Rating: 
Summary: Circular Cricket
Review: I approach reviewing the movie 'The Natural' with some fear and trembling -- not being someone raised on American sports, baseball has often held the image in my mind as being a sort of circular cricket game. However, beyond the basic mechanics of the game is the psychology, and, by and large, there is a very different mindset to athletics in America than there is outside of America (though this is changing over time); certainly as I was growing up, I had no sports-figure heroes, nor did I ever consider professional sports as a potential career even in a fantasy. Beyond the general psychology of sports in America, baseball has a ranking with pride of place, being a national pasttime. To this end, to further my research for this review, I treated myself to that most American of activities, a baseball game, on that most American of holidays, the fourth of July. Being nearest to Indianapolis, there are no major leagues in town, so I went to the minor league game (Indianapolis Indians against the Louisville Riverbats -- the Indians won handily 7-2). I finally began to have some insights into what could be interesting and exciting and fun about baseball. I am certain that my reflections on 'The Natural' would be very different without that experience. Perhaps it is a fantasy of many Americans to be a natural at sports in general, and some sport in particular. Baseball, having been woven into the history of the country, gives a particular insight into what can be best and worst in life through the game -- honour, glory, happiness; greed, betrayal, vice. Barry Levinson's 1984 film, 'The Natural', shows the love of the game in full force. Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, an almost mythically inspired character, complete with mythic instruments (a bat that is made from a lightning charged tree, perhaps a bat 'anointed by the gods', as it were). Having been a natural from childhood days, he suffers an injury by a mysterious woman in his young manhood that (so far as we know in the film) cuts short a promising career. Is she the Delilah that cuts down a Sampson? If so, why (other than to set up the rest of the film). Many years later, a much more mature Hobbs returns from out of nowhere to lead a desperate team to victory, overcoming the greed and corruption that big-time money injects into the game for a riveting, round-the-bases having hit out the lights home run that brings the fans to their feet and the puts the bad guys to shame. What could be more natural than that? While this is a good story and ends with a happy, yet somewhat incomplete scene of Hobbs playing ball with with a boy (will he be a natural, too?) while a rescued woman (oh yes, did I forget the love story? -- my mistake -- Glenn Close turns in a reasonable but far from her best performance as the love interest on the sidelines while Kim Basinger plays the sultry temptress intertwined in the murky dealing with the power brokers) watches, there are too many unexplained events and tenuous connexions for me to think of this as a great film. Unanswered questions abound. However, the movie is good entertainment, even for someone who hasn't been to a baseball game. The pace is leisurely (like a baseball game), and the action goes from slow to riveting to gentle to exciting and back again. The dialogue is not inspired, but adequate for the plot. Some judicious editing might have made the movie hold together a bit better. I can see the love of the game over all other considerations, and I can sense that in Hobbs character. And I can see the reality in many of the other characters. However, this is not executed well enough in philosophic terms to be a morality tale, and underdeveloped in human terms. In the end, like the baseball game I attended on the fourth of July, I'm glad I saw it, but alas, I didn't fall in love with it. Perhaps I'm just a cricket man at heart.
Rating:
Summary: When baseball was young
Review: I liked this show although I admit I don't like some of the directions it takes. It starts out with Roy (Robert Redford) and his Dad throwing the ball around on the farm. His Dad realizes that Roy will become a great pitcher if he keeps working at it. In a "shades of Superman" scene, Roy's Dad dies of a heart attack on the farm. Years later, Roy is called up by the Cubs for a tryout. Glenn Close is his girl, he tells her the good news and she's sure he will make it big. He leaves on the train and life starts getting complicated. A veteran ballplayer called "The Whammer" (Joe Don Baker) is also on the train. He has a "Babe Ruth" sort of aura about him (except he's not a lefty). The train makes a stop in a small town, Roy's agent challenges the Whammer, claiming Roy can strike him out in three pitches. They take the contest to a nearby field and Roy strikes him out. But Roy's life takes a huge turn for the worst when he visits a woman who has it in for great athletes. His life gets sidetracked for something like 16 years. But he makes a comeback, this time as a rightfielder and comes up from the minors to the New York Knights, a pro team. Wilford Brimley is the Knight's manager. Brimley won't let Roy even participate in practice because of his age, thinks he's some kind of joke and decides to send him back to the minors. But he changes his mind and tells Roy to show up for batting practice the next day. Roy brings his own bat, a bat he made long ago from a tree on his farm that lightning struck. He starts slugging every pitch into the seats. When he finally gets to play in a real game his hitting becomes legendary. He practically becomes a cult figure with the kids. The ballpark scenes in this show are the best in the movie. It gives you a feel of what pro ball was like in 1939. It isn't all smooth sailing from there on though. Forces are at work to see that the Knights fail. Roy seems destined to thwart their plans and must be thrown off course someway. Despite an injury, he comes back to play his last game, with the pennant at stake. He's the last batter up with two outs in the 9th and two on.
