The Natural
THE NATURAL (PG)
D: Barry Levinson
Tristar/Delphi (Mark Johnson)
US 1984
134 mins
Sports/Drama
W: Roger Towne & Phil
Dusenberry [based on the novel by Bernard Malamud]
DP: Caleb Deschanel
Ed: Stu Linder
Mus: Randy Newman
PD: Angelo Graham & Mel
Bourne
Cos: Bernie Pollack & Gloria Gresham
Robert Redford (Roy Hobbs), Robert Duvall (Max Mercy),
Glenn Close (Iris Gaines), Kim Basinger (Memo Paris), Wilford Brimley (Pop Fisher), Barbara Hershey (Harriet Bird), Robert Prosky (The Judge), Richard Farnsworth (Red), Joe
Don Baker ('The Whammer')
Even if you're not a fan of baseball or even sports movies
in general, The Natural has plenty about it to enjoy.
Robert Redford plays an ageing player who is scouted by a
struggling team who are initially reluctant to let him play due to his age, but when they subsequently let him loose on the field, he turns their season around.
The story may seem cliched and just like countless other
triumph over adversity tales but it's actually a lot more clever than what you take at face value. There's plenty of references to Arthurian legend, including a homemade bat substituting for
the legendary sword, Excalibur.
Set during the Great Depression, there's meticulous
attention in period detail from director Barry Levinson and the rest of the production crew and Randy Newman's uplifting music must be one of the great music scores of all time (there's a
good chance you've heard it even if you haven't seen the movie).
7/10
