History Film / TheSandlot

** Similarly happens in the sequel, but worse since the main character is the younger brother of Smalls and so should know better.

* TheHero: Smalls is TheProtagonist but Benny is the classical Hero because he is the one taking heroic action. [[spoiler:Jumping into the Beast's territory and then outrunning it all over town is comparable to a modern day Herculean feat.]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: "You play ball like a ''girl!''" Hey, it ''is'' the summer of 1962.

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: [[ After Mr. Mertle reveals he could've just gotten the ball from Hercules if they'd ask, everbody starts shouting at Squints and hitting him. While Merle is blind, he ''can'' hear this scuffle and thus instantly gets his answer. He's clearly amused, as he starts laughing.]]

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: Smalls suggests they go talk to The Beast's owner to have him get the ball back for them. Squints shoots this down, and everyone else agrees. [[spoiler:The first thing Mr. Mertle says when they tell them they were trying to get it back is to ask why they didn't just ask him. Cue everyone shouting at Squints and hitting him over the head with their baseball caps.]] Better justified than most examples given the urban legends surrounding The Beast, and the fact that the main characters are kids.

* ChaseScene: The film's climactic scene is Benny [[spoiler: outrunning the Beast all over the whole town and to the sandlot again; LITERALLY all over town!]]
* ChekhovsSkill: Benny's incredible ability to beat fielders in a baserunning rundown (known as a "pickle" in baseball), as established from his first scene, comes in play at the end [[spoiler: when he has to "pickle" the Beast for the Babe Ruth baseball. It also earns him the nickname "The Jet" during his professional career with the Dodgers.]]
* CoolOldGuy: Mr. Mertle, The Beast's owner. [[spoiler: He's a former professional baseball player who raised The Beast.]]

* ExactWords: Throughout the movie, adult Smalls keeps mentioning how that summer, they got into the biggest "pickle" they'd ever seen; [[spoiler: the climax involves Benny having to best the Beast in a rundown, or in baseball slang, a "pickle", in order to get back the Babe Ruth ball.]]
* EvilCounterpart: Thematically, "The Beast" is this to "The Babe". Both of them are larger-than-life legends, but the kids look up to Babe Ruth as a revered hero, while they see the Beast as a dreaded monster. Appropriately, [[spoiler: the Beast turns out to be named "[[MeaningfulName Hercules]]", and it turns out that his owner knew Babe Ruth personally]].

* FunHatingConfiscatingAdult: Mr. Mertle is known as one to the Sandlot team. "He's the one who made The Beast eat that kid!" [[spoiler: This is a subversion as neither is really as bad as the children originally believed.]]

* TheHero: Smalls is TheProtagonist but Benny is the classical Hero because he is the one taking heroic action. [[spoiler: Jumping into the Beast's territory and then outrunning it all over town is comparable to a modern day Herculean feat.]]
* IntergenerationalFriendship: Scotty and Benny seem to be heading in this direction with Mr. Mertle at the end of the film. [[spoiler: Part of the deal they make at the end is talking baseball with him on a weekly basis.]]

* KissOfLife: Squints deliberately pretends to drown in order to get the kiss of life from a hot lifeguard (who is played by Creator/MarleyShelton so you can hardly blame him). The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue reveals that [[spoiler: Squints and the lifeguard eventually got married and had a ''lot'' of kids.]]

* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: [[spoiler: Mr. Mertle to the Sandlot gang. They think he's a terrifying beast master but he's really a CoolOldGuy who used to play professional baseball.]]

* NotEvilJustMisunderstood: The dog, A.K.A. Hercules. The whole movie revolves around the boys' fear of the dog on the other side of the fence. They have believed that the dog was a monster that wanted to kill them. The truth? [[spoiler: It's just a big dog who wants to play and may have been protecting its territory because it thought the boys were threatening.]]

** Rather: "[[PrecisionFStrike OH SHIT!]]" when [[spoiler: The Beast leaps over the fence to get the ball back from Benny.]]

* OpposingSportsTeam: Subverted; it initially appears like the Sandlot ragtag team have met their villainous match midway through the film with a rival team that is introduced, complete with snobby attitude and nice uniforms.[[spoiler: In the very next scene the Sandlot team defeats them in blow-out fashion.]]
* PetTheDog: In the film's climax, after the confrontation with The Beast, the sandlot fence falls on The Beast, trapping him. Smalls and Benny eventually move the fence enough to let The Beast out, resulting in Smalls being inches away from The Beast. What does the dog do, inches from one of the kids that he's been unable to get at the whole film? [[spoiler: What any BigFriendlyDog would do, particularly after being helped out - he happily licks Smalls' face.]]

* ScaryBlackMan: What everyone assume Mr. Mertle to be because "He's the one who made the Beast eat that kid!" [[spoiler: He's actually a CoolOldGuy.]]
* ShadowArchetype: Mr. Mertle to Benny. In his youth, he was just as devoted to baseball as Benny, until [[spoiler: a wayward ball cost him his eyesight, and forced him to find something else to live for]]. He cautions Benny against getting too obsessed with the game like he did. Fittingly, [[spoiler: Benny follows in his footsteps and becomes a professional baseball player]].

** Scott points out when they first lose the Babe Ruth ball that they could just ask Mr. Mertle to get the ball for them. Squints shoots him down, saying that Mr. Mertle is too much of a {{Jerkass}} to do that. [[spoiler: When Mr. Mertle ''himself'' later asks why they didn't just come to him, the team shouts at Squints for all the trouble they went through.]]

** [[spoiler: Hercules, aka, "The Beast" becomes the mascot for the Sandlot team. ]]

* WhamLine: [[spoiler: "Why didn't you just knock on the door? I'd have gotten [the baseball] for you."]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: As is typical for these types of films, the end has Scott narrating what ultimately became of his friends, as their images fade out one by one. At the very end, we're treated to a TimeSkip showing that [[spoiler: Scott is now a sports commentator, and Benny plays baseball professionally for their hometown Los Angeles Dodgers, where his legendary running ability has earned him the nickname "The Jet".]]

* WrestlerInAllOfUs: [[spoiler: Ham grows up to be a professional wrestler, professionally known as The Great Hambino.]]

* {{Bookends}}: The movie opens and closes with Scotty at work calling a [[UsefulNotes/MajorLeagueBaseball Dodgers]] game. [[spoiler: It's revealed at the end Benny plays for them.]]
* BrickJoke: Scotty stops wearing his dorky long-brimmed fish hat after Benny half-jokingly tells him to chuck it in the fireplace. In the last scene of the movie, [[spoiler: we see that he didn't heed Benny's advice: he's wearing it again while announcing at the baseball game]].

''The Sandlot'' is a 1993 classic ComingOfAgeStory sports film, released on April 7, 1993. It was directed by David Mickey Evans, with a screenplay by Evans and Robert Gunter. It follows the summer adventures and misadventures of a group of boys and their ragtag UsefulNotes/{{baseball]] team playing on "The Sandlot," their makeshift baseball field in Los Angeles, during the summer of 1962.