Could not disagree more. Love the movie at the same level as The Natural.
I don’t see how anyone who seriously loves pre-war baseball isn’t in love with this movie. We had it so good for a few years there — Hollywood was making A-List movies about pre-war Baseball seemingly every year: 8 Men Out, League of their Own, as well. Pre-war Baseball was part of our national consciousness, which I am convinced is the biggest driver of interest into our current cardboard collections than anything else. There is an active Moonlight Graham thread on Net54 today. We may not have lived to see Shoeless Joe play, but that movie gave us something better - his legend!
“If you build it, he will come.” Still gives me chills the first time it is whispered in the movie. And the James Earl Jones speech at the end is amazing. “Oh people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.” 700,000+ people have watched just that clip alone:
https://youtu.be/7SB16il97yw