Robert Redford is "The Natural"
Wednesday, August 21, 2013 at 12:00PM To celebrate Robert Redford's imminent return to cinema in "All is Lost" Team Experience will be surveying some of his classics and key films. Here's Anne Marie on The Natural.
Robert Redford is as American as apple pie and baseball. Actually, it might be equally accurate to say that apple pie and baseball are as American as Robert Redford. Like Jimmy Stewart before him, Redford personifies the American Man ideal. But unlike Stewart's earnest Everyman, Redford, with his golden boy good looks and sweet-but-sardonic smile, is the Mythic American Man model. Redford is not the star you relate to; he's the star you admire from afar. Robert Redford has spent most of his career playing variations on this character, but nowhere is his inherent legendaryness used to greater effect than in the 1984 film The Natural. The Natural is a movie about the American Myth through the lens of the American Pastime.
It would be easy to mistake The Natural for "just another sports movie." The plot certainly reads as another sentiment-drenched schlock-fest. Roy Hobbs, a nobody who's past his prime, changes baseball and wins a championship with his talent, his courage, and a baseball bat struck by lightning. (I rolled my eyes even as I typed that.) However, to take this movie too literally is to miss its point.
The Natural plays on a grander scale. Roy Hobbs is the Arthurian Hero wielding a legendary weapon. It's no coincidence that he leads a baseball team called the Knights. Barbara Hershey, in a small but striking role as the woman who ends his career before it begins, is Temptation. Glenn Close makes a rare appearance as the Good Woman, representing the wholesome life Hobbs missed before but could win back. Kim Basinger makes a not-so-rare appearance as the Sinful Woman, a blonde version of Temptation that Hobbs will have to overcome again. These are Characters with a capital "C," more important for what they symbolize than for who they are. If you don't believe me, watch how often characters are backlit. Strong backlighting is cinematography shorthand for Significant And Symbolic Character.
Glenn Close as "Good Woman" a few years before evil was her forte
I have to confess: I usually hate sports movies. I, like Margo Channing, detest cheap sentiment, which is the currency most sports films trade in. The underdog story is overdone. There are only so many sacrifices a man can make for a game before I question his priorities; and really, Rudy made one sack in one play, so why are we cheering mediocrity?
By that measure, I should hate The Natural too. But I can't. Maybe it's Robert Redford's rugged handsomeness (there is no such thing as "middle-aged" Redford; like wine, cheese, and good art, he just gets better with time). Maybe I just really love watching Barbara Hershey vamp. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for movies about the American Dream, where one person can change the world thorugh earnest hard work. Whatever the reason, The Natural remains a personal favorite, as well as a classic.
Reader Comments (11)
I hate it mostly due to reading the book beforehand. Taking a pretty powerful death of the American Dream novel and turning into a rather insipidly cliched straight-up American Dream movie just seems kind of intelligence-insulting.
God, I hate this movie. The book is a million times better.
Apparently I should go read the book and then re-review this movie.
Actually your review was quite helpful. I always felt there were certain subtexts that I was missing. The whole American Myth explanation makes sense, although I must confess I still prefer Bull Durham, but that's almost entirely Sarandon's fault.
Peggy Sue, Bull Durham is the greatest movie about baseball ever produced, not just because of Susan Sarandon (although she certainly helps). I can't stand Kevin Costner, and I still love that movie.
"I hate it mostly due to reading the book beforehand. Taking a pretty powerful death of the American Dream novel and turning into a rather insipidly cliched straight-up American Dream movie just seems kind of intelligence-insulting."
You don't want to know how Field of Dreams originally was in novel form then.
I'm more into the Bull Durham/Slap Shot/Bad News Bears side of things in wanting the myth of sports to be combusted.
Side Note: CMG's auntie played an extra for the crowd in the stands when Michael Madsen crashes to his death.
I agree so much with your conclusion Anne Marie.
"By that measure, I should hate The Natural too. But I can't."
I feel so similarly every time I watch it. It's hokey. Sure. But it's what The American Myths are. They're seemingly extraordinary people getting pulled down and rising back up again only to be thought of as distant memories.
It's a fairy tale in so many ways. It's not even as simple as good triumphing over evil, but rather that bit of redemption can make you immortal. But in the case of "The Natural" I'm always so drawn because it's so fleeting. Give it five years, will anyone still be reminded of The Great Roy Hobbs? Unlikely.
Yes, It varies wildly from Malamud's cynical American dream story, but I think it works still.
Other than Days of Heaven, has another more beautiful movie been shot during Magic Hour? I honestly don't think so.
Like Hubbel Gardner before him Roy Hobbs is America and so is Redford. He's just so...what for it...natural.
Frankly I also like watching all three women's styles and performances rubbing up against each other too. Glenn still wins for me in the three, but I think the scene with Memo and Roy on the beach is just stunning.
I haven't seen this movie since the 80s but i never understood Glenn Close's nomination for it (even though I remember liking the movie). I was way more intrigued by Hershey & Basinger in it... though I'm not sure it necessarily needs a nomination for any of its performances.
This post has taken me straight back to 1984. I saw this movie in the cinema and loved it but have not seen it since. I can't remember why I loved it. I do know they I became a Glenn Close Fan and hated Kim Basinger from this moment on. As for Robert Redford he was s little old for my teenage self but I have come to appreciate him more as I get older. I am inspired to watch this movie again now. Heading to i-tunes as I speak...
I believe Glenn Close herself said that she didn't understand her nomination for this movie; she thought it was mostly recognition for the work the lighting people and cinematographer did when she was on-screen. I am a big fan of this film and can't resist watching it when it's on tv (which is quite often). It's too bad Barry Levinson's career has faded somewhat.
I agree, the book is better.