The Natural (1984)

Wow! Such a good movie.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

"The Natural" is a strange move by any sense of the imagination. One minute, it can be as serious as any movie ever made. The next minute, an outfielder crashes through the wall, dies, and has his ashes spread over the field in a later game. Despite the oddities that pop up here and there, though, "The Natural" remains a classic for one simple reason: it will move you emotionally in the end.For a basic plot summary, "The Natural" tells the story of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a young pitcher who seems to have the world on a string on his way to the major leagues. When a freak accident takes him out of the game for many years, though, he comes back a wily, grizzled veteran just hoping for another chance. He gets that chance with the Knights, coached by Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley). While figures such as the team owner (Robert Prosky) and prominent sports writer Max Mercy (Robert Duvall) want to see him fail, Hobbs shows the type of perseverance that legends are made of.Like I said in the opening, "The Natural" can be a really strange movie at times. It's almost like director Barry Levinson doesn't quite understand how strange his dramatic tone shifts were as the film rolls along. While some view this as quirky and giving the movie its own style, I see it as a negative (the only reason it doesn't get my full five stars and vault into "Field of Dreams" territory).That being said, "The Natural" does more than enough things right to still remain a classic movie. Certain sequences (striking out The Whammer (Joe Don Baker), "pick me out a winner, Bobby", etc.) are now etched into iconic film & baseball lore. Then, of course, there is that ending. I don't care how cheesy you might have thought the movie up until that point was, but if that final scene doesn't move you to tears, you probably have a stone in place of a heart. When it comes to "greatest single scene in a baseball movie of all-time", Hobbs' final at-bat probably takes home the prize.One must also comment on the music of "The Natural", as that is part of the reason why it resonates on such an emotional level. I don't think I could name too many soundtracks that top this one. The main theme is now a mainstay, and it seems like all the scenes in the film are backed by the perfect instrumentals.Overall, "The Natural" is a slice of "baseball Americana", if not a perfect one. There are moments that will probably make you shake your head out of weirdness, but more often than not you will find yourself falling for Roy Hobbs and his quest for the American dream...baseball style.

I enjoy this movie whenever I see it which proves you don't need to be a baseball or even a sports fan to like this story. However I don't think the movie is about baseball. I believe it to be an allegory of America. From it's youthful hopefulness to its near death (civil war?)to its excess (eating until it (he) bursts). The movie culminating in an ever bright future while the book was decidedly more pessimistic. And with all this you can choose to ignore these subtleties and just enjoy a good story well told.

Of course I love the scene at the end where Robert Redford's fated Roy Hobbs wins the all-important pennant game by smashing the baseball into the floodlights. It is one of the great scenes of American sporting cinema.But my favourite scene is previously when Glenn Close as his genuine love interest, as opposed to the evil character of a modern Morgan la Fay, so well-played by Kim Basinger, stands up in Wrigley Field magically willing him to break his poor batting run. Her character tranfuses strength into him, giving that scene an Arthurian, chivalric resonance. But then so has the whole film that glorious mythic quality. I am also thinking of Field of Dreams, here. What is it about baseball which so lends itself to films of mythic power?In this film some elements of its success can be readily identified: Barry Levinson's direction, the star power of the actors and, of critical importance, the power of Randy Newman's score. But then it also has a magic over all that, unanticipated by its makers.

In the most famous scene from this modern baseball classic, struggling middle aged professional baseball player Robert Redford strikes gold after a spell of strike outs. It's thanks to the presence of a majestic lady in white (Glenn Close) who stands up to guide him to his big hit. Redford, as comeback king Roy Hobbs is a mystery man who all who knows him, and even though they haven't seen each other in years, it is Close who knows him best. Wouldn't you be a bit of a mystery man if all of a sudden, you were shot for some unknown reason by a mysterious dark haired vixen who claimed that they were fascinated by your talents? Barbara Hershey is briefly seen as this mysterious femme fatale, and after that, it is surprising that he could ever trust a woman again. Along the way he meets another vixen, Kim Basinger, who distracts him into loosing, and the question becomes, "Why?"Not just a film for baseball fans, this is a look at every young boy's American dream. Whether it be baseball player, fireman or even president of the United States, it is a look at how good intentions come out of the Innocence of childhood, and how dishonest people can step in the way of one's dreams. Certainly one of the great modern baseball classics, it is even better then the mystical "Field of Dreams" which had little to do with professional baseball other than solving an issue for the film's hero, Kevin Costner. If Costner was the All- American hero of the 1990's, Robert Redford dominated much of the sixties, seventies and eighties with his easygoing personality, way with the ladies and his determination to make films that were artistic as well as entertaining.The cast is excellent, although I've never been quite convinced that Kim Basinger was one of the great beauties of the last 30 years in films. Glenn Close, on the other hand, had a realistic beauty that shines in the scene where she stands up in the Chicago baseball stadium. Some movie fans ridicule her as being somewhat haggard, but I've never looked at her that way. If you don't find the fact that she is indeed beautiful, watch this film and think again. I would rather have the girl next door that look like Glenn Close rather than a buxom vixen like Basinger who uses sex to sell.As Redford's mentors on the baseball team, the fictional New York Knights, Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth are particularly outstanding. Brimley is that grouchy old grandfather we all know and love, knowing that underneath that gruffness is a huge heart of gold. Farnsworth is more quiet, and the wisdom that he silently conveyed to the complaining Brimley is something that you can take to heart. Less honorable are the characters played by Robert Duvall and Robert Brodsky, the later cast as an amoral judge who instantly wants to see Redford suppressed as a baseball superstar.While not an obsessive baseball fan, I can still appreciate the fascination with the sport, having grown up with professional games going to the Pittsburgh Pirates when they were at Three Rivers Stadium. I remember as a child the way I felt being in the presence of the All American Heroes and when I saw the film in its original release, those memories came back to me along with the excited looks of the two youngsters who popped in and out, looking up to Redford as their own hero. This does take a realistic look at the rivalry between players on the same team, some jealous or envious of Redford, referring to him as that old man since they obviously don't have the power he has. I wish I had a baseball bat like wonder boy when I was a kid. Of all the professional sports, baseball remains the most all American, and it is films like this that celebrate that sport's greatest qualities.