Blogging Mets

Perhaps the most famous Shea Stadium appearance in movies is the original “Men in Black.” Before crashing into the globe at the old World’s Fair grounds, an alien ship did a flyover above Shea during a Mets game:

For some reason a giant spaceship flying over the stadium distracted Bernard Gilkey, and a fly ball that he should have had clocked him on the head. The official scoring is not available, but he was likely charged with an error:

See previous entries in this series here.

Another movie featuring Shea Stadium that I could not bear to watch is “Two Weeks Notice.” The 2002 comedy (?) starring Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock saw the pair take in a Mets-Giants game.

Pedro Astacio got the start for the Mets…

…going up against former Met Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

Grant and Bullock watched from their seats in the front row. Grant looks less than enthused:

Sandra pulled a Steve Bartman and got in the way of Mike Piazza catching a foul ball:

The normally mild-mannered Piazza then scolded Bullock, telling her, “Next time go to a Yankees game!”:

Bullock appeared on DiamondVision to the boos of the Shea faithful:

Mr. Met fired up the fans to boo America’s Sweetheart, all over a stupid foul ball:

See previous entries in this series here.

Now I want to say for the record that I did not watch “Old Dogs” (I didn’t watch “The Wiz” either, by the way). I heard Shea Stadium was in it, so I got it on Netflix and fast forwarded to the Shea part. The movie itself looks terrible — at one point Robin Williams is too tanned and wears a crown and cape. I think it is about old guys who have kids. Something like that.

Anyway, Shea is indeed in one scene. Williams and John Travolta are somehow important enough to take batting practice before the game, get front row seats and appear on the old Diamondvision.

The filmmakers also thought it would be clever to play “Summer of ’69″ underneath the scene. How cute.

David Wright makes his film debut:

I don’t mean anything by this, but Travolta swings like a girl:

Williams was only slightly better:

Check out first base coach Rickey Henderson!

This is a cool shot because you can see the beginnings of Citi Field in the background:

See previous entries in this series here.

You wouldn’t think Shea Stadium would make an appearance in an urban remake of “The Wizard of Oz,” but you’d be wrong. The old place did indeed play a role in 1978′s “The Wiz.” Dorothy and her pals were chased by odd looking motorcycles up and down those annoying ramps at Shea:

In this shot you can see the backside of the old metal squares that used to be on the outside of the building. The reflective coverings were not there in real life, just for the movie:

Ah, I miss those super-long escalators:

Somehow Diana Ross (or her stunt double) got chased onto the catwalk high above the stadium:

See previous entries in this series here.

In this installment, Shea Stadium goes cartoon in “Godzilla: The Series,” an animated series that aired on Fox in the late 1990s. In the episode “What Dreams May Come,” a monster called Crackler ran amok in New York City, destroying everything in its way, including our beloved Shea Stadium.

Well, something that resembles Shea — you’ll notice the big scoreboard is in left field instead of right, and the stadium is only three levels instead of four. But still, it’s Shea:

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Like so many pitchers, Crackler is distracted by a plane heading into LaGuardia:

All hell breaks loose when Godzilla (who is suddenly a good guy?) arrives and does battle with Crackler:

They should have hired these guys to demolish the stadium instead of construction crews:

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“Bang the Drum Slowly” (not to be confused with “Bang Her Bum Slowly” which is a, uh, different kind of film) is a 1973 baseball movie about a dying dimwit catcher (Robert DeNiro) and the superstar pitcher (Michael Moriarity) who takes care of him.

They play for the fictional New York Mammoths in a mystery league that somehow includes both the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds. And their home field is Shea Stadium. All of the baseball scenes were shot there. Here are some screenshots:

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Note the mistake here: A young fan in the stands is wearing a Mets hat, a team that doesn’t exist in the “Bang the Drum Slowly” world:

The unmistakable Shea message board:

The classic Rheingold and Coke ads on the bottom of the scoreboard as the Mammoths lead the Pirates.

They even used the “Kiner’s Korner” set for some kind of team singing routine:

See previous entries in this series here.

When people talk about great rock-n-roll mockumentaries, they always bring up “This is Spinal Tap.” No one ever talks about “The Rutles.” Well, they should, and not just because Shea Stadium has a cameo.

The 1978 TV movie “The Rutles: All You Need is Cash” tells the story of four young British boys who form a band and take the world by storm, a not-very veiled satire of The Beatles. Of course their famous performance at Shea Stadium is parodied.

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Narrator Eric Idle made the trip to Queens (wearing a Brockabella!) to tape a stand-up outside Shea. Only the stadium is called Che Stadium, “named after the Cuban guerrilla fighter, Che Stadium.”

Then there is the famous shot of the band walking across the outfield on their way to the stage. It certainly looks like it could be Shea Stadium’s outfield.

Only it is not! A wider shot shows they are in a smaller stadium, likely an English soccer field. Too bad they didn’t film inside the real Shea.

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The Mets were the still the hot new thing in town when “The Odd Couple” was released in 1968 (only to get hotter a year later), so it was likely obvious to filmmakers to have sportswriter Oscar Madison wear a Mets hat in the movie. And when it came time to film a ballpark scene, the choice between sparkling new Shea Stadium and crusty old Yankee Stadium was probably an easy one.

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Now, you’ll notice the Pirates have the bases loaded. The script called for Roberto Clemente to hit into a game-ending triple play, which Oscar missed because Felix called the press box to tell him not to eat hot dogs at the game because he was going to make franks and beans for dinner. Only Clemente did not like the idea of hitting into a triple play, so Bill Mazeroski was the batter instead:

Here is Oscar yelling at Felix while the Mets celebrate on the field behind him:

See previous entries in this series here.

Likely blockbuster “Men in Black 3″ opens at a theater near you on Friday, and there is obviously considerable interest in the movie, especially among Mets fans. It seems that Will Smith goes back in time to 1969 and at one point attends a World Series game.

Here is a still from the film, courtesy Mets Blog:

Of course Shea is gone (as is 1969), so Smith and his pals only attended the game digitally. But it got me thinking about all of the films in which Shea Stadium made a cameo. There are many, so in honor of the Mets former home, I have decided to begin a special ongoing feature in which I will highlight these movies, including screen shots.

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These movies are time capsules, capturing a place that is so special to so many of us.

I think we all took Shea for granted while it stood in all of its shabby glory and now we miss it. So check back every now and then — hopefully these movies and the photos will help ease our aching memories.

See more entries in this series here.