"Norway baseball tradition is as rich as Iowa soil," says Coach Jim Van Scoyoc
of the Norway High School Tigers, who won 19 state baseball championships in 24
years under his guidance.
The Final Season (2007) is the true story of what
happens to the tiny town of
Norway, Iowa, in 1991, after it is delivered two
devastating blows.
First, the school is closing to merge with a larger school nearby. Then Van
Scoyoc (Powers Boothe) is fired and replaced with the young, inexperienced Kent
Stock (Sean Astin). Stock puts his life in St. Louis on hold to tackle the
seemingly impossible—gain the trust of his players, fill the former coach's
shoes, and lead the team to their 20th, and last, state championship.
The residents of Norway, population 586, live for Norway baseball. "Baseball is
Norway, or Norway is baseball," says one woman, an actual Norway resident, with
apparent sadness. Interspersed throughout the movie is video footage from 1991
of real Norway residents, remembering the school's legacy as the last baseball
game approaches. This footage is especially nice in that it allows the audience
to feel the wistfulness and loss felt by the townspeople at the time. These
clips are, perhaps unsurprisingly, more genuine than the performances delivered
by the actors, and the true highlight of the film.
There are some sports drama stereotypes in The Final Season: A rebellious teen
who is sent to live with his grandparents is reformed into a baseball ace. An
average small town guy woos a frigid, professional, pretty big city girl.
Dysfunctional family relationships are mended in the name of baseball.
But where the film succeeds is in the impression it creates of farm life. A
dramatic soundtrack accompanies the shots of Norway—green fields, grain silos,
tractors, hay bales, and horses. Van Scoyoc farmed before he took up coaching,
and many of the boys on the baseball team work on their family farms. When the
school board president remarks to the worried townspeople, "I know you're
worried about Norway losing its identity," it's obvious what he means. In
Norway, school, work, family, farming, and baseball all overlap and are
inseparable. A dedication to one mirrors a dedication to the other, and The
Final Season really shows that.
Overall the film is simple and sweet, wholesome and whole-hearted. While not as
much fun as The Sandlot or as inspiring as Field of Dreams, The Last Season is
still an entertaining family movie that provides a real glimpse of rural life.
And when Coach Stock says to the boys before their final game, "We're playing
for everyone who knows Norway is a great place to come home to," it's easy to
believe him.
Click the play button to watch the below preview of this movie.