wife playing with their daughter on the porch] 

  Ray Kinsella : Maybe this is heaven.

• Ray Kinsella : So what do you want?

  Terence Mann : I want them to stop looking to me for answers, begging me to speak again, write again, be a leader. I want them to start thinking for themselves. I want my privacy.

  Ray Kinsella : No, I mean, what do you WANT?

  [Gestures to the concession stand they're in front of] 

  Terence Mann : Oh. Dog and a beer.

• Terence Mann : I'm going to beat you with a crowbar until you leave.

  Ray Kinsella : You can't do that.

  Terence Mann : There are rules here? No, there are no rules here.

  [advances with crowbar] 

  Ray Kinsella : You're a pacifist!

  Terence Mann : [stops]  Shit.

• [last lines] 

  John Kinsella : Well, good night Ray.

  Ray Kinsella : Good night, John.

  [They shake hands and John begins to walk away] 

  Ray Kinsella : Hey... Dad?

  [John turns] 

  Ray Kinsella : [choked up]  You wanna have a catch?

  John Kinsella : I'd like that.

• Ray Kinsella : Don't we need a catcher?

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : Not if you get it near the plate we don't.

• Ray Kinsella : Fifty years ago, for five minutes you came within... y-you came this close. It would KILL some men to get so close to their dream and not touch it. God, they'd consider it a tragedy.

  Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham : Son, if I'd only gotten to be a doctor for five minutes... now that would have been a tragedy.

• Ray Kinsella : Where'd they come from?

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : Where did WE come from? You wouldn't believe how many guys wanted to play here. We had to beat 'em off with a stick.

  Archie Graham : Hey, that's Smokey Joe Wood. And Mel Ott. And Gil Hodges!

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : Ty Cobb wanted to play, but none of us could stand the son-of-a-bitch when we were alive, so we told him to stick it!

• Ray Kinsella : By the time I was ten, playing baseball got to be like eating vegetables or taking out the garbage. So when I was 14, I started to refuse. Could you believe that? An American boy refusing to play catch with his father.

  Terence Mann : Why 14?

  Ray Kinsella : That's when I read "The Boat Rocker" by Terence Mann.

  Terence Mann : [rolling his eyes]  Oh, God.

  Ray Kinsella : Never played catch with him again.

  Terence Mann : You see? That's the sort of crap people are always trying to lay on me. It's not my fault you wouldn't play catch with your father.

• [Ray explains Terence Mann's "pain" to Annie] 

  Ray Kinsella : The man wrote the best books of his generation. And he was a pioneer of the Civil Rights and the anti-war movement. I mean, he made the cover of Newsweek. He knew everybody. He did everything. And he helped shape his time. I mean, the guy hung out with The Beatles! But in the end, it wasn't enough. What he missed was baseball.

  [Annie looks at Ray's notes] 

  Annie Kinsella : Oh, my God!

  Ray Kinsella : What?

  Annie Kinsella : As a small boy, he had a bat named Rosebud.

• Ray Kinsella : This is my corn. You people are guests in my corn.

• Terence Mann : Ray, there was a reason they chose me, just as there was a reason they chose you and this field.

  Ray Kinsella : Why?

  Terence Mann : I gave an interview.

  Ray Kinsella : What interview? What are you talking about?

  Terence Mann : The one about Ebbets Field. The one that charged you up and sent you all the way out to Boston to find me.

  Ray Kinsella : You lied to me.

  Terence Mann : Well, you were kidnapping me at the time, you big jerk!

  Ray Kinsella : Well, you lied to me!

  Terence Mann : You said your finger was a gun!

  Ray Kinsella : That's a good point.

  Terence Mann : Ray. Ray. Listen to me, Ray. Listen to me. There is something out there, Ray, and if I have the courage to go through with this, what a story it'll make: "Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa".

• [on who the Voice meant by "Ease his pain."] 

  Ray Kinsella : It was you...

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : No, Ray. It was YOU.

• Ray Kinsella : Don't you miss being involved?

  Terence Mann : I was the East Coast distributor of "involved." I ate it, drank it, and breathed it... Then they killed Martin, Bobby, and they elected Tricky Dick twice, and people like you must think I'm miserable because I'm not involved anymore. Well, I've got news for you. I spent all my misery years ago. I have no more pain for anything. I gave at the office.