Rating: 
Summary: Film maker attempts a modern myth - and succeeds
Review: Critics of this movie have suggested that it is saccharin in its sentiment, unrealistic, and not faithful to the Bernard Malamud novel of the same name. In a sense, all of this is true. The charge of not being faithful to the Malamud novel is certainly true. It is, in fact, sort of the polar opposite of Malamud's cynical, bitter novel, for which I for one am grateful. Malamud's novel come from a time when writers were so shocked by the essentially carnivorous business of the world that they tended to shriek in a childish wail about their own lost innocence. Be assured, this is not a "realistic" exposé on the business of baseball in America. This film is an exercise in myth making, which is always a fairly dramatic, sentimental undertaking. Folks that carp about the "hokey" quality of this film have missed the point completely and also missed a great movie. I loved this movie. Here's why: First, Robert Redford is magnificent as Roy Hobbs, the golden natural from the heartland whose baseball career is sidetracked by a demented fan. He vanishes for a long time, and then reappears as a middle-aged rookie, much older and wiser. This is one of my favorite Redford roles ever because the actor fits the role so perfectly. When Redford comes back to baseball as a damaged, mature man, he really shines. He has always had a talent for saying a few words that reveal whole histories, and that quality is put to great use here. Secondly, the supporting cast for this movie has many great performances: Glen Close plays Iris Gaines, Roy's true love and guardian angel, and this, along with Dangerous Liaisons, is one of her very good outings. Kim Basinger turns in a complex performance as Memo Paris, the fatal female that is both sympathetic and poison at the same time. But my favorite performance is Darren McGavin as huckster and company man, Gus Sands. McGavin is simply great. His character will smile and tell you a dirty joke while he eases a knife into your back, and McGavin seems to have a great time throughout. Lastly, the film is told in dramatic, heroic terms. The scenes are set up, as is the cinematography, to capture the most dramatic expects of a situation. This film really goes for the heart and makes no apologies. Roy Hobbs is a baseball myth, pure and simple. The sound track, by Randy Newman, surges and swells in epic strokes. Newman himself has said it was his first opportunity to compose a piece of music that was "heroic." If you allow yourself the experience of this film, home runs can really give you chills.
Rating: 
Summary: So lightweight it floats
Review: (This is the third time I am submitting this review. The editors at Amazon have consistently censored my opinion of Levinson as a hack director, the reported cost of the film, and the word "lame" for some odd reason. There is nothing libellous or obscene about any of these facts, the only reason Amazon is supposed to censor something. These are legitimate facts or critical opinions about the film and its creators. Similarly I am baffed by Amazon's editing in past reviews of the words "flaccid" and "seminal." In both cases I was informed I was not to use sexually suggestive words in reviews. I told the Amazon editor to buy a dictionary. Amazon, this review conforms to your guidelines. Either print it the way it is written OR DO NOT PRINT IT. Your censorship is either disturbing or idiotic, depending on if the hack editors who read these reviews know what the words actually mean. Thank you.) * * * * * * * * I am baffled by the point of this film. If it's just a "loving homage" to movies from a more sweet and innocent time (which would explain why they took Malamud's contemporary novel and reset it to the 1930s), it takes itself far too seriously. If it's symbolic, the symbolism is thin and plain. If it's just "a good baseball tale," it's pretty lame, and only plays on our sentimentality. For example, Roy Hobbs is told if he plays The Big Game, he could blow a gasket and die. He plays anyway. So intently does he play that he bleeds right through his skin and shirt. That's the Nike spirit. Yet in the end he is shown alive and okay, whatever having caused that rupture (from a bullet wound 16 years ago???) apparently healed for good. False alarm. And it makes no sense. But it gets the tear ducts flowing. Glenn Close, whom he hasn't seen in 16 years, now has a teenaged son. The kid looks like Bobby Redford, and "has a father in New York." She practically says "...playing outfield for the Knights, dummy," because he looks rather baffled as he stands below her window scratching his noggin. Did Levinson, one of the many hack directors to come up in the 80s via Spielberg, think the audience was THAT dumb? Apparently it is, for I have sat with people who didn't get the identity of the kid! The dialogue is painful and telegraphs the emotions of the characters in Western Union typeface. The script is a series of cliches. I know the sentiment is deliberate, but you can be sweet without being so hokey. Field of Dreams almost did that, although I concede that film owes something to The Natural in its tone and treatment, as well as simply the fact that it got made. The central character in Malamud's book is multi-faceted and complex, causing his own downfall when faced with choices of character, and ultimately only learning from it when it was too late. Redford would never play such a rich character. Instead we get Saint Hobbs, to whom all sorts of unfair things happen, with no real [inner] struggles *that he initiates.* That's the difference between the book and the film, between literature and hackwork. There can be no redemption because there was no downfall, because there was no sin, because Redford is a matinee idol who won't permit it. This could have been an interesting movie. Instead we get a floozy Kim Basinger saying "I'm not waiting for true love to come along, Roy" as if we didn't already know that, and in case we don't, we get a "sexy" music cue at that moment to help. It wouldn't be so bad if we could laugh at it, but it's presented as a film with a Message About Integrity, as though it were something by Horton Foote. The cinematography is excellent, though they must have gotten tired of waiting till "the magic hour" every day to do most of their outdoor filming so that Waldo Pepper's halo would look golden. I understand it drove the budget up pretty high--reportedly $32 million, a lot of money for a picture at that time. Newman's much-lauded score does the job but is derivative, and chimes in at some really painfully predictable spots. ("He's my son!") One nice touch: note the first time you ever hear the "Natural Theme," the main melody that plays over the end credits. It's at the precise moment he starts to dimly--very dimly, mind you--realize who the kid is. The kid--as well as fatherhood and redemption--are all connected to that theme. It's the glue that holds what little plot there is together. And Glenn Close is so skilled an actress, she is able to recite some cornball lines and really make them work. Wilford Brimley, for all the laudatory notices he always gets, plays Wilford Brimley. And Darren McGavin and Robert Duvall have such underdeveloped characters they don't get to do much besides wear dark clothes and look shifty. The video transfer is very fine, the accompanying commentary interesting, and the extras are abundant. A "Making of" documentary might have been interesting. But the film itself makes Rocky look like Shakespeare, and makes me wonder if the average movie-goer is in fact about 15 years old--at least mentally.
