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The second film in our pairing honoring the late, great James Earl Jones, is also a sports film, but this time it's about baseball, and a scandal that happened just a few years after the Jack Johnson saga! Adapted and directed by Phil Alden Robinson 1989's "Field of Dreams" tells the story of Ray (Kevin Costner) and Annie (Amy Madigan) Kinsella, former hippies who have decided to spend their lives farming corn in Iowa. With their daughter Karin (Abby Hoffmann), they're making ends meet, at least until Ray hears a voice one night from the cornfield which says "If you build it, he will come." This sets Ray on a long, weird path which includes clearing two acres of cornfield to build a regulation baseball diamond. Everyone thinks he's crazy, and he himself has his doubts, until the spectre of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson appears on the diamond to play baseball again. Slowly the spectres of the 8 Black Sox, who were banned from baseball for a gambling scandal back in the late 19-teens, all reappear, to resume the game they loved. From there, Ray has to find a reclusive writer (James Earl Jones) and a baseball player who only ever had one inning in the major leagues (Burt Lancaster, in his final film performance), while still trying to figure out how to keep his brother-in-law, Mark (Timothy Busfield) from seizing his farm. And all the while, only Ray, Annie, and Karin can actually see any of the returned players. A feel-good film from the late 80s that still holds its power to charm and mystify to this day! Plus, Jeff reveals what new sub-genre of horror, and which two films from it, will make up 2024's Halloween pairing!

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We're honoring the late, great, James Earl Jones in this pairing. We've done a number of his films already, but we've chosen two that were important in his career. First up, the role that, on Broadway, won him a Tony, and got him his only Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Directed by Martin Ritt, 1970's "The Great White Hope" chronicles the rise and fall of African-American boxer Jack Jefferson (James Earl Jones) as he becomes the first non-white man to ever hold the heavyweight boxing title back in the early 20th century. Based on the real-life exploits of boxer Jack Johnson, the film follows its title character as he revels in his success with his white girlfriend, Eleanor (Jane Alexander, who also played the roled opposite Jones on Broadway and who also won a Tony for her portrayal). After running afoul of anti-misegynation laws, the couple, along with manager Goldie (Lou Gilbert) and sideman Tick (Joel Fluellen) flee overseas. Unfortunately, even across the Atlantic, the quartet still can't escape the stigma of racism and, eventually, Jack must return to America, take a terrible deal, and settle the issue of his championship once and for all. Also starring Chester Morris, Robert Webber, R. G. Armstrong, and Hal Holbrook.

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The second film in the pairing of Australian comedies suggested by Patreon supporter and friend Julian Dunmurphy, sees the directorial and writing crew of "The Castle" reunited to tell the story of how the little town of Parkes, Australia became the reason around 650 million people worldwide were able to watch the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969! In 2000's "The Dish," we follow Dr. Cliff Buxton (Sam Neill), head of the Parkes Radio Telescope, as he prepares to work with NASA on the Apollo 11 mission. Assisting him are Russ Mitchell (Kevin Harrington) and Glenn Latham (Tom Long). The arrival of NASA representative Al Burnett (Patrick Warburton) causes some dissention in the ranks, but they're able to get things running smoothly, especially once they're informed that, apart from NASA's dish in California, they will be the only other dish on the planet to be used to keep in contact with Apollo 11! Things are going well until a chance power-outage causes them to lose not only their carefully-programmed computers, but Apollo 11 itself! How they handle such an enormous setback is the rest of the film. While all of this is going on, however, the town is reeling from being in the spotlight and trying to figure out how to handle all the VIP dignitaries that arrive because of Parkes' participation in the mission! And the gents reveal which two films they'll be reviewing to pay tribute to the late, great James Earl Jones!

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This pairing was suggested to us by friend of the show, and Patreon supporter, Jules, who hails from down under and wanted us to check out two films made by the same famous directing and writing team! Starting us off is a very sweet, very gentle comedy about the lengths one man will go to in order to save the home he's raised his entire family in. In 1997's "The Castle," director Rob Sitch and writers Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, and Jane Kennedy spin the tale of Darryl Kerrigan (Michael Caton), proud owner of a home next to the airport. He lives there with his wife Sal (Anne Tenney), daughter Tracey (Sophie Lee), and sons Steve (Anthony Simcoe) and Dale (Stephen Curry). Their other won, Wayne (Wayne Hope) is finishing out a prison sentence. Tracie marries Con Petropoulos (Eric Bana in his first film role), who is welcomes into the family. But when a company working with the Australian government informs the Kerrigan family that their house is about to be forcibly purchased to make room for an airport expansion, Darryl, along with friend and local lawyer Dennis Denuto (Tiriel Mora) springs into not-completely-well-thought-out action to try to save their home and the many happy memories!

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