You know it’s the off-season (movie edition)

when articles like appear: Which baseball movie has the greatest Hollywood ending?

Where to begin? How about the choice of three films for this panel discussion between Ian Browne, Anthony Castrovince, Alyson Footer (who served as the piece’s writer and moderator), Adam McCalvy, and Manny Randhawa.

In what appears to be a series of such comparisons, the initial selections includes The Natural, For Love of the Game, and Field of Dreams. While the first and last movies constantly appear on “best” lists, I think I can say without fear of contradiction that the middle one does not. So why lump these together? Two of the picks star Kevin Costner, so why not just add Bull Durham? Until someone explains otherwise, I’m going to say this is unfairly arbitrary. Moving on…

I guess the judgments are totally based on the premise of what constitutes a “Hollywood ending.” Most google search replies go along these lines: “A conventional ending in a movie, typically regarded as sentimental or simplistic and often featuring an improbably positive outcome.”

Let’s toss out Field of Dreams, which is basically a fantasy and therefore derails anything other than a positive ending.

So you have For Love of the Game, another Costner vehicle. Sure the odds of tossing (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) a perfect game to end one’s career is subject to chance, but after all this, you know he’s going to get it.

Then there’s my big bugaboo when it comes to the closing of The Natural. Unless I missed it, not one of the panelists mentioned that it differs completely from the conclusion of Bernard Malamud’s classic novel (a whole generation of movie-goers haven’t a clue and are shocked to learn the truth). So, sure (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD), given the game-winning homer hitting the light tower so we can have that fireworks effect, plus the hero getting the girl (same as in For Love), you have that Hollywood ending. I guess that supports the premise and purpose of the article.

I wonder if this will be the underlying theme of the whole series. Interested in seeing what other choices will be. I’m hoping for something more inclusive. Pre-1980s films are woefully ignored (maybe younger viewers have no tolerance for black-and-white movies). Let’s do something about that.