• Ray Kinsella : Are you Moonlight Graham?

  Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham : No one's called me Moonlight Graham in fifty years.

• Shoeless Joe Jackson : What's with the lights?

  Ray Kinsella : Oh, all the stadiums have them now. Even Wrigley Field.

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : Makes it harder to see the ball.

  Ray Kinsella : Yeah, well, the owners found that more people can attend night games.

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : [Shakes his head]  Owners.

• Shoeless Joe Jackson : Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?

  Ray Kinsella : Yeah.

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : I used to love travelling on the trains from town to town. The hotels... brass spittoons in the lobbies, brass beds in the rooms. It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

• [Shoeless Joe Jackson walks into the cornfield and disappears. Ray turns to his wife] 

  Ray Kinsella : We're keeping this field.

  Annie Kinsella : You bet your ass we are!

• Ray Kinsella : I bet it's good to be playing again, huh?

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : Getting thrown out of baseball was like having part of me amputated. I've heard that old men wake up and scratch itchy legs that been dust for over fifty years. That was me. I'd wake up at night with the smell of the ball park in my nose, the cool of the grass on my feet... The thrill of the grass.

• Ray Kinsella : [being rushed out of Mann's loft]  You've changed - you know that?

  Terence Mann : Yes - I suppose I have! How about this: "Peace, love, *dope*"? Now get the *hell* out of here!

• Mark : Admit it, Ray. You've never liked farming.

  Ray Kinsella : That's not true.

  Mark : It is true. You don't know the first thing about farming.

  Ray Kinsella : Yes I do. I know a lot about farming. I know more than you think I know.

  Mark : Then how could you plow under your major crop?

  Ray Kinsella : [feigning puzzlement at this word]  What's a crop?

• Ray Kinsella : My name's Ray Kinsella. You used my father's name in one of your stories: John Kinsella.

  Terence Mann : You're seeing a whole team of psychiatrists, aren't you?

• Mark : And who is this?

  Ray Kinsella : That's Terence Mann.

  Mark : Hi. How're you doing? I'm the Easter Bunny.

• Terence Mann : Oh, my God.

  Ray Kinsella : What?

  Terence Mann : You're from the sixties.

  Ray Kinsella : [bashfully]  Well, yeah, actually...

  Terence Mann : [spraying at Ray with a insecticide sprayer]  Out! Back to the sixties! Back! There's no place for you here in the future! Get back while you still can!

• Annie Kinsella : [trying to understand the situation]  I mean, Shoeless Joe...

  Ray Kinsella : He's dead. Died in '51; he's dead.

  Annie Kinsella : He's the one they suspended, right?

  Ray Kinsella : Right.

  Annie Kinsella : He's still dead?

  Ray Kinsella : Far as I know.

• Ray Kinsella : The only thing we had in common was that she was from Iowa, and I had once heard of Iowa.

• Ray Kinsella : [about the reclusive Terence Mann]  OK, the last interview he ever gave was in 1973. Guess what it's about.

  Annie Kinsella : Some kind of team sport.

• [first lines] 

  Ray Kinsella : [voice over]  My father's name was John Kinsella. It's an Irish name. He was born in North Dakota in 1896, and never saw a big city until he came back from France in 1918. He settled in Chicago, where he quickly learned to live and die with the White Sox. Died a little when they lost the 1919 World Series. Died a lot the following summer when eight members of the team were accused of throwing that series. He played in the minors for a year too, but nothing ever came of it. Moved to Brooklyn in '35, married Mom in '38. He was already an old man working at the naval yards when I was born in 1952. My name's Ray Kinsella. Mom died when I was three, and I suppose Dad did the best he could. Instead of Mother Goose, I was put to bed at night to stories of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and the great Shoeless Joe Jackson. Dad was a Yankees fan then, so of course I rooted for Brooklyn. But in '58, the Dodgers moved away, so we had to find other things to fight about. We did. And when it came time to go to college, I picked the farthest one from home I could find. This, of course, drove him right up the wall, which I suppose was the point. Officially, my major was English, but really it was the '60s. I marched, I smoked some grass, I tried to like sitar music, and I met Annie. The only thing we had in common was that she came from Iowa, and I had once heard of Iowa. After graduation, we moved to the Midwest and stayed with her family as long as we could... almost a full afternoon. Annie and I got married in June of '74. Dad died that fall. A few years later, Karin was born. She smelled weird, but we loved her anyway. Then Annie got the crazy idea that she could talk me into buying a farm. I'm thirty-six years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I'm about to become a farmer. And until I heard the Voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life.

