The Natural (1984)

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 | Lightning | Tree | Team | Baseball Player

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

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Norway:12 | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | 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:

Barry Kivel's film debut

Goofs:

Continuity: After Hobbs splits "Wonderboy", he tells the bat boy to pick him a winner. The bat boy gives him a bat called "Savoy Special". When Hobbs hits the game winning home run, supposedly with "Savoy Special" you can see the lightning bolt from "Wonderboy" in his hands.

Quotes:

Roy Hobbs: The only thing I know about the dark is you can't see in it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (2009)

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.