FREQUENCY ... or, Remembering the 1969 World Series NY Mets

Frequency was released in late April of 2000, writer Toby Emmerich and director Gregory Hobit brought to the screen an extraordinary movie about family, love, and fandom, Mets Fandom. Centered around a single father, FDNY firefighter Frank Sullivan (Dennis Quad who has been in so many good movies that we can list), and his son, NYPD homicide detective John (Jim Caviezel the man who play Jesus Christ, and a great one at that). Although released in 2000, this tale spans across thirty years, 1969 to 1999, when John finds his father's old HAM Radio. On a fated evening, a mysterious cloud disturbance forms over the childhood house that John still lives in, and causes a time distortion that connects John to his father thirty years in the past that allows both men to talk to each other on the short-wave radio.

It has been thirty years since Frank had died in a warehouse blaze, and in talking with John he finds out what is to come and what to do to save himself, but in doing so, they had unknowingly changed the future. It is Frank's wife, John's mother, Julia Sullivan (Elizabeth Mitchell) of not only Lost fame as Juliet, but know has a significant role in the ABC series V.), who now falls victim to a serial killer. How this is depicted is awesome. It is nothing explosive, it is the quietness of the film that makes it intense. Spanning the thirty years from past to present, father and son work together to solve the crime that is yet to happen, or has happened.

Just a little aside. Another main character in Frequency is named Jack Shepard played by Shawn Doyle. Doyle also played Attorney Duncan Forrester on Lost in an episode titled Eggtown in Season 4 Episode 4. Talk about coincidences.

What makes this a great film for it's genre, is that the flashing back and forth from present to past, and back to the present is not confusing. The story telling is crisp and as mentioned before, quiet. It draws you in and the final outcome is astonishing.

Now, with all this said, what makes this a worthy mention here on MetsFanCLub.com besides the fact that our present day Mets team has tanked again and there is nothing really new to write about, it is the background story line for the scenes that involve the past and John's growing up that is brought to our attention. It is during the 1969 World Series New York Mets vs. The Baltimore Orioles. The references to the game as father and son talk back and forth is reminiscent of his childhood when it was baseball that brought them together, and it is The Mets and baseball, that again, bring them together. How the series is inter-woven within the story makes watching this movie a bit more fun, even with the seriousness of the plot.

If you have not yet seen this movie, I highly recommend it. The memories it brought back of growing up during a more innocent period of time, and how New York Mets baseball was fun and exciting thanks to Bob Murphy. An era when players played and did not worry about pitch count. An era when players and owners respected the fans. An era when a kid could be a kid.

A near perfect picture. A must see, especially during these trying times.