The Natural (1984)

Director:

Barry Levinson

Writers:

Bernard Malamud (novel)
Roger Towne (writer) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 May 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Sport

Tagline:

The best there was!

Plot:

An average baseball player comes out of seemingly nowhere to become a legendary player with almost divine talent.

Plot Keywords:

Reunion | Hero | Fictional Team | Homerun | Americana

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Robert Redford	...	Roy Hobbs
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 Jr.	...	Young Roy
Rachel Hall	...	Young Iris
Robert Rich III	...	Ted Hobbs
Michael Madsen	...	Bartholomew 'Bump' Bailey
Jon Van Ness	...	John Olsen
Mickey Treanor	...	Doc Dizzy
George Wilkosz	...	Bobby Savoy
Anthony J. Ferrara	...	Coach Wilson
Philip Mankowski	...	Hank Benz
Danny Aiello III	...	Emil LaJong
Joe Castellano	...	Allie Stubbs
Eddie Cipot	...	Gabby Laslow
Ken Grassano	...	Al Fowler
Robert Kalaf	...	Cal Baker
Barry Kivel	...	Pat McGee
Steven Kronovet	...	Tommy Hinkle
James Meyer	...	Dutch Schultz
Mike Starr	...	Boone (as Michael Starr)
Sam Green	...	Murphy
Martin Grey	...	Additional Knight
Joseph Mosso	...	Additional Knight
Richard Oliveri	...	Additional Knight
Lawrence Couzens	...	Additional Knight
Duke McGuire	...	Additional Knight
Stephen Poliachik	...	Additional Knight
Kevin Lester	...	Additional Knight
Joseph Charboneau	...	Additional Knight
Robert Rudnick	...	Additional Knight
Ken Kamholz	...	Additional Knight
Sibby Sisti	...	Pirates Manager
Phillip D. Rosenberg	...	Pitcher Youngberry
Christopher B. Rehbaum	...	Pitcher John Rhoades
Nicholas Koleff	...	Umpire Augie
Jerry Stockman	...	Umpire Babe
James Quamo	...	Memorial Game Umpire
Joe Strnad	...	Final Game Home Plate Umpire (as Joseph Strnad)
James Mohr	...	Al
Ralph Tabakin	...	Al's Customer
Dennis Gould	...	Carnival Boy
Joshua Abbey	...	Home Plate Photographer
Gayle Vance	...	Maid at Party
George Scheitinger	...	League Official
Peter Poth	...	Dr. Knobb
Bernie McInerney	...	Hospital Doctor
Elizabeth Ann Klein	...	Stern Nurse
Charles Sergis	...	Newsreel Narrator (voice)
Edward Walsh	...	Newsreel Presenter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Duvall	...	Max Mercy
Mark Atienza	...	Young Roy Hobbs (uncredited)
Darren McGavin	...	Gus Sands (uncredited)
Brian Reingold	...	Baseball Fan (uncredited)

Directed by
Barry Levinson

Writing credits
Bernard Malamud		(novel)
Roger Towne		(writer) and
Phil Dusenberry		(writer)

Produced by
Philip M. Breen	....	executive producer
Robert F. Colesberry	....	associate producer
Mark Johnson	....	producer
Roger Towne	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Randy Newman

Cinematography by
Caleb Deschanel

Film Editing by
Christopher Holmes		(extended version)
Stu Linder

Casting by
Ellen Chenoweth

Production Design by
Mel Bourne
Angelo P. Graham		(as Angelo Graham)

Set Decoration by
John Sweeney
Bruce Weintraub

Costume Design by
Gloria Gresham
Bernie Pollack

Makeup Department
Tom Hoerber	....	makeup artist
Gary Liddiard	....	makeup artist
Bunny Parker	....	hair stylist (as Bernadette Parker)

Production Management
Peter Burrell	....	additional unit production manager (as Peter J. Burrell)
Robert F. Colesberry	....	unit production manager
Tom Razzano	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Patrick Crowley	....	first assistant director
Tom Davies	....	second assistant director
Carol Smetana	....	second assistant director
Chris Soldo	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Joe Acord	....	construction coordinator: New York
Barry Bedig	....	property master
Stan Cockerell	....	assistant property master
Speed Hopkins	....	art director: New York
Robert Müller	....	construction coordinator: Los Angeles
James J. Murakami	....	art director: Los Angeles
Gregory Puchalski	....	sign painter

