How sad is this?

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Katie (Jodie Foster) fairly twangs with whiplash energy as the capricious golden-haired tornado passing though the centre of so many of the character's lives. But without the anchors of her friends she drifts into the rocks and sinks leaving a ragged gaping hole in the hearts of the people who loved her.David Foster's soundtrack is evocative and nostalgic with a good pace. There are no real surprises in this film but the flashbacks are neatly put together and the cinematography is commendable - the cutaway shot of Katie in the hammock looking wistfully out to sea is an image that lingers as it embodies the time it portrays. A time when almost anything seemed possible.The film is a moving portrayal of how big a space is left behind by people who deliberately leave the game ahead of their time.

This is a fictional character study, nostalgia piece, and inspirational story. The reason it works is not so much the novelty of the plot or situations, but the actors and the physical settings.Rarely has a film been cast so very well.Mark Harmon, fine actor and former star USC quarterback plays a baseball player.One of America's very best actresses, Jodie Foster plays his older friend.Another of the top American actresses, Blair Brown plays his mother (when he was small).The very appealing John A. Shea (think of his portrayal of Robert F. Kennedy or his co-star part on the Spuerman series) is his father.The really lovely, Southern seductress Beth Broderick (former co-star of Sabrina and so often well-cast as the beauty on series such as From the earth to the Moon) is perfectly cast - as is Jonathan Silverman in a Summer of '42 part.Harmon and Foster are opposites in so many ways - in life as well as their characters - yet they're both so unselfish, so singular as personalities - Mark Hamill was born to play the taciturn disciplinarian General Black Jack Pershing leader of America's military in our first World War, and Jodie Foster was born to play a very pretty poetry editor of a literary quarterly in the Village in the 1950s - and I don't think they share a scene together here (he plays the boy as a 38 year old - and we don't see her after she's in her mid-20s) yet we feel them together throughout the film - they dominate the film.Such is the appeal of Harmon that we can see his character wholly irresponsible and really wanting to dump the business of his boyhood mentor's urn of ashes upon his mother - and yet like him very much.Such is the appeal of Foster that we can hear her utter every silly clichéd sentiment of a girl of that age and that time - and yet think she's really worth caring for - we can fall in love with this young woman whom we might really think an idiot in real life.But Foster is so obviosly NOT an idiot, that she lends intelligence to a cliché - and Harmon is so obviously a responsible sober responsible man that he lends this to his often drunken, prostitute-visiting character.They lift this movie to something special and really worth watching.I'd love to see Harmon and Foster share the same movie again. They're so different, both highly appealing, both very distinctive.You'll like this movie.

You can see my posts already in the message board for this movie. This is in my top 3 of all time. Here are just some of the reasons.1. I find the story compels me to continue watching. Seeing the relationship between Billy and Katie develop through flashbacks drew me in.2. The tragedy of Katie having to leave her ashes to someone she hasn't seen in so long makes me grieve a bit for her detachment from her life.3. The movie felt very nostalgic and had a great soundtrack.4. I liked the way the title of the movie plays throughout the story. I dislike it when I can't figure out why a movie has the title it does.

"Stealing Home" takes place over a number of years, perhaps 25 or so, from the 1960s to the 1980s. Billy Wyatt as a young boy of 10 has Katie Chandler (20-something Jodie Foster, playing a 16-year old) as a babysitter. Katie is unconventional, smokes and borrows the car without permission, and Billy is attracted to that. Even with their difference in ages, Billy never gives up.Mark Harmon plays the adult 30-something Billy, and as the movie opens we see him arriving at a baseball stadium, not major leagues, at 5:45AM, he stripes the field, does a few other things, and dresses into his uniform. Most of the movie is then told in flashback.As a teenager Billy (William McNamara) was a promising ballplayer, and was even invited to a big league summer camp. But Billy never realized his dream, and got sidetracked.SPOILERS. As a down and out adult, not very happy, Billy gets news that Katie has died. She leaves her ashes to Billy, saying that he will know what to do with them. He is puzzled, has no clue, but gradually remembers his times with Katie, her love of the water, and scatters them at sea from a pier. He also gets the motivation to return to baseball, and that's where we found him in the opening scene. He gets on base, has to steal home from third base, mirroring a scene from his teen years. Thus the name of the movie.