Movie Meme: Day 31

"31 Day Movie Meme"


Day 31 | Scene that made you stand up and cheer

I came to America when I was eight years old and so it was awhile since I saw my very first movie in American theaters. That movie was 1994 inspirational sports fantasy movie Angels in the Outfield (1994). If you haven't seen the film, it's about a dreadfully awful baseball team (California Angels) getting some divine help from actual angels after a boy (a very young Joseph Gordon-Levitt) prays to them.

It's as saccharine and cheesy as it sounds, but as a 9-year-old it was the best thing ever. The scene I picked for my "stand up and cheer" moment occurs near the end of the movie with the California Angels in the championships. Their aging star pitcher (Tony Danza) needs to throw just one more strike to win, but he is just utterly defeated. The coach (Danny Glover) gives him some encouraging words and Joseph Gordon-Levitt then comes out of the dugout and start flapping his arms, the sign he's used all season to tell them angels were out in the field to help them. Of course this time, there are no angels in the field since they are unable to help during championship games (because cheating is only good sometimes, don't you know?). The whole team then stands up and flaps their arms, then the whole fucking stadium does it, too. At that point, I'd be surprised if the whole theater didn't start flapping their arms. It was honestly a very touching moment.

The pitcher, with renewed confidence, throws a pitch only for the hitter to make contact, but as luck would have it, the pitcher is able to dive and catch the ball for an out to win the whole enchilada! Everyone then starts cheering, jumping, and celebrating! Yes, this scene is like every other last scene of every other sports underdog movie, but again as the first film I saw in movie theaters, it'll always be just a little extra special. Check out the scene here:



And with that ends the 31 Day Movie Meme. Would like to thank Bunny and Andrew for doing this along with me as well as everyone who commented on my entries. Just gald I got through it! I really thought it was going to be much more difficult that what it ended up being. Plus it helped me to revisit many old (and recent) favorites. With that said, I'm pretty much meme'd out and my mind is a bit taken up with tennis right now, so I'm a bit relieved this is finally over.