The Natural (1984)

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writers:

Bernard Malamud (novel)
Roger Towne (writer) ...

Release Date:

11 May 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

The best there was!

Plot:

An average baseball player comes out of seemingly nowhere to become a legendary player with almost divine talent.

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Lightning | Tree | Team | Baseball Player

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Roy Hobbs
Glenn Close	...	Iris Gaines
Kim Basinger	...	Memo Paris
Wilford Brimley	...	Pop Fisher
Barbara Hershey	...	Harriet Bird
Robert Prosky	...	The Judge
Richard Farnsworth	...	Red Blow
Joe Don Baker	...	The Whammer
John Finnegan	...	Sam Simpson
Alan Fudge	...	Ed Hobbs
Paul Sullivan Jr.	...	Young Roy
Rachel Hall	...	Young Iris
Robert Rich III	...	Ted Hobbs
Michael Madsen	...	Bartholomew 'Bump' Bailey
Jon Van Ness	...	John Olsen

Runtime:

134 min | USA:144 min (Director's Cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:12 | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

All-High Stadium - 50 Mercer Avenue, Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Delphi II Productions

Trivia:

The filmmakers scouted the country for a stadium to use in game scenes. They needed something nondescript with a pre-WWII feel and found it in Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium. The stadium, built in 1937 and demolished in 1988, had a shorter distance down the right field line than is shown in the movie. The stadium had been renovated prior to filming, which could explain the extra hundred feet displayed on the right field wall.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bump returns to the dugout and claims he lost a fly ball in the sun, the catcher is wearing a different uniform number than he was moments ago when he was behind home plate.

Quotes:

Pop Fisher: My ma urged me to get out of this game. When I was a kid, she pleaded with me. And I meant to, you know what I mean? But she died.
Red Blow: Tough.
Pop Fisher: Now look at me. I'm wet nurse to a last-place, dead-to-the-neck-up ball club, and I'm choking to death!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Married with Children: The Unnatural (#5.4)" (1990)

Soundtrack:

STAR SPANGLED BANNER

A 20th Century Fairy Tale

That's how I personally summed up this movie when I first saw it. And what better place to couch a fairy tale than in a milieu with real legends like Ruth and DiMaggio and Mantle ... or fabulous ones like "The Whammer" and Roy Hobbs. The story of a man playing the game they way it SHOULD be played, wishing while injured that his father could have seen him, and coming through in the clutch for his father, his lady, and his son. Beautifully shot by Caleb Deschanel, this isn't just a movie, this is ARTWORK.

And who could forget the soundtrack written by Randy Newman, which has found its way into virtually every sports show on the tube at one time or another. Without a doubt, his best handiwork.