Directed by: Barry Levinson
Starring: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Wilford Brimley, Richard Farnsworth, Kim Basinger, Darren McGavin, Robert Prosky, Barbara Hershey, Joe Don Baker
The Bernard Malamud novel The Natural, on which this movie is based, is a more cynical, hard-nosed look at baseball and its protagonist, Roy Hobbs. The movie version paints its hero as near saintly, while the novel paints him as less than saintly, even human. I wonder how the novel's version of events would have played in theaters. Barry Levinson's The Natural, starring Robert Redford in the role of Hobbs, is more of a crowd-pleaser. It is a tidy, innocuous story with a hero who can do no wrong and hits home runs that knock out the stadium lights.
The Natural begins with a young Hobbs leaving behind his family farm and his girlfriend Iris (with his own self-made bat) to pursue his career in baseball. He finds himself aboard a train with a legendary ballplayer named The Whammer (Baker) clearly modeled after Babe Ruth. During a train breakdown, Hobbs strikes out the big guy on three pitches following a bet. This attracts the attention of the mysterious Harriet Bird (Hershey), who latches onto Hobbs only to attempt to murder him later. She shoots him in the stomach before killing herself. Flash forward to fifteen years later, where Hobbs shows up as an aging rookie to play for the hapless New York Knights, who can't seem to do anything right and are mired in last place.
The team's manager and part-owner Pop Fisher (Brimley) is skeptical of Hobbs' playing abilities and benches him, until one game Hobbs pinch hits and knocks the cover off of the ball with one swing. Hobbs soon takes over in centerfield after the centerfielder dies after running through the outfield wall. Hobbs is soon a hitting machine and the Knights move up in the standings threatening to win the National League pennant. There is behind-the-scenes intrigue as well involving Pop and his shady partner known as The Judge (Prosky). If the Knights win the pennant this season, Pop can buy out the corrupt Judge and own the team outright. If the Knights fail, Pop is gone. Judge dispatches icy blonde Memo Paris (Basinger), who is also Pop's niece, to get close to Hobbs and persuade him to join the Judge's payroll.
Hobbs' exploits catch the attention of sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who was present the day Hobbs struck out The Whammer, but can't quite place Hobbs. "If he wants to hit a homer, he hits a homer. If we wants to hit a double, he hits a double. How can a guy this good come from nowhere?" Mercy soon learns of Hobbs' secret past and threatens to write the story, mostly because he is a prick. There is no mention of Mercy's motivation for wanting to destroy the life of the Knights' biggest star.
Redford, 48 years old at the time, is still a convincing Hobbs and he looks the part of a ball player. But, he is rather bland as a character, since he is so morally upstanding and stands above the morass of immorality around him. There isn't much to him. We are not as interested in him or his dream to be the best that ever played as we should be. Iris (Close) returns to the scene in which she shows up as a fan dressed in a bright white dress that could almost blind anyone who looks directly at it. This breaks Hobbs out of a mid-season slump and soon they track each other down to discuss old times and vague declarations about her son never getting a chance to meet his father. Iris's sense of timing is impeccable. She waits until the Knights season is on the line to divulge the information to Roy that he is indeed the father.
The Natural has a very somber tone for a sports movie. The Judge's office is dark. Many days are cloudy. Any scenes in which it is sunny outside happen indoors with the sunlight poking through the window. Perhaps this is to add the depth of the novel without actually portraying the events from it. Randy Newman's famed score is entirely too celebratory for a movie about a baseball player. It is stirring, but belongs in a different movie. Hobbs hits the game-winning home run at the end and circles the bases with the lights exploding above him (seems kind of dangerous to stand around while that happens) and Newman's score thundering over the soundtrack. It is all too much. It lends more importance and gravitas to a story that hasn't earned it. Oh, and don't forget the whole business involving the wounds from the shooting threatening to kill him. It would have been better for his health, I suppose, to swing for a single instead of a home run.
Despite that, The Natural has segments in which it nearly works. The actors are far too good and the production values too strong to make a failure, but the film never quite gets on track. Its hero is not compelling enough to carry the movie and the movie introduces intriguing supporting players only to shift the story back to boring Roy Hobbs.
Hobbs' exploits catch the attention of sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who was present the day Hobbs struck out The Whammer, but can't quite place Hobbs. "If he wants to hit a homer, he hits a homer. If we wants to hit a double, he hits a double. How can a guy this good come from nowhere?" Mercy soon learns of Hobbs' secret past and threatens to write the story, mostly because he is a prick. There is no mention of Mercy's motivation for wanting to destroy the life of the Knights' biggest star.
Redford, 48 years old at the time, is still a convincing Hobbs and he looks the part of a ball player. But, he is rather bland as a character, since he is so morally upstanding and stands above the morass of immorality around him. There isn't much to him. We are not as interested in him or his dream to be the best that ever played as we should be. Iris (Close) returns to the scene in which she shows up as a fan dressed in a bright white dress that could almost blind anyone who looks directly at it. This breaks Hobbs out of a mid-season slump and soon they track each other down to discuss old times and vague declarations about her son never getting a chance to meet his father. Iris's sense of timing is impeccable. She waits until the Knights season is on the line to divulge the information to Roy that he is indeed the father.
The Natural has a very somber tone for a sports movie. The Judge's office is dark. Many days are cloudy. Any scenes in which it is sunny outside happen indoors with the sunlight poking through the window. Perhaps this is to add the depth of the novel without actually portraying the events from it. Randy Newman's famed score is entirely too celebratory for a movie about a baseball player. It is stirring, but belongs in a different movie. Hobbs hits the game-winning home run at the end and circles the bases with the lights exploding above him (seems kind of dangerous to stand around while that happens) and Newman's score thundering over the soundtrack. It is all too much. It lends more importance and gravitas to a story that hasn't earned it. Oh, and don't forget the whole business involving the wounds from the shooting threatening to kill him. It would have been better for his health, I suppose, to swing for a single instead of a home run.
Despite that, The Natural has segments in which it nearly works. The actors are far too good and the production values too strong to make a failure, but the film never quite gets on track. Its hero is not compelling enough to carry the movie and the movie introduces intriguing supporting players only to shift the story back to boring Roy Hobbs.
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