THE REWATCHABLES · August 4, 2020
A 1993 sports / family / teen directed by David Mickey Evans, covered in the complete Rewatchables archive.
ON THIS EPISODE
FROM THE CONVERSATION
WHY IT WORKS
WHAT DID NOT WORK
SCENES THEY KEPT COMING BACK TO
Benny helps Smalls catch and throw, turning him into a usable teammate and a real friend.
About 16 minThe kids’ showdown with the rich rival team is comic, satisfying, and stronger than expected.
About 24 minThe stylized story of Hercules becomes a fun myth-making sequence for the group.
About 32 minHam’s s’mores monologue is treated as one of the movie’s most iconic kid-movie moments.
About 56 minThe lifeguard sequence is remembered as a classic crush moment and a standout memory.
About 1:04The ball-retrieval sequence is funny and memorable but also unpleasant because of the dog stress.
About 24 minThe final scenes with Mr. Myrtle give the movie emotional closure and a sense of baseball communion.
About 40 minWHERE THEY DISAGREED
Bill SimmonsSports movie with childhood elements, but ultimately the best kids’ sports movie.
Mallory RubinKid’s movie and movie about childhood more than baseball.
Mina KimesChildhood/group-kids movie where baseball is the vessel.
Bill SimmonsThinks Benny likely had a long, successful career with possible late-career decline.
Mallory RubinImagines a solid but not superstar career with speed and power comps.
Mina KimesSuggests he probably stayed clean and consistent, though the answer is unknowable.
Bill SimmonsSays the movie could have simply made him Vin Scully’s partner.
Mallory RubinNotes the ending could have been structured better but likes the idea of the calling-career epilogue.
Bill SimmonsLeans Benny, but says Ham is overpowering.
Mallory RubinSays the adult rewatch makes Ham and Hercules the standouts.
Mina KimesChooses the sport itself, not a person.
Calls it probably the best kids’ sports movie and a personal favorite.
Opening minutesArgues it is more a movie about childhood and summer nostalgia than baseball itself.
About 8 minDescribes Benny as a formative, flawless crush and an empath.
About 16 minLoves the moment Benny unlocks Smalls’s confidence with the paper-route analogy.
About 24 minSees the ending conversations with Mr. Myrtle as emotionally moving and subtle.
About 40 minTreats Ham as a transcendent comic force and possibly the best performance.
About 24 minLikes the soundtrack even though it is obvious and on the nose.
About 1:12Argues the movie’s philosophy is about playing, friendship, and summer, not winning.
About 8 minLikes his presence in the movie while joking about a separate bad performance.
About 1:12 · medium confidenceThe hosts frame the film as an adult reconstruction of what youth feels like: small stakes, big emotions, neighborhood belonging, and endless summer.
About 8 minThey argue the movie cares less about winning than about process, friendship, and revering baseball history.
About 8 minThe Sandlot crew is discussed as a group fantasy of belonging, with nicknames, rituals, and shared legends.
About 16 minBabe Ruth, Benny the Jet, and Mr. Myrtle are all treated as mythic figures that children miniaturize into their own world.
About 16 minAdults are mostly absent, clueless, or unfair, while kids create their own rules, risks, and solutions.
About 48 minThe film was inspired by a childhood experience of writer-director David Mickey Evans’s brother.
About 24 minThe movie reportedly cost about $7 million and made about $34 million, with large home-video revenue afterward.
About 24 minRoger Ebert gave the movie three stars and compared it to a summer A Christmas Story.
About 32 minThe movie’s home-video success was helped by VHS and later DVD sales.
About 32 minThere are sequels, including The Sandlot 2 and a third film with Luke Perry.
About 32 minThe ending broadcast idea could have been improved by making Smalls Vin Scully’s partner.
About 1:28 · medium confidenceThe episode mentions that multiple dogs played Hercules during filming because of heat.
About 1:28 · medium confidenceThe final photo in the epilogue is criticized as being in color when it should not be.
About 1:12Promo mention at the very top of the episode.
Opening minutesUsed repeatedly as a baseball-movie comparison and James Earl Jones crossover.
Opening minutesCited as one of the kids’ baseball movies of the early 1990s.
Opening minutesUsed as another kids’ baseball movie comparison, with a Ken Griffey Jr. joke.
Opening minutesNamed as part of the kids’ baseball movie canon.
Opening minutesReferenced as an earlier example of kids’ baseball movies and a sequel comparison.
Opening minutesUsed as a modern comparison for group-kid dynamics and nostalgia.
About 8 minReferenced as a structural and tonal comparison, especially the puke scene.
About 32 minRoger Ebert’s comparison of The Sandlot is quoted in the discussion.
About 32 minReferenced in the epilogue and baseball framing.
About 1:28Used as a baseball-quote and baseball-mythology comparison.
About 24 minReferenced during the beast chase sequence.
About 1:28 · medium confidenceUsed in an unanswerable-question comparison about ruining a valuable object.
About 1:28Bill jokes that it is ‘Ben Simmons week’ and says his injured son requested The Sandlot.
Opening minutesHam Porter’s nickname becomes a recurring praise device and running joke.
About 24 minThe hosts joke that the movie taught them s’mores, tree houses, pickles, and summer rituals.
About 56 minThey repeatedly joke about the dog shots and Hercules’s anatomy in the beast sequence.
About 1:28Craig, usually skeptical, is unusually excited about this episode and the movie.
About 1:28“heroes get remembered, but legends never die”Opening minutes
“You're killing me, Smalls”About 32 min
“First, you take the graham.”About 56 min
“we were in the biggest pickle”About 40 min
“the Great Bambino!”About 32 min
MAKE IT A MOVIE NIGHT
WHAT TO WATCH NEXT
Three movies to watch before The Sandlot, and three to watch next.
ON THE MIC
Bill SimmonsThe Rewatchables
Mallory RubinThe RewatchablesREWATCH FAVS
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