Best Actress winner Jodie Foster (The Accused) breathes a bit of life into this otherwise cloying and music-laden melodrama, about an aging minor league ballplayer (Mark Harmon, looking vapid through most of the movie), who makes the journey home (literally, spiritually, maybe even baseball-ly) to bury the ashes of his childhood babysitter (Foster). Most of the film is told in flashback: Billy (the Harmon character, played by William McNamara) getting a great baseball opportunity, Billy losing his virginity, Billy losing his father, Billy commiserating with his mood swing mother (Blair Brown, in an insultingly shallow role), Billy swapping inane one-liners with his girl hungry best friend Alan (Jonathan Silverman), etc. During the last reel, the film flashes forward to Billy (Harmon) agonizing over why Katie (Foster) committed suicide, why she designated him to be the caretaker of her remains (something the viewer wonders about too), and where, oh where, is that special place to lay her to rest. Since Billy is the kind of zombie who couldn't find his butt with both hands and a Pinkerton agent, it takes him awhile to figure it out. In an earlier flashback, we see Billy and Katie running down a long dock, with arms outstretched, towards the ocean. At the end of the movie, we are given the ending of that flashback-a royal cheat by the filmmakers-which makes Katie's wishes so obvious, that one suspects the film has glossed over Billy's drug period. Only dropping enough acid to fry even the elementary functions in Billy's brain could account for his hesitation. Not recommended.
Stealing Home
(1988) Drama. 98 m. (PG-13) $89.95. Warner Home Video. Home video rights only. Vol. 4, Issue 3
Stealing Home
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