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The NaturalRating:
Release Date: 03 April, 2001 Retail Price: $14.94 OUR Price: $10.99 You SAVE: $3.95! Cast: Complete Cast (21 total) |
The Natural Reviews
"I didn't see it comin'"
"The life we learn with and the life we live with after that."
This beautiful film about a dream derailed by a dark fate which takes the form of two outwardly lovely but inwardly unbalanced women has my vote for the greatest baseball movie ever made. Director Barry Levinson and screenwriters Roger Towne and Phil Dusenverry turned Bernard Malamud's novel into a meaningful fable that transcends baseball and encompasses life itself.
Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, whose only dream is to walk down the street one day and have people say: "That's Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was." Roy's dad on the farm instills in his son the love for baseball, recognizing in him an extraordinary gift like none before him. When he passes suddenly, young Roy fashions a bat from a tree struck by lightning and the mythic elements of the story begin to take shape.
Glenn Close is wonderful as Roy's sweetheart. She is pure of heart, with no agenda other than Roy's happiness. She is the light of his youth and his life, and will bring him back to his destiny in contrast to the twisted agenda of two other young women. Levinson smartly dresses Close in white, and both Barbara Hershey and Kim Basinger in black, to contrast the good and evil bidding for Roy's fate.
When a dark episode in a hotel room nearly ends Roy's life, 16 years pass before he returns to baseball with the New York Knights. Scoffed at by Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) at first, he and his assistant, Red (Richard Farnsworth), finally give Hobbs a chance and soon he and his bat, "Wonder Boy," take on a mythic quality. But a reporter named Max (Robert Duvall) is bound and determined to discover the secret of those 16 missing years and destroy Roy's chance to be the best there ever was.
It is more than just Max trying to derail his dream, however. Beautiful Kim Basinger is Memo Paris, whose outward appearance can only mask the stone cold part of her heart for so long. Roy almost sees it too late, but when he does, utters the now famous line: "I was wrong Memo. We have met before."
It will be Iris (Glenn Close) who once again acts as Roy's shining light, her kindness and decency and understanding giving Roy strength to have one last go at his dream. She will act as his lighthouse in a storm of dark fate and unbalanced young women, guiding him full circle back to a farm and a life still full of dreams.
This film is for anyone who ever dreamed of being the best there ever was, albeit a baseball player, a carpenter, or a writer. And it is for those who have known a Basinger or a Hershey, and perhaps have even been fortunate enough to know a Close. This is a lovely period film, beautifully shot. Because it is about so much more than just baseball, it is the best baseball movie there ever was......
One of the greatest baseball movies ever made.
A movie I watch 2-3 times every year right about spring training time to get myself into that baseball mood. It really gives you that feel for baseball and why people dedicate their lives to it- in whatever capacity. The color and camera work captures the feel of baseball in yesteryear. So much of this story is told without detailed dialogue- a sign of a great movie. And so many words of wisdom - truisms, are uttered so casually that if you miss them, you miss so much of the very essence of this film. Redford is perfect as Roy Hobbs, as is Wilford Brimley as manager of the lowly New York Knights. But Robert DuVall and Kim Bassinger play great supporting roles, as do the rest of the supporting cast members, many who will be familar character actor faces. I never read the book, but know that those who have take umbrage to the license the movie takes with the story and how they present it. If you haven't read the book that won't affect you. What will affect you is Levinson's direction and the feel for the era he creates with the simplicity of the dialogue, the cinematography, and the color and lighting used. You feel like you're in another era. This Natural also contains my favorite quote in movie history, when Glen Close utters, "I believe we have two lives- the one we learn with, and the one we live with after that." That quote embodies this film, and is my credo. A great movie with a great ending, that was almost reenacted in the 1988 World Series with Kirk Gibson's magical game winning home run in game one against the Oakland A's. A must watch for even non-baseball fans.
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