Rating:
Summary: "I know better."
Review: This is another one that I recently re-watched. I have an old VHS copy but would LOVE to see it on DVD, if there is such a thing. (Sadly, you have to ask nowadays; not every film of a certain age automatically goes to this format.) Yes, it's sentimental; get over it!! It amazes me that so many of our filmgoers can't view a film of positive, sophisticated, charm without rolling their eyes or sticking their finger down their throat. (As if we don't have enough coarse, angry, 'edgy' films in release already.) I don't mind Redford's Joe Hardy-like ability one bit, because success- for all of his skill and talent- still dosen't come to him easily. He must suffer a physical tragedy, be elusive with his greedy contemporaries, and finally deal with the past- which he spends the entire movie trying to hide- catch up to him at the end. The one nitpick I have with the whole film was the painfully obvious soft-focus photography used to disguise Redford's age throughout the film. Strangely enough, it isn't so bad in the first reel when he's supposed to be 19 or so (and the camera shoots him at length), but later, when he's supposed to be 35-36, he just *isn't*. Glenn Close is radiant as his love from childhood, and shines in a memorable scene when they are first reunited at one of his games. After he goes into a foreshadowed slump, it is the arrival of the beautifully backlit Close (whose arrival he senses even before seeing her) that brings him back to winning. Singularly gorgeous.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Whenever I feel the need to give my self a boost, I pop in The Natural. It's a brilliant sports film.
Rating:
Summary: Mythic baseball film
Review: Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a remarkable baseball player with a rare natural talent for the game, struggles with the forces of darkness as personified by such figures as duplicitous sports writers, greedy team owners and gamblers, and various femmes fatale. Succumbing to such temptations results in a 15-year absence from the game he loves, but he returns more seasoned and mature with the knowledge that only a pure devotion to his original passion will steer him through life's perils. The mythic elements of Hobbs's story are sometimes laid on too thick, but this remains a frequently effective film that evokes an atmosphere and sense of magic that gives even a non-fan like me some insight into why baseball fans love their game so much.
Rating:
Summary: If you thought Little Big League was longer
Review: If Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) only wanted wanted to play baseball, they why did it take him 16 years before he played in his rookie season with the New York Knights. At first he had a tryout with the Cubs but I guess seem to quit after he got shot. And then 16 long years later he found a team. The manger tells him that he should be thinking of retiring from baseball then starting playing baseball. This movie almost runs 2 and 20 minutes. But if you love baseball, I reccomend you to watch this movie. If you like this movie check out these titles. Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, Little Big League, The Rookie, Angles in the Outfield (1994), Rookie of the Year
Rating:
Summary: Its never too late in life to start again
Review: A classic tale about never giving up on your dreams and overcoming lifes hurdles if you believe in yourself 100%. A great movie and not just for fans of baseball. I own the Region 4 version which also allows you to watch the film in Spanish or English audio (as does a lot of Region 4 DVD's), I'm not sure though if the Region 1 version offered here has Spanish audio. In Australia many people by multiple region DVD players so it really does not matter to us where we buy our DVD's but people in the United States might like to check it out first if Spanish audio is important to you.
Rating:
Summary: great movie that is a spin on Homer's The Odyssey
Review: This movie is an obvious modern day spin on Homer's The Odyssey that is centered around the American pastime. Despite the clear cut formula, this movie has its own magic. I can watch this movie over and over again and still be fascinated by it, and I'm not even a baseball fan. Roy Hobb's seemingly effortless advance to baseball greatness is hindered by a siren and the evil businessman. Roy's naivete is exposed. Roy returns to baseball at an age when most players have retired. The superior athletic ability of his youth has been squandered and the hubris has been dropped. Instead of competing with a decided competetive advantage, Roy is at a physical disadvantage and must rely on discipline, wits and experience to overcome his life's tragedy and repair his legacy. This movie is a story of redemption and man's struggle v. mortality.
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I'm proud to say that I wrote this review before watching the extra DVD footage with Cal Ripken, jr. and Barry Levinson.
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