The Natural

One thing I have noticed about movies with a sporting theme is how certain sports seem to lend themselves to a cinematic treatment more easily than others. I cannot, for example, think of a single memorable film about golf, tennis or even soccer, the world's most popular spectator sport, and only one ("Chariots of Fire") about athletics. On the other hand, there are a number of distinguished films about boxing, and the same is true of baseball. I think the reason is that these two sports often take on a metaphorical significance in the cinema so that the film is about a lot more than the game itself. Boxing is generally used as a metaphor for a wider struggle against the hardships of life, as in "Champion" or the recent "Million Dollar Baby". Baseball, on the other hand, has a similar meaning for Americans to that which cricket has for the English, signifying fair play, sportsmanship and the supposed virtues of the national character.

"The Natural" was one of three great baseball-themed movies made in the eighties, the others being "Eight Men Out" and "Field of Dreams". Both those films dealt with the notorious Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919, but did so in very different ways. "Eight Men Out" is a relatively straightforward historical drama, while "Field of Dreams" is a surreal fantasy. "The Natural", which only deals with the Black Sox affair by implication, falls somewhere between those extremes.

In 1923 Roy Hobbs, a Nebraska farmer's son and an aspiring young baseball player, is shot and seriously injured by Harriet Bird, an obsessed fan. (Bernard Malamud, who wrote the novel on which the film was based, may have been inspired by the similar real-life shooting of a baseball star named Eddie Waitkus). We never really learn the motive for the crime or what Roy does in the next sixteen years, but we next hear of him in 1939 when, at the advanced age of 36, he has just been signed by the New York Knights, a major-league baseball team. (The Knights are fictitious, but the other teams mentioned in the film, such as the Chicago Cubs, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates, are real).

The film then follows the ups and downs of Roy's career as his "natural" talent for the game- hence the title- lifts the once-struggling Knights from the bottom of the table until they are contenders for the National League Pennant. (The unexpected success of an underdog is a frequent theme in sports films). It also follows his relationships with two women, the glamorous if oddly named Memo Paris, the beautiful niece of the Knights' elderly manager Pop Fisher, and Iris Gaines, a woman he meets when she comes to watch a Knights game. Memo is also involved with a corrupt gambler named Gus Sands who is trying to bribe some of the Knights players to "throw" crucial games as the Black Sox did in 1919. The Judge, the Knights' equally crooked majority owner, is also conspiring with Gus as part of a plot to obtain Pop Fisher's minority holding and thereby increase his control of the team. As with all good sporting dramas, this one ends on a tense note, with the Knights playing the Pirates in the match that will decide who wins the Pennant. Will Roy hit the runs that will secure victory for his team?

Although the film is considerably more "realistic" than "Field of Dreams", it does contain some mythical elements. There are a number of parallels with the Arthurian Legends. Roy, whose Christian name means "king" in Old French, plays for a team symbolically called the Knights. Pop Fisher's surname recalls the legend of the Fisher King. Perhaps the most prominent mythical element is Roy's bat, "Wonderboy", the film's equivalent of King Arthur's Excalibur. Roy carved this bat himself from a tree on his father's farm which had been struck by lightning.

Robert Redford is one of those actors (the late Charlton Heston is another) who seems fated to be remembered largely for his work in the first half of his career. Although there have been some reasonably good later performances, posterity is likely to remember him for the likes of "Butch and Sundance" or "The Sting" rather than, say, "Indecent Proposal" or "The Last Castle". "The Natural" is, in my view, perhaps his last great film. His next, "Out of Africa", is a good film, but Redford himself was badly miscast, and all the succeeding films of his which I have seen have been to some extent disappointing apart from "An Unfinished Life". Here, however, he is excellent, making Roy a modest, seemingly simple, man, who nevertheless has hidden depths. Among the supporting cast I would single out Wilford Brimley as Pop Fisher, initially sceptical of Roy's talents but who later becomes his mentor and father-figure.

Like many sports films, and nearly all the best ones, "The Natural" uses sport as a metaphor for life. Roy here becomes an all-American hero, a man who shows that it is possible to succeed both in sport and in life if natural talent is combined with decency and strength of character. It confirms my view that Barry Levinson, the maker of films like "Diner", "Tootsie", "Rain Man" and "Good Morning Vietnam", is one of Hollywood's finest directors, capable of making deeply satisfying films about the struggles and triumphs of ordinary people. 8/10.

My son and I have watched this movie twice together. I can't think of any other movie we have watched twice--together. I'm 60 and my son is 26. There is the element of magic, of fairy-tale, of other-worldliness; there is the element of the naturalness, the character of Robert Redford; there is the element of baseball, the great sport-love of millions of boys in North America--and me back in the 1950s when I was growing up and dreamed of going to the majors; there's a touch of the sexual with Kim Basinger and Barbara Hershey----one could go on listing the pluses that this movie brings to the viewers. But I think what makes the movie in the end is the magic of Roy Hobbs as he hits a baseball further and harder than anyone ever has or(probably) ever will. Hobbs is the quintessence of the baseball hero and for sports lovers that's their religion. Hobbs is like Jesus come down to earth in the form of a baseball player, yet with sins of omission and commission. So, he's human and a superhero all at once.

I can't ever forget the first time(s) I saw The Natural. I was a member of the Directors Guild of America and there was a screening at the DGA. I love screenings of films about which I know nothing! And at the time I hadn't read the novel, really didn't know anything about it. I knew Barry Levinson and liked his work, and Randy Newman was, of course, a god. I just wasn't ready for it! Tears were streaming down my face from the beginning. The music would play and the waterworks would commence! It felt organic, not intellectual. It just "was". The only other film where I had that experience was, you guessed it, "Field of Dreams", another screening. When he asked his Dad if they could play a little catch, I lost it. The people I was with got up and slowly moved to other seats. But back to the Natch. I love it when a film subsumes reality, and every time I hear the theme at a "real" ball game, I smile. From time to time I'll put on the DVD to watch a scene, and I invariably end up watching the whole thing! If you haven't seen this film, you simply must!

A wonderful, magical fairy tale, and morality play. This is the type of movie that as a new father, I cannot wait until my son is old enough to watch this with me.

I know much has been made about Redford being too old to play Roy Hobbs. But much of the story asks you to believe in incredible things, so to me, this is a minor issue.

Everything about this movie is first rate. The cast which includes Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley and a pair of terrific performances turned in by Robert Duval and Darren McGavin.

It is easy to see that all of the actors trust the material and believe in their characters.

Barry Levinson tells the story in a straight forward style, he doesn't try to build any false suspense or surprise twists. When you watch this movie you know exactly what is going to happen long before it does, but you don't care, because it unfolds intelligently and without pretense.

My two favorite components of this movie are the cinematography by Caleb Deschanel and the beautiful, moving score composed by Randy Newman. I first enjoyed Mr. Deschanel's work on "Being There", and felt Mr. Newman's score for "Ragtime" was the best score of 1981.

"The Natural" is so much more than a baseball movie. It is a story about faith, good and evil, right and wrong, fathers and sons. It is about all that is good in baseball and in life.

10 out of 10

One of my all time favorites. Everything about this movie appears authentic. From the time period, to the baseball scenes. These guys really look like a baseball team.

Redford is low-key and stoic, but he hits just the right note for the character. Everybody else, especially Robert Duvall and Wilford Brimley, are fantastic.

A touching story, without being hokey. You get the feeling you are watching something mystical and magical along with all the characters in the movie, and it is played with just the right note.

Thrilling and inspiring. A well-made, well-acted film.