Il sentiero dei ricordi

Athletes often face a rough mid-life period as their skills diminish and their careers wind down, since their sport so defines who and what they are. This topic has great potential for drama and poignancy, yet few good films have been made on the subject. This movie has a beautifully sad central love story, with aging minor league ballplayer Billy Wyatt (Mark Harmon) remembering the (then) older woman who inspired him so many years before (Jodie Foster), and trying to come to terms with the route his career and life have taken. So, he returns to his hometown, connects with his high school best friend (Harold Ramis) and starts looking into his past for answers, while much of the film plays out in flashback, recounting his bittersweet teen years, when everything was ahead of him but his own goals and motivations were elusive. What makes the film watchable is the complexity of the central relationship, as the mature Billy realizes that the most important woman in his life arrived when he was too young to appreciate her.

The movie is quite beautiful to look at with its clean-scrubbed view of small town life and high school sports, and the characters are engaging to follow. This is not a great movie by any means. Like Billy Wyatt himself, this one just misses hitting the major leagues, but it IS enjoyable in a low key way, and the lack of interesting movies on this potentially interesting subject makes it a bit special.

Unlike what most people think, Stealing Home is not a remake or a retelling of the Summer of 42. It is in fact, something better and just as universal. A coming of age drama, besides moments of sexual matter, is a decent movie for any mature (13+) audience. In my opinion, Silverman's character takes away from the main story between Jodie Foster and Thacher Goodwin. For mere comic relief, Silverman could have had more of if not equal amount of character development. Instead, he pops in and out of the main characters life to tell a joke or two. All in all, a good movie. An like always, Jodie Foster is the forever princess of innocence

This was a surprisingly good late romantic drama, although given the potential cast, I should've expected good things in the first place. It is a nice little love story, an inspiring one, I suppose, that comes from a story with sad circumstances.

Filmed in Pennsylvania is the story of Billy Wyatt (Mark Harmon), a washed up minor league ballplayer living in some rundown town out West. He gets a call from his mother that a close childhood friend (Kate Chandler played by Jodi Foster) of his committed suicide the previous week and left in her will that he was to be responsible for her cremated remains. Wyatt is understandably reluctant to fulfill the obligation in part because he can't understand why he was the one she left her remains to, and he doesn't want to deal with the loss of a friend. So, the story is told in flashback as Wyatt travels home to deal with the situation and the loss of the slightly flaky, but daring girl he was once in love with.

William MacNamara (hubba! hubba!) is great as young Billy Wyatt, although everyone does a fine job. Jonathan Silverman, as teen Wyatt's best friend Appleby, plays his typical eager virgin role common to many of his mid/late 80s material, and adds a nice comic touch (and Harold Ramis continues the charm as the older Appleby). If you enjoy this cast, you should likely be pleased with the film. It's quite a wonderful, underrated drama, and was one of the few movies that I have rented recently and watched more than once.

More movies should be pure enjoyment. They don't have to be great to be enjoyable and this movie with it's nostalgia and adolescent discovery of the wonder of girls is a fun movie. The best part of the movie is the steady friendship between Appleby and Billy Boy. It begins with them and ends with them having matured and yet having not lost their youth. Don't watch this movie as a critique. Watch it as if you are enjoying the popcorn.

Ever since I first saw this film at age 13 I thought it was very heart touching. Now ten-years late and at 23 I watched this with my girlfirend and still had the same feelings. This movie will make you think of that first love or person in your life that you let go of or lost. Mark Harmon and Jodie Foster did an excellet job in this movie and I'll vwatch it over and over again!