  Voice : If you build it, he will come.

• Annie Kinsella : Hey, what if the Voice calls while you're gone?

  Ray Kinsella : Take a message.

• Annie Kinsella : If you build what, who will come?

  Ray Kinsella : He didn't say.

• Ray Kinsella : I think I know what "If you build it, he will come" means.

  Annie Kinsella : Ooh... why do I not think this is such a good thing?

  Ray Kinsella : I think it means that if I build a baseball field out there that Shoeless Joe Jackson will get to come back and play ball again.

  Annie Kinsella : [staring in disbelief]  You're kidding.

  Ray Kinsella : Huh-uh.

  Annie Kinsella : Wow.

  Ray Kinsella : Yeah.

  Annie Kinsella : Ha. You're kidding.

• Ray Kinsella : The Voice is back.

  Annie Kinsella : Oh, Lord. You're supposed to build a football field now?

• Ray Kinsella : What are you grinning at, you ghost?

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : If you build it...

  [nods toward John Kinsella] 

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : ... HE will come.

• [Mark goes out to the field, where Ray and Karin are watching the players] 

  Mark : So, I thought you were going to watch some game?

  Ray Kinsella : Well, it's more of a practice since there's only eight of them.

  Mark : Eight of what?

  Ray Kinsella : [motioning toward the players]  Them.

  Mark : [looking around at the field, unable to see the players]  Who them?

  Ray Kinsella : [emphatically, not realizing that Mark can't see the players]  Them them.

• [as the players disappear into the cornfield] 

  Eddie Cicotte : I'm melting. I'm melting.

  [fades away laughing] 

  Ray Kinsella : That is so cool.

• Ray Kinsella : What you grinning at, you ghost?

• Ray Kinsella : I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball, and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life.

• Ray Kinsella : I did it all. I listened to the voices, I did what they told me, and not once did I ask what's in it for me.

  Shoeless Joe Jackson : What are you saying, Ray?

  Ray Kinsella : I'm saying, what's in it for me?

• Ray Kinsella : It's okay, honey. I... I was just talking to the cornfield.

• Ray Kinsella : See if you can hit my curve.

  [Shoeless Joe lines the next pitch back through the box, knocking Ray off the mound] 

  Ray Kinsella : Yeah. Yeah, you can hit the curve ball.

• [Ray and Annie are talking on the phone] 

  Ray Kinsella : Hey, Annie. Guess what? I'm with Terence Mann!

  Annie Kinsella : Oh, my God! You kidnapped him!

• Mark : You're going to lose your farm, pal.

  Ray Kinsella : Come on, it's so big - I mean, how can you lose something so big?

  Annie Kinsella : He misplaced the house once.

  Ray Kinsella : Yeah, but it turned up two days later, didn't it?

• Karin Kinsella : Daddy?

  Ray Kinsella : In a minute, Karin!

  Karin Kinsella : There's a man out there, on your lawn.

• [Ray winds up on the mound] 

  Ray Kinsella : I'm pitching to Shoeless Joe Jackson...

• Ray Kinsella : I have just created something totally illogical.

• Ray Kinsella : The voice is back.

  Annie Kinsella : Oh Lord, you don't have to build a football field now, do you?

  Ray Kinsella : He said, ease his pain.

  Annie Kinsella : Ease whose pain?

  Ray Kinsella : I asked him. He wouldn't tell me.

  Annie Kinsella : Shoeless Joe's?

  Ray Kinsella : I don't think so.

  Annie Kinsella : One of the other players?

  Ray Kinsella : I don't think so.

  Annie Kinsella : Ray, this is a very non-specific voice you have out there and he's starting to piss me off.

• Mark : Ray. you build a baseball field in the middle of nowhere and you sit there and you stare at nothing.

  Karin Kinsella : it's not nothing.

  Mark : and you turned your daughter into a d... ..mn space case.

  Ray Kinsella : get your hands off her!