Sound Department
Gary Alexander	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tod Scott Brody	....	sound effects editor
Chris Jenkins	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Christopher Jenkins)
Jimmy Ling	....	sound effects editor
Chris McLaughlin	....	production sound
Andrew Patterson	....	sound editor
Andrew Patterson	....	sound effects editor
Bill Phillips	....	supervising sound editor
Hal Sanders	....	sound effects editor
Larry Stensvold	....	sound re-recording mixer
Jim Stuebe	....	production sound (as James Stuebe)
Jeff Wexler	....	production sound

Special Effects by
Gregg Bond	....	special effects prop artist
Linda Bond	....	special effects artist
Roger Hansen	....	special effects
Eric Roberts	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Roger Dorney	....	visual effects
Michael Douglas Middleton	....	visual effects still photographer (uncredited)

Stunts
Conrad E. Palmisano	....	stunt coordinator
Conrad E. Palmisano	....	stunt double: Michael Madson

Camera and Electrical Department
Bobby Brown	....	assistant camera (as Bob Brown)
Craig Denault	....	camera operator
Alan R. Disler	....	assistant camera
Brian Hamill	....	still photographer
Clyde Hart	....	key grip
Gary Holt	....	gaffer
Gábor Kövér	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Bob E. Krattiger	....	lamp operator
Scott Rathner	....	additional second assistant camera
Stephen Vaughan	....	still photographer
Jürgen Vollmer	....	still photographer

Casting Department
Lisa Clarkson	....	additional casting
Louis DiGiaimo	....	additional casting
Mary Jo Markey	....	extras casting
Una McClure	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jules Melillo	....	costume supervisor
James W. Tyson	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Donah Bassett	....	negative cutter
Andy Blumenthal	....	additional editor
Battle Davis	....	additional editor
Jere Huggins	....	additional editor
Neil Kirk	....	apprentice film editor
Liza Randol	....	assistant editor

Music Department
David Foster	....	song producer
Jack Hayes	....	orchestrator
Joe Tuley	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Rick Mercier	....	transportation coordinator (as Richard Mercier)

Other crew
Ted Bafaloukos	....	creative consultant
Robert Bean	....	production consultant
Sherrie Bradshaw	....	assistant production accountant
Casey Brown	....	production assistant
Rick Cerrone	....	baseball consultant
Joe D'Alessandro	....	production assistant
Kevin Duncan	....	production assistant
Anthony J. Ferrara	....	baseball trainer
Lynn Goldman	....	location manager
Ann Guerin	....	publicist
Ken Hendler	....	baseball trainer
Malcolm Kahn	....	production consultant
Gene Kirby	....	baseball consultant
Kathy Kristich	....	production assistant
Ann Luly	....	misc crew
Patrick Markey	....	production executive
Tom Paolucci	....	craft service
Ana Maria Quintana	....	script supervisor
Stratton Rawson	....	location manager
Frank 'Spec' Shea	....	baseball throwing instructor
Gary Stanek	....	location manager
Bob Richthammer	....	set production assistant (uncredited)
Lynnanne Zager	....	adr voice (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Delphi II Productions
• TriStar Pictures

Distributors

• TriStar Pictures (1984) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1984) (France) (theatrical)
• CBS/Fox Video (1985) (Belgium) (video)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1994) (USA) (VHS)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD) (director's cut)
• Abril Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar (Brazil) (DVD)
• Pioneer Entertainment (laserdisc)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (video)

Other Companies

• Alixandre Furs  furs
• Hollywood Rental Company  lighting
• Market Street Studios  post-production facilities
• Sportsrobe  costumes

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Norway:12 | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

All-High Stadium - 50 Mercer Avenue, Buffalo, New York, USA

Company:

Delphi II Productions

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Barry Levinson]Ralph Tabakin ( Al's Customer ) has appeared in every Levinson picture from Diner (1982) to Liberty Heights (1999).

Goofs:

Continuity: In the game against the Phillies when Bailey runs into the centerfielder causing the error, Roy is shown in the dugout with no hat on, leaning over. Immediately after that cut, he is shown sitting up with his hat on.

