CLASSIC MOVIE REVIEW: 'The Natural': Baseball, Redemption, and Mythology
By Alan Herrmann
MOVIE CRITIC
Spring is here and that means it’s baseball season. For a movie buff like me the “great American pastime” has been best served by the film The Natural (1984), directed by Barry Levinson from the novel by Bernard Malamud.
The story is about a young, talented baseball player named Roy Hobbs who is nicknamed “the natural” because of his uncanny ability to not only throw a baseball but to hit one with just as much talent. He even uses his own bat – Wonder Boy – that he made from a tree split in half by lightning.
While on his way to sign with the Chicago Cubs, Hobbs gets sidetracked by a mysterious woman who shoots him, changing the course of his life. It will be several years before the no-longer young man will get another chance to play in the majors – and when he does, he will still be chased by demons.
The Natural is loosely based on real life baseball player Eddie Waitus who was stalked, then shot by a woman. It was also based, in part, on the Black Sox scandal of 1919 when Chicago White Sox players were paid to lose the World Series. With all this darkness looming over the film, it still has some uplifting moments. After all, this is a story of good versus evil.
Levinson plays up the mythology of the novel and creates a movie that is part baseball story, mystery, Americana, and mythology. The film’s symbolism loosely identifies with Greek myths, particularly Odysseus, Homer’s tragic hero trying to return home. But more significantly, it is like the story of King Arthur, his noble knights of the round table, and their quest for the Holy Grail in order to save their kingdom.
The look of the film is a feast of Americana and nostalgia. Levinson shot the movie in and around Buffalo, New York, where War Memorial Stadium doubled for the home of the fictional New York Knights – an obvious homage to King Arthur’s knights. He also used other Buffalo landmark locations to stand in for New York City and Chicago. Buffalo’s wonderfully preserved architecture brings the viewer into the late 1930s by showcasing some of the finest Art Deco structures in the United States.
Randy Newman’s music score fits the movie like a glove and is unashamedly very much like the works of Aaron Copland and Elmer Bernstein. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel used bright golden light for most of the outdoor shots to emphasize the nostalgic nature and positive aspects of the story. For the darker, more corrupt, and menacing scenes of the film, Deschanel made the best of half-hidden figures in shadows.
The cast, for the most part, is excellent. Redford’s take on Hobbs is stoic, weary, and somewhat naïve – similar to the Round Table’s Perceval – even after the attempt on his life by the darkly-clad Harriet Bird, played by Barbara Hershey. Most importantly, Redford seems to inhabit the character’s love of baseball, to the point where he actually hits and throws like a pro. He even said he borrowed his stance and swing from Ted Williams, the great hitter for the Boston Red Sox. In another nod to King Arthur, Hobbs wields his own bat – called “Wonder Boy” – like King Arthur does his magical sword, Excalibur.
Wilford Brimley plays Pop Fisher – the name comes from the Arthurian character “The Fisher King” – the struggling part-owner and manager of the Knights. He shows us a funny, cranky, world-weary soul who is losing his dream of a pennant (a version of the Holy Grail) and full ownership of the team. His fellow coach and friend Red Blow, portrayed by the incomparable Richard Farnsworth, quietly and calmly helps Pop make tough team decisions.
Memo Paris, played by Kim Basinger, is Pop Fisher’s niece and walks the line between good and bad like a 1930’s Hollywood starlet, similar to Jean Harlow. Her romance with Hobbs nearly costs him his life, eerily like Harriet Bird before her. Cast as Iris Gaines, Glen Close plays Hobb’s childhood sweetheart who reenters his life after a string of misfortunes have driven him to a very low point. She is the symbol of truth, goodness, and love. She is a sharp contrast to Harriet Bird – whose very name could refer to a crow or raven, a harbinger of death – and near opposite of Memo Paris as well. Iris is to Hobbs what Blanchefleur was to Perceval in Arthurian legend, helping her beloved complete his task. This is evident when Iris, glowing in white, stands up in the stadium so Hobbs can see her as she encourages him to save his dream.
The rest of the cast is solid. Robert Duvall plays Max Mercy, an unscrupulous sportswriter who hounds Hobbs. Robert Prosky plays the judge who prefers the dark literally – he sits in an unlit office – and figuratively, in his dim view of the world and his fellow man. Darren McGavin, cast as Gus Sands, Memo’s shady, part-time escort, is loosely based on Arnold Rothstein, the infamous gangster and gambler who helped fix the 1919 World Series.
I was living south of Buffalo in 1983 when filming was going on. The local news loved talking about what a positive impact the film might have on the local economy, not to mention the prestige it might garner for a city that was struggling with recent plant closings. There was quite a bit of excitement when news spread of Robert Redford being in town. Many extras were cast, particularly for the fans watching the games. When spaces were needed to fill in gaps in the stands, life-size cardboard cutouts in period costumes were used.
Sadly, War Memorial Stadium was torn down a few years after the film was released. Fortunately, a new and beautiful stadium was built where the minor league Buffalo Bisons still play today. But for a brief time, War Memorial Stadium became Camelot and its dugout, the round table.
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At the end of Malamud's book Roy Hobbs strikes out.