The Natural (1984)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

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 | Tree | 1930s | Lightning | Team

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 | 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:

While late actor Darren McGavin had a major supporting role as the bookmaker Gus Sands respectively, McGavin received no credit for his role in the film. In the recent retrospective documentary on the Special Edition DVD of "The Natural", actor Robert Prosky, who plays the Judge, claims that McGavin was cast late in the picture and would have to receive a lesser billing than the other stars. As a result, McGavin chose to go uncredited. Prosky also noted that McGavin wound up "drawing more attention to himself" as a result.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Bump Bailey's bronze plaque shown briefly after his funeral is misspelled "IN MEMORIUM"; the correct spelling is "MEMORIAM."

Quotes:

Pop Fisher: I shoulda been a farmer.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: Homer at the Bat (#3.17)" (1992)

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.