Quotes:

Roy Hobbs: Red, it took me sixteen years to get here. You play me, and I'll give ya the best I got.
Red Blow: I believe ya.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Simpsons: I Don't Wanna Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (#19.4)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

STAR SPANGLED BANNER

Book Schmook! The Movie is VASTLY superior!

As a writer, I am often compelled to read the books on which my favorite movies are based. Since its original release, I have loved The Natural as one of my favorite movies of all time, but it was only recently that I read Bernard Malamud's novel on which the movie was based. I cannot tell you how disappointed I was.

Malamud was a great writer, and was best known for winning a Pulitzer and the National Book award for The Fixer. His award winning work usually dealt with themes closer to his own heart, and Malamud didn't seem to "get" baseball in this book. Either that, or he had some axe to grind about baseball, and wanted us to hate it and all the people involved in it.

The Natural was Malamud's first novel and, as such, it suffers from shallow, simplistic characters, a muddy, at times almost unintelligible plot, and poorly attenuated subplots that almost seem like afterthoughts or clumsy devices slathered on to shore up weak story objectives.

The main character, Roy Hobbs, is almost certainly based on the real life character Eddie Waitkus, and Malamud does little to imbue him with likable traits that would deepen him as a literary character. The fact that he is called "Roy" is an obvious allusion to Sir Thomas Malory's 15th century opus "Le Morte D'Arthur." (Recall that "roi" is French for "king.") Why Malamud chose this story as a model is a mystery, since although he goes to great lengths to reinforce the Aurthurian connection (the baseball team is called the "Knights", the bat, "Wonderboy" is obviously "Excalibur"), he creates little of the Arthurian heroism in Roy Hobbes, or, for that matter, the sport of baseball as an allegory for the jousting of Chivalric heroes.

The character of The Whammer, played in the movie beautifully, if all too briefly, by Joe Don Baker, is more Ruth than Ruth, but he's gone in a flash, leaving yet another heroic void in the original story. And the women in The Natural are shallow, conniving and cheap and I have never been able to understand Malamud's literary allusions with regard to Morgan LeFave and Guinnevere, the women in Arthur's life. The Bad Guys in the book are ALL Bad, everyone else is mostly neutral, and there isn't any real good, or anything uplifting or affirming or positive in the whole thing.

Thank god for the movie. Barry Levinson's direction is gilded and glowing, and the whole film has a luminous aura that seems magical and enchanted and, compared to the wooden novel from which it came, a satisfying recast of the Arthurian legend. The screenplay was done Roger Towne, who recently gave is The Recruit, and the changes he made to the story make all the difference in the world, less literary, perhaps, but more beautiful and elegant and not nearly so cynical and pessimistic. Compared to the Levinson/Johnson magic, the novel is almost amateurish, and recalls Ayn Rand's facile characters and stories, didactic and pedantic, and almost completely obscuring the Arthurian magic that Levinson coaxes from the story.

Once, when I had the chance to mention personally to Mark Johnson how beautiful The Natural was, he responded with a sincere modesty that fit the innocent tone of the movie, and he even gave me a keepsake from the film that I have to this day as a reminder of just how amazing an achievement this movie was, coming from so flawed a novel.

This was the first movie in which I loved Redford. He was older and deeper as an actor, and this was the beginning of his real golden age. Glenn Close was delightfully virginal and beautiful as a character almost completely created by the screenwriter, not the novelist. Kim Basinger is gorgeous and dangerous as the femme fatal, a portrayal that she would echo in her Oscar winning turn in L.A. Confidential.

Randy Newman's brilliant score was recycled a dozen times in subsequent movies, but none captured the beauty and nostalgia of The Natural. There are only a handful of movies so magnificently driven by their score, and The Natural remains Newman's best and most satisfying work.

In short, this is the best baseball movie ever. Whereas Malamud wanted to show baseball as jaundiced and commercial, Towne's screenplay shows us the baseball we loved as kids, and more. Malamud's dark and wholly unsatisfying ending is also rewritten, and if you find the final scene a little sweet, ask yourself if you really wanted to see the dismal finale that Malamud supplied.