HotToastyRag Even if you haven't seen it all the way through, or if you saw it so long ago you don't remember it in its entirety, there are parts of The Natural that you'll never forget. In the beginning, when young Robert Redford carves a baseball bat from the lightening-charred wood of a tree, the "Wonderboy" bat will become engrained in your memory. And I don't know of any moviegoer who doesn't immediately recognize the slow-motion home run with fireworks and Randy Newman's beautiful score in the background.Those two scenes aside, The Natural is a classic baseball movie. Robert Redford rises and falls—and perhaps rises again—as a baseball player in the 1920s and 1930s. Which means this is a perfect "compromise" movie, as I call it. Men will be satisfied because it's a sports movie, and ladies will get to drool over Robert Redford in period piece outfits.Three women, Barbara Hershey, Glenn Close, and Kim Basinger, are important and different influences in his life. Joining the cast are Robert Duvall as the nosy reporter—are there really any other kind of reporter?—and Wilford Brimley as the team manager. If you haven't seen this 80s classic by now, rent it during the last week of March to get revved up for baseball season. The music is surprisingly beautiful; you'd never guess the same composer wrote the music to Toy Story. And even though he's always handsome in his movies, Robert Redford is particularly gorgeous in this one, so even if you don't like baseball, there's plenty else to fall in love with.

zkonedog "The Natural" is a strange move by any sense of the imagination. One minute, it can be as serious as any movie ever made. The next minute, an outfielder crashes through the wall, dies, and has his ashes spread over the field in a later game. Despite the oddities that pop up here and there, though, "The Natural" remains a classic for one simple reason: it will move you emotionally in the end.For a basic plot summary, "The Natural" tells the story of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford), a young pitcher who seems to have the world on a string on his way to the major leagues. When a freak accident takes him out of the game for many years, though, he comes back a wily, grizzled veteran just hoping for another chance. He gets that chance with the Knights, coached by Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley). While figures such as the team owner (Robert Prosky) and prominent sports writer Max Mercy (Robert Duvall) want to see him fail, Hobbs shows the type of perseverance that legends are made of.Like I said in the opening, "The Natural" can be a really strange movie at times. It's almost like director Barry Levinson doesn't quite understand how strange his dramatic tone shifts were as the film rolls along. While some view this as quirky and giving the movie its own style, I see it as a negative (the only reason it doesn't get my full five stars and vault into "Field of Dreams" territory).That being said, "The Natural" does more than enough things right to still remain a classic movie. Certain sequences (striking out The Whammer (Joe Don Baker), "pick me out a winner, Bobby", etc.) are now etched into iconic film & baseball lore. Then, of course, there is that ending. I don't care how cheesy you might have thought the movie up until that point was, but if that final scene doesn't move you to tears, you probably have a stone in place of a heart. When it comes to "greatest single scene in a baseball movie of all-time", Hobbs' final at-bat probably takes home the prize.One must also comment on the music of "The Natural", as that is part of the reason why it resonates on such an emotional level. I don't think I could name too many soundtracks that top this one. The main theme is now a mainstay, and it seems like all the scenes in the film are backed by the perfect instrumentals.Overall, "The Natural" is a slice of "baseball Americana", if not a perfect one. There are moments that will probably make you shake your head out of weirdness, but more often than not you will find yourself falling for Roy Hobbs and his quest for the American dream...baseball style.

valleycapfan This is one of those movies that I realize I'm in the distinct minority by disliking so strongly, but I feel this epitomizes the type of vanity platform for Robert Redford similar to these demonstrated a few years later by Kevin Costner, especially in Wyatt Earp and The Postman.I recall this film having an excessive use of slow-motion, especially after Redford's character hits a home run (he never seemed to do anything but hit those or strike out - not even a triple could be written into the script). Other characters were clichés right out of central casting, particularly Robert Prosky's. Like so many sports movies that try to adopt story lines with nearly biblical meanings, this one takes itself WAY too seriously.

adams79 Not just a great film about baseball, but a fable about overcoming demons, rising from nothing to greatness and good old fashioned love.Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a prodigious baseball player who showed incredible promise as a young man, but was shot by a serial killer who hunted star athletes. Although he didn't die, he was badly wounded and missed his opportunity to join Major League baseball. The story revolves around his comeback (16 years later), overcoming his weakness for women, reuniting with the love of his life Iris (Glen Close) and saving his ball club and their head coach Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) from being sold. In the end, Hobbs must confront his younger self in a final showdown for glory, but ultimately his own happiness.This is not a story about real life or "the real world". This movie is metaphoric. Although the theme is around baseball, it is actually a story of a cursed knight with a magical sword who saves a Kingdom from a tyrannical ruler.There have been many reviews about the great performances by all of the cast, but the one thing that I have not heard much about is the INCREDIBLE score for this film. Written by Randy Newman...yes the Toy Story guy. He composed what is in my opinion, possibly the most iconic and memorable fanfare ever written for a movie. Absolutely, beautiful and uplifting. I can't for the life of me understand why he didn't win an Oscar for his work on this film. In the style of Aaron Copland, the perfect sixth that soars above as the baseball smashes the lights in the end scene will make even the hardest of men think about their childhood. Iris' leitmotif is very charming and makes you fall in love with her as much as she and Roy truly love each other.It is important to remember that this movie is only based on the book. That is to say, the characters start off the same, but they do not arc the same as the book and that ultimately effects the story's outcome. Roy Hobbs' character is much purer in the movie than in the book. If you've read the book and expect to see the same story in the movie, you'll be surprised. Perhaps, unpleasantly surprised. I prefer the movie to the book, but I saw this movie when I was a kid and I am so biased that Roger Ebert himself (who didn't really like the movie) could come back from the dead and draft a 50 page critique of this movie and I still would love it just as much. That's how powerful and impressionable this movie is.Watch this movie. People have compared it to the Fisher King, (hello? Pop Fisher?) and the Lancelot, King Arthur story (the team name is the New York "Knights").. all of that may be true, but I find that the most important theme that stems from this movie is Aristotalian... that is one's pursuit of happiness."Pick me out a winner Bobby." ... What a great film...