The Natural

Just a couple of days ago, I was flipping through channels on the television to see if there was anything to watch. While scrolling through the list of channels on the guide, I saw The Natural. The title sounded familiar but I didn't know why. I decided to watch it, and when I turned it on, (it was at the beginning of the film), it was Robert Redford pitching. Then it all came back to me. In sixth grade, I had had a media teacher who was a huge Robert Redford fan. She had a film poster of The Natural on her wall. After watching the film, I totally understood why she was such a huge fan of the film (and an even bigger fan of Robert Redford).

The Natural, was released in 1984 and directed by Barry Levinson. It was also based off of a book of the same name, written in 1952 by Bernard Malamud.

The Natural is a film about an aspiring pitcher, Roy Hobbs (Redford) who is headed to the major leagues; however, on the way, he is shot by a mysterious woman, forcing him to temporarily abandon his ambitions of becoming a pitcher in the major leagues. Despite his incident, he never gives up baseball. After his recovery, at the age of 35, Hobbs makes a second attempt to get back into the major leagues, this time as an outfielder and, of course, hitter. Hobbs is recruited by the New York Knights, a major league team with a record losing streak. At first, his coach and teammates underestimate him because of his age and dubbed him to be the "middle-aged rookie." Despite taunts from his teammates, Hobbs proves himself to be a hitter with astouning skills, and immediately becomes the most well known player in the league as he breaks records.

It can be said that The Natural is one of those "inspirational" films where the theme is "never giving up" but the premise and the plot of the film are both terrific.  I don't think I've ever watched a film about baseball that I actually like; this is the first. The first time I saw it (I actually watched it again the next day since I missed part of the beginning), I thought the story was really unique. An aspiring pitcher getting shot by a random woman whose intentions were never revealed, forcing him to restart his career? I'd never heard anything like it. It's unique and very enjoyable. Robert Redford's performance as the ambitious, tough, and somewhat vulnerable baseball player is phenomenal as well.

And I've got to say, Robert Redford's attractiveness back in the days was really the cherry-on-top for this The Natural.

It was extremely difficult finding a good quality Youtube clip of this film. I tried finding a clip where Hobbs was actually playing baseball, but couldn't because the quality was extremely poor. Instead, I found this one clip of Hobbs talking to his childhood sweetheart, Iris (Close), about how he wants to be "the best there ever was" which is a line that comes up a lot throughout this film. Enjoy!