The Natural (1984)
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 6
Though heavy with sentiment, The Natural is an irresistible classic, and a sincere testament to America's national pastime.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 3
Though heavy with sentiment, The Natural is an irresistible classic, and a sincere testament to America's national pastime.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 36,803
Movie Info
The film version of The Natural pulls off the neat trick of conveying the spirit of the Bernard Malamud novel upon which it is based, even while changing both the outcome and the meaning of Malamud's closing chapters. In his first film appearance in four years, Robert Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a farm boy with a hankering to be a great baseball player. With his faithful homemade bat "Wonderboy" in hand, Roy heads to the big city. En route, he arouses the fascination of the mysterious Harriet Bird
May 11, 1984 Wide
Apr 3, 2001
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Watch It Now
Cast
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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 Blow -
Joe Don Baker
The Whammer -
John Finnegan
Sam Simpson -
Alan Fudge
Ed Hobbs -
Paul Sullivan
Young Roy -
Rachel Hall
Young Iris -
Robert III Rich
Teb Hobbs -
Michael Madsen
Bump Bailey -
Danny Aiello
Emil LaJang -
Joe Castellano
Allie Stubs -
Barry Kivel
Pat McGee -
Elizabeth Ann Klein
Stern Nurse -
Bernie McInerney
Hospital Doctor -
Mike Starr
Boone -
Ralph Tabakin
Al's Customer -
Jon Van Ness
John Olsen -
Gayle Vance
Maid at Party -
Ed Walsh
Newsreel Presenter -
Darren McGavin
Gus Sands -
Eddie Cipot
Gabby Laslow -
Joseph Strand
Home Plate Umpire at Fi... -
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Sam Green
Murphy
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All Critics (34) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (28) | Rotten (6) | DVD (22)
Being a baseball fan involves repeatedly experiencing exquisite pain and exquisite joy. Well, there's a lot of both in The Natural.
Levinson must have felt he had to swing for the fences. He can be forgiven for choking up with all The Natural's fans looking on dubiously. In fairness, the official scorer must credit him with a single. And Redford with an RBI.
The Natural is an impeccably made, but quite strange, fable about success and failure in America.
I've just about had it with directors who use the mythic mode as an alibi for unshaded characterizations, simpleminded plotting, and swells of artificial emotionality.
Let yourself go and be rewarded by the sight of a hero running home to victory through clouds of fire.
Top CriticThe message is: Baseball is purely and simply a matter of divine intervention. At about the 130-minute mark, I got the idea that God's only begotten son was playing right field for the New York team.
Barry Levinson deviates considerably from the wry, ironic tone of Malamud's novel, and if the film is mildly enjoyable it's due to the acting of the supporting cast and polished production values.
An otherwise fine sports fantasy is dragged down by an overindulgence in sentimentality.
...silly, repetitive, episodic, mannered...
unabashedly sentimental and grand in its themes of goodness, honor, tenacity, and forgiveness
No popped-up fly doubles. Just wham, bam, home run. Get the picture?
Robert Redford isn't playing a 1930s baseball hero ... he's playing an instrument of God.
Somewhat overly sentimental, lacking the novel's subtlety, and less interesting when the action leaves the ball park, Barry Levinson's beautifully shot film is nonetheless a charming fairy tale.
Jammed full with cliches, The Natural never misses a chance to manipulate the audience
A mature and elegiac fantasy done with feeling and sincerity that really captures the mystique of old-time baseball.
The most sentimental movie you needn't be ashamed to love.
Sappy fun
The cinematography is lush, the Randy Newman score is so epic that Hollywood uses it for practically every movie trailer that isn't a Chris Tucker comedy or a Shaft remake, and the period detail, and baseball scenes, are top notch.
Lessons for life, suitable for the Disney Channel and inspiration for people who love fairy tales ... a favorite of people who love sentiment and melodrama.
Audience Reviews for The Natural
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Pop Fisher: It's the right thing to do.
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- Gus Sands: You're missing the whole point kid, I already did.
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- Bump Bailey: [after failing to catch a fly ball] I lost it in the sun.
- Pop Fisher: [looks up at the cloudy sky] Blinding.
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- Pop Fisher: People don't start playing ball at your age, they retire!
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- Roy Hobbs: Pick me out a winner Bobby.
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- Pop Fisher: Batting practice tomorrow, be there!
- Roy Hobbs: I have been. Every day.
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Movie: ID: 10224 Title: The Natural Release Date: 1984-05-11 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 2 Status: 1
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Saw it again! Probably one of the best baseball movies ever made. Robert Redford nail his role as Roy Hobbs, amazing talent! Wicked story! Everything about this movie appears authentic. From the time period, to the baseball scenes. These guys really look like a baseball team. A touching story, without being hokey. You get the feeling you are watching something mystical and magical along with all the characters in the movie, and it is played with just the right note. Thrilling and inspiring. A well-made, well-acted film. Loved the end, one of the best endings ever!
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.