'The Natural' (1984)
A retrospective movie review by Walter Frith
wfrith@cgocable.net
Member of the 'Online Film Critics Society' http://www.ofcs.org
Robert Redford is an extraordinary guy. Never a word of scandal is written about him. He lives quietly with his family on a ranch in western United States. He runs the annual Sundance Film Festival and he is politically active as a loyal democrat. He has had his share of bad films as all Hollywood stars have but he has evened it all out with a Best Actor Oscar nomination for 1973's 'The Sting' and a win in the Best Director category for 1980's 'Ordinary People'. His other impressive list of credits include such diverse films as 'Quiz Show' (1994) for which he received another Oscar nomination as Best Director and 1988's gem and little seen 'The Milagro Beanfield War' which squeezed its way in to win an Oscar for Dave Grusin's music score. Redford's 1998 film 'The Horse Whisperer' should have had more success but this film will become a buried treasure of the future and will take its time to truly get noticed.
Redford's 1984 film 'The Natural' is a film that greatly divided the critics. Some accused it of being an obvious soap opera while others praised it as being an old fashioned story which brought back memories of Hollywood's golden era. The plain truth is that 'The Natural' is a story of lost youth with one man wondering how things would have turned out if his life had gone in a different direction. What makes it extremely worthwhile and fascinating to watch is the fact that the circumstances in this man's life that hand him a sour lemon are determined by fate and not by choice.
Set primarily from the early to mid 1920's to about 1940, Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a man who can do anything that the game of baseball requires.....and he excels at it. As a friend of his says to a sports writer: "I thought you might have heard of his 8 no-hitters." The story of 'The Natural' is truly filled with fairy tale like qualities and sentimental charm. As a boy, Roy's father helps him develop a talent for baseball and after his dad dies, Roy makes a bat from a tree that was struck by lightning and appropriately names the bat "Wonderboy" as he brands the name on his bat along with the image of a lightning bolt. Roy also has a special lady in his life named Iris Gaines (Glenn Close). Roy leaves her behind and intends to send for her when he makes it in the big leagues.
At a carnival one fine day, after being provoked and taking on a bet, he strikes out a heavy hitter in the major leagues whose nick name is "The Whammer" (Joe Don Baker in a take on Babe Ruth). Traveling with "The Whammer" is sports writer Max Mercy (Robert Duvall). The amazing feat accomplished by Hobbs stuns everyone including the mysterious Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey) who is instrumental in Hobbs' future. The rest of the story can be explored from here at your own convenience for fear of spoilers.
Other notable members of the cast are Kim Basinger as a floozy who tries to seduce Roy in a set up by gamblers and swindlers. Robert Prosky is the film's villain as a judge determined to take over the team from Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley). A sly performance which goes uncredited in the film is by Darren McGavin as an unscrupulous bookie who makes 10 million dollars a year (about 100 million by today's standards).
Directed by Barry Levinson with a screenplay by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry based on Bernard Malamud's novel, 'The Natural' is a fulfilling drama of hope and inspiration that captured four Oscar nominations for Caleb Deschanel's sunlight enriched photography and scenes of silhouettes and many dark passages which make the film stand out in a truly visual fashion. Glenn Close was the only member of the cast to receive a nomination, this time in the Best Supporting Actress category and the art direction/set decoration made the era look totally authentic as it and the triumphantly rousing music score by Randy Newman were also nominated.
For those who have flocked away from the game of baseball in recent years since the devastating loss of the World Series in 1994 due to labour and management difficulties, 'The Natural' and 1989's 'Field of Dreams' are two great films that renew your faith in the game and may draw you to it even if you were never a baseball fan to begin with.
Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by Walter Frith http://www.cgocable.net/~wfrith/movies.htm
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