137 of 1001 Movies: The Natural (1984)

So I kept wondering if Roy Hobbs was a real person the entire time, and he is not. This is based off a book though of the same name. So far I've only seen a couple of Robert Redford movies though, and I'm still waiting for that one that is going to catch me as far as his acting. He's good, but there is something a little goody goody about the character of Roy Hobbs that made him someone that seemed far out there to me. There is just a lack of emotional character connection that kept me at bay. Notably, if you still remember TriStar Pictures, this was their first film.

Summary: When Roy Hobbs father suddenly dies under a tree, it is struck by lightening not long after. Roy decides to carve a baseball bat from the tree, and calls his bat, Wonderboy. Travelling with the bat he finds success coming to him as a baseball player, until tragedy meets him when a woman halts him in his career. Years later he decides to pursue his baseball dream again with a struggling team, The Knights. This team is swamped in controversy though, and once a man called, The Judge, realizes how good Roy is he calls him in for a meeting to explain that he wants the Knights to continue to lose so he can have the share that will be sold to him if they do. Not only does he get mixed in the baseball's team s affairs, but he finds himself followed by a reporter from the past who is trying to place his face, and and old love.


Acting: I guess the performances feel very typical to what a movie like this might call on it's actors to be like. They are sentimental and reaching for tear jerking performances. The whimsical nature of the film does keep me a little at bay from ever feeling that emotion I believe that are trying to evoke though. Is Roy Hobbs ever a good player or is it just the luck of the bat?  I can see why Robert Redford is known as a good actor, but he sort of just seems like a golden boy that can do no wrong, even though he does do his own little destruction on his body in the movie putting his career at risk. Robert Duvall is likable as the reporter, Max Mercy. I wouldn't say his role his hugely prominent, but he adds something. Kim Basinger is one of the girls on the bad side, but I like the complexity she brings as Memo Paris. The movie would be much duller had it not been for the twists of her character. There is also Glenn Close as Roy's old flame, Iris. I think Close can be a flexible actress after seeing her in The Big Chill prior. She actually seems much softer, and feminine in this role.

Cinematography: The film has some great shots, and the color is warm. It seems that the director, Barry Levinson, loved shooting during the sunset. We have lots of shots of the sun catching people, but not being too harsh. He makes baseball a little more action driven too by giving us shots that capture the intensity well. It's more so the scenes between the characters that really draw me in though. I do like how they blend in black and white shots to give this movie a classic vibe to the time it was set in though.

Plot: I think the fact that a grown man is carrying around a bat still by the name of Wonderboy is a little odd, and it's obvious that Redford has already out aged the character he needs to start out playing. They try to work with his hair a bit to make him look younger. Had this been a real baseball tale I'm sure the impact would have felt a lot stronger, but I didn't feel the inspiration from the fable.

The Natural is a classic sports movie with many of the characteristics you're going to look for in a film that combines sports and heart. It has a lead character who for the most part wants to do no wrong, and the things he does wrong aren't going to harm anyone but himself, and the bad guys. There are some nice twists, but for the most part this movie feels like it runs well over the time it needs to be given to tell a story.

Rating 6 of 10.