08/27/10 - The Natural

The Natural (1984, 134 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087781/

Ever since a trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame a few months ago I had wanted to see The Natural. Getting my picture taken by "the" bat was so cool for me. I finally get around to watching the movie now. I'd seen it once a long time ago (I think 2002) so I remembered a lot but not a lot of the stuff I look for now when I watch movies.

The film follows the baseball career of Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford). Praised as "The Natural" he is far and away a prize prospect but after being shot in the arm he has to convert from a pitcher to a batter. Following sixteen troubling years he finally gets his shot at the big leagues with a New York team. Playing prominent roles in this character story are: Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), the girl that Roy had a relationship with growing up; Memo Paris (Kim Basinger), the girl that Roy has a relationship once he gets in the majors; Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley), Roy's major league manager; The Judge (Robert Prosky), the man who wants to buy the team; Gus Sands (Darren McGavin), a gambler with ties to The Judge; and Max Percy (Robert Duvall), a sportswriter.

The Natural might just be the best sports movie ever made. However, I might be biased as I love baseball more than any other sport. Anyway, the thing that sets The Natural so high up there for me is this mythical quality it has about it. Baseball is so old (the "modern era" starts in 1900) and has so much history. Players have become legends and simple at bats have taken on mythical qualities of their own. I imagine most people know of the called home run of Babe Ruth and most probably accept it as unquestioned fact. Did it happen the way they believe it did? Probably not, but baseball is so grandiose that it's quite possible to believe it did. This "feel" is what The Natural gets perfectly right. Could someone like Roy Hobbs exist - I mean, someone back then that could go from being the absolute best pitching prospect at a young age to being probably the best hitter of his day at then such an old age? I highly doubt it. But I really don't care as I watch because everything in The Natural is larger than life. He strikes out the greatest batter of his generation on three pitches, he hits a game winning hit in his first at bat while also literally knocking the cover off the ball, and on his final swing he hits a home run into the light fixtures. Basically, any one of these things might be able to happen under the most perfect of circumstances. But could they all happen to the same person? Odds are almost 100% against it. But again, The Natural embraces the mythos of baseball and crafts this story based more on that than anything.

Roy Hobbs as a character also deserves some mention. First, any praise of the character first starts with Robert Redford. Clearly giving an amazing performance, Redford's practice and effort to look like a real baseball player pays off as he really feels the part. He looks like a worn down man giving it his all for one last shot at the majors. Another great aspect of the character is how flawed he is. He has what I guess is the high school love of his life in Iris whom he completely abandons when his life doesn't go the way he wants, he's haunted by demons of his baseball past, and he's seduced by Memo who is working with The Judge and Sands. Roy Hobbs is a real guy with problems who gets all this fame and attention way too quick and doesn't really know how to handle it. Even while Roy is mucking around and fooling around with Memo (and costing his team wins and that) I never feel angry at him. I know he's flawed and doesn't know how to handle this opportunity but that his character traits will (hopefully) win out in the end and he'll do the right thing. Sure, it's not pretty to look at as he slumps terribly but I have faith in his "good" I guess.

Finally, the ending of The Natural is where everything comes together. There's the final game and everything has worked out to (again) make it larger than life. If they win the team wins the pennant and Pop doesn't lose the team to The Judge. As should be the case, Hobbs comes to bat representing the winning run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and as also should be the case he's done terrible in the game up until that point as he battles the pain he's feeling. Pittsburgh changes pitchers to a specialist who is probably twenty years younger than Hobbs. Furthermore, Hobbs is bleeding and the previously miracle bat of Wonderboy is splintered on a foul ball. This reveal is chilling. It's obvious that Hobbs has the natural talent to be great at the game so it's not like the bat has some sort of magical quality. And yet it does. I mean it was carved from a tree that was struck by lightning and it also has this mythos surrounding it. There is absolutely everything going against him right now. The bat boy is forced to "pick [him] out a winner" and selects the homemade bat of his own. The absolute dejection in Hobbs request and in Bobby's sad answer of "Okay" is so disheartening (not to mention the absolute silence in the entire stadium). But then Hobbs hits the mightiest home run ever on his next swing. And when this happens we get the iconic The Natural theme which has become almost a tune of baseball. It's the perfect ending to a sports movie as the "right" guy gets the victory for all the good guys as the "wrong" gambler and owner look on from the murky black shadows. However, what I'd also like to point out is that during this approximately five minute sequence of tension as Hobbs steps up to bat not only do we run the gauntlet of emotions but we are also treated to simply amazing directing. I think every shot here is perfectly paced, perfectly used, perfectly shot and perfectly placed all together. I rewatched this bit while I was writing this paragraph and really couldn't find a single flaw. I think the best little thing is the low-angle shot that is used as Hobbs rounds the bases. While the lights are exploding around him we see him basically from the ground and he appears enormous, again illustrating this larger than life quality that the film embraces so well.

A note on sports endings: I'm not giving The Natural necessarily more praise because it has a great ending. Rocky is amazing and it ends on a downer (for the fight at least, Rocky still gets Adrian). Miracle ends on a positive note but Rocky is a lot better than Miracle. Usually I'm a sucker for bad endings and I think they almost always make movies better. Sports movies are the rare exception where it really depends on the build up in the movie to determine which ending will be better. I think that given the build up for The Natural that the good ending works out better. Now, apparently the book has a more negative ending but I haven't read that so I don't know. As it stands, it has probably one of the best sports endings in my opinion.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. There's just so much right with this movie for me as a lover of baseball. I think The Natural perfectly captures this mythical and legendary quality of the game. One thing I didn't really talk about above but feel like should be mentioned is how great the soundtrack is. Composed by Randy Newman everything fits perfectly. I think my only flaws with the film are some of the secondary characters which aren't amazing (particularly Memo and Percy). Still, The Natural is far and away my favorite baseball movie ever made and might be my favorite sports movie, too.