Plot
An average baseball player comes out of seemingly nowhere to become a legendary player with almost divine talent.
Release Year: 1984
Rating: 7.4/10 (20,494 voted)
Director:
Barry Levinson
Stars: Robert Redford, Robert Duvall, Glenn Close
Storyline An unknown middle-aged batter named Roy Hobbs with a mysterious past appears out of nowhere to take a losing 1930s baseball team to the top of the league in this magical sports fantasy. With the aid of a bat cut from a lightning struck tree, Hobbs lives the fame he should have had earlier when, as a rising pitcher, he is inexplicably shot by a young woman.
Writers: Bernard Malamud, Roger Towne
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
Taglines:
The best there was!
Release Date: 11 May 1984
Filming Locations: All-High Stadium - 50 Mercer Avenue, Buffalo, New York, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $28,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $5,088,381
(USA)
(13 May 1984)
(989 Screens)
Gross: $47,951,979
(USA)
(16 September 1984)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
USA:
(Director's Cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The Bat that batboy Bobby Savoy gives Roy is called the "Savoy Special". Savoy Special was a brand of beer in the 1930s and was made by the United States Brewing Co.
Goofs:
Continuity:
In the climactic scene, when the lead runner and the third baseman arrive at third base they are not wearing the caps they had on a few seconds before.
Quotes: Roy Hobbs:
My life didn't turn out the way I expected.
User Review
My favorite baseball movie. Truly magical.
Rating:
A wonderful, magical fairy tale, and morality play. This is the type of
movie that as a new father, I cannot wait until my son is old enough to
watch this with me.
I know much has been made about Redford being too old to play Roy Hobbs. But
much of the story asks you to believe in incredible things, so to me, this
is a minor issue.
Everything about this movie is first rate. The cast which includes Redford,
Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley and a pair of terrific
performances turned in by Robert Duval and Darren McGavin.
It is easy to see that all of the actors trust the material and believe in
their characters.
Barry Levinson tells the story in a straight forward style, he doesn't try
to build any false suspense or surprise twists. When you watch this movie
you know exactly what is going to happen long before it does, but you don't
care, because it unfolds intelligently and without pretense.
My two favorite components of this movie are the cinematography by Caleb
Deschanel and the beautiful, moving score composed by Randy Newman. I first
enjoyed Mr. Deschanel's work on "Being There", and felt Mr. Newman's score
for "Ragtime" was the best score of 1981.
"The Natural" is so much more than a baseball movie. It is a story about
faith, good and evil, right and wrong, fathers and sons. It is about all
that is good in baseball and in life.
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