...taken at face value The Natural reveals charms of its own, not the least of which is its sweet, lyrical attitude toward America’s Favorite Pastime.
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Bottom of the ninth, down 2-0 in the pennant game, two men on base, two outs, and batting-sensation Roy Hobbs is stepping up to the plate. It´s what baseball mythology is all about.
Striving to translate any novel for the big screen can be tricky business, and not even talented director Barry Levinson ("Diner," "Rain Man," "Quiz Show") can successfully pull off Bernard Malamud´s eccentrically pessimistic, 1952 allegory on the inherent weaknesses of man. So rather than trying to manage the convoluted fable literally, Levinson in this 1984 movie version opts for a simplified Hollywood rendering, complete with a revised, fairy-tale ending. The result is not so much disappointing as it is disconcerting for anyone who has read the book. Nevertheless, taken at face value "The Natural" reveals charms of its own, not the least of which is its sweet, lyrical attitude toward America´s Favorite Pastime. Combined with a measure of good humor, it´s a film that even non-baseball fans can like.
Robert Redford stars as baseball player Roy Hobbs, a man who simply wanted to be the "best there ever was." The story begins in the early 1920s, when he´s a promising young pitcher on his way to the major leagues. Seeing him strike out the leading slugger of the day, "Whammer" Wambold (Joe Don Baker in a nod to Babe Ruth), in a carnival pickup game, shows us how really good he is. So does it show something in Roy to a more-than-casual spectator, Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey). She has been murdering the best athletes in the country, and when she witnesses what Roy can do, she turns her attentions away from the "Whammer" and toward her new prey. Before we know it, Roy is lying face down in a hotel room with a bullet in his side, courtesy of the mysterious Ms. Bird.
Next, we skip ahead sixteen years to 1939. Roy is approaching middle-age and struggling to get back into the game after a long convalescence. Here, Redford looks a tad too old for the part, being somewhat over the line into middle age himself at the time, but he gets by. He´s noticed by a scout for the most inept team in the majors, the New York Knights, and brought aboard, much to the chagrin of the general manager, Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley), "I shoulda been a farmer." Pop doesn´t want any over-the-hill rookies on his team and at first won´t give Roy a chance to play. Of course, when Roy does get his big break, with the sudden death of the team´s most valuable prima donna, Bump Bailey (Michael Madsen), in a bizarre accident in center field, he becomes an instant star. Roy can no longer pitch, due to his injury, but he can hit home runs like nobody´s business.
Then come the complications, probably too many, in fact, bloating the film to 138 minutes and causing it to sag noticeably in the middle. But what can you do? It´s in the book. The first complication is the lovely Memo Paris (Kim Basinger), Pop´s temptress niece. Next, there´s the nefarious "Judge" (Robert Prosky), who owns a majority share of the team and threatens to oust Pop if they don´t win the pennant. Then there´s Gus Sands (Darren McGavin in an uncredited part), an unscrupulous gambler who will do anything for money. And finally there´s Max Mercy (Robert Duvall), an opportunistic sports writer who makes or breaks just about any ball player he chooses. It doesn´t take long before the less-than-savvy Roy succumbs to the lures of late-night partying with Ms. Paris, much to the delight of the aforementioned bystanders, each of whom has a stake in his downfall. But coming to Roy´s rescue is a Lady in White, Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), an old friend who becomes his renewed inspiration.
What it all means in Levinson´s scheme of things, in spite of the film´s length and complexity, is not much more than the redemption of a fallen hero through a revitalized purity of spirit. The story contains little of the dark, metaphoric content of Malamud´s book.
For those interested, I thought it might be fun to speculate on some of Malamud´s symbology, much of which is only hinted at in the film. Those readers less interested in such matters may safely skip to the next paragraph. For starters, there´s the dictionary definition of a "natural" as a person born with a gift or talent; but it´s also a reference to someone unenlightened or an idiot. Sorry, Roy. Then, there´s Gus Sands, a probable allusion to Arnold Rothstein, the bookie responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series ("Say it ain´t so, Joe"). But it´s the Arthurian symbols that are most obvious. The very name Roy, for instance, as in Roi or rex, means king, a clear pointing to King Arthur, and a matter supported by Roy´s having a bat called Wonderboy, just as Arthur had his Excalibur, a powerful, sometimes magical, weapon. Interestingly, the original Irish name for Excalibur was Caladbolg, derived from the words "calad" (hard) and "bolg" (lightning). In the updated narrative the Wonderboy bat is honed so that it cannot be chipped and is engraved with the likeness of a lightning bolt. Needless to say, the New York Knights have to be the Knights of Arthur's Round Table in this reading of the story, and Knights Stadium must be Camelot. The pennant the club is after is probably their Holy Grail, the legendary cup of Christ. To see the Grail, a knight had to be morally perfect (or as Roy wished to be, "the best"). Pop Fisher can easily be seen as the Fisher King (King Pellam or, in variations of the story, the Rich Fisher, Pelles, Pelleam, Pellehan, Parlan, Bron, Anfortas, King Pescheour, King of the Waste Lands, or the Maimed King, and thank you very much Phyllis Ann Karr and "The King Arthur Companion").
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]6741[/release]