The Natural (film)

In 1910s Nebraska, young Roy Hobbs learns to play baseball from his father, who suffers an early fatal heart attack near an oak tree. When lightning strikes that same tree, splintering it, Hobbs makes a baseball bat from the wood, burning a lightning bolt and the name “Wonderboy” into the barrel.

Now 19 years old, Hobbs heads to Chicago for a tryout with the Chicago Cubs, leaving behind his girlfriend, Iris. En route on the train, he meets legendary ballplayer the “Whammer” and sportswriter Max Mercy. On a stopover at a carnival, Hobbs wins a bet to strike out Whammer on three pitches. The feat catches the attention of Harriet Bird, a mysterious woman also traveling on the train who was previously fawning over Whammer.

In Chicago, Harriet invites Hobbs to her hotel room. She asks if Hobbs's claim that he can be “the best there ever was,” is true, and he confidently avers it is. Harriet aims a handgun at Hobbs and shoots him in the abdomen. It is learned that Harriet, who commits suicide, previously targeted other top athletes.

In 1939, Hobbs is signed as a rookie to the Knights, a struggling ball club sitting in last place. Manager Pop Fisher is furious that Hobbs was recruited, believing him too old. He initially refuses to play Hobbs but finally relents. At his first batting practice, Hobbs amazes the entire team with his powerful hitting. The following game, Pop benches star outfielder Bump Bailey after a reckless play. Pop pinch hits with Hobbs, who literally knocks the baseball's cover off. Shortly after, Bailey tragically dies crashing through an outfield wall, resulting in Hobbs being made starting outfielder. Hobbs becomes a sensation and the Knights’ fortunes turn around. Mercy finds Hobbs to be familiar but fails to recognize him as the pitcher who once struck out the Whammer.

Assistant manager Red Blow tells Hobbs that if Pop loses the pennant this year, then his Knight's ownership share will revert to the team's majority owner, the Judge. Pop will permanently be out of the sport. Hobbs privately meets with the Judge who offers him $5,000 to throw the season. Hobbs, unlike Bump Bailey, refuses the bribe.

Mercy introduces Hobbs to Gus Sands, a bookie whom Hobbs learns places large bets against him. He also meets Pop's niece, Memo Paris, who was Bump's girlfriend. Their budding relationship results in a distracted Hobbs’ game slumping. Pop privately cautions Hobbs about Memo, who appears to be working for the Judge, though Hobbs dismisses his concerns.

Hobbs' slump continues until a game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field, during which a woman in white stands up in the bleachers, catching Hobbs’ attention. He then hits a home run, shattering the clock on the scoreboard. He realizes the woman is Iris, and the two later meet at a diner. They discuss their respective lives, though Hobbs avoids mentioning what happened to him. When they meet the next day, Hobbs tells Iris the truth. Iris, who is unmarried and works in Chicago, shares that she has a son whose father lives in New York City. The reunion restores Hobbs' hitting prowess, and the Knights surge into first place. During a practice session, Mercy watches Hobbs pitching and suddenly remembers him.

At a team party, Hobbs collapses in pain and awakens in a hospital. A silver bullet removed from his stomach has caused long-term damage that could prove fatal if Hobbs continues playing baseball. He learns the Knights have since lost three games in a row, which sets up a one-game playoff against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Memo visits Hobbs in the hospital and urges him to accept the Judge's bribe, which has been quadrupled, and to walk away. The Judge tells Hobbs to consider his offer and threatens to publicly expose Hobbs' past and reveals that another team member is being bribed. Hobbs again rejects the Judge's offer. When Iris visits Hobbs, she assures him he has not wasted his potential and is a great ballplayer.

Hobbs, still recovering, returns to the team wanting to play. Pop tells Hobbs that he is the best player he has ever seen and says to suit up. As the game progresses, Hobbs realizes that Knights pitcher Al Fowler is the bribed player. Hobbs confronts Fowler on the field, warning him not to throw the game. Fowler starts pitching competitively and the Knights stay in the game. Watching from the stands with her son, Iris begs an usher to deliver a note to Hobbs in the dugout, telling him that she has brought their son to watch him play.

In the ninth inning, the Knights trail the Pirates when the latter brings in a young, hard-throwing pitcher. Seeing that Hobbs is hampered by his old wound, the pitcher throws inside trying to harm him. Hobbs hits a foul but has struck the ball so hard that his bat, Wonderboy, splits in half. Hobbs asks Bobby the bat boy to pick a replacement. Bobby brings him his own bat, the “Savoy Special”, that Hobbs helped him make. Hobbs, down to his last strike, his wound bleeding through his jersey, hits the ball, smashing it into the stadium lights, winning the game and the National League pennant. The Knights advance to the World Series, though the outcome is not revealed.

The victory secures Pop's share of the team and his place on it. At the end, Hobbs is seen playing catch with his son in the same field that he and his father played in many years earlier, while Iris looks on.

Malcolm Kahn and Roger Bean acquired the rights to Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel The Natural in 1976.[3] Phil Dusenberry wrote the first adaption.[3] In October 1981, Roger Towne, a Columbia Pictures story editor and brother of Robert Towne, quit to produce and write the screenplay, with Bean set to direct and Kahn co-producing.[4][3]

In 1983, newly-formed Tri-Star Pictures acquired the rights to the film adaptation, its first production.[3] It was Robert Redford's first acting role in three years.[3]

The film's producers stated in the DVD extras that the film was not intended to be a literal adaptation of the novel, but was merely "based on" the novel. Malamud's daughter said on one of the DVD extras that her father had seen the film, and his take on it was that it had "legitimized him as a writer."[5]

Darren McGavin was cast late in the process as gambler Gus Sands and was uncredited in the film. Due to a disagreement, he chose not to be credited, though later Levinson wanted to credit him and McGavin said no.[6][7] Levinson stated on the DVD extras for the 2007 edition that because there had been too little time during post-production to find a professional announcer willing and able to provide voice-over services, Levinson recorded that part of the audio track himself.[6]

Two-thirds of the scenes were filmed in Buffalo, New York, mostly at War Memorial Stadium,[8] built in 1937 and demolished a few years after the film was produced. Buffalo's All-High Stadium, with post-production alterations, stood in for Chicago's Wrigley Field in a key scene in the film.[9] Additional filming took place at the New York and Lake Erie Railroad depot in South Dayton, New York.[10]

The initial DVD edition, with copyright year on the box reading "2001", contained the theatrical version of the film, along with a few specials and commentaries.

The "director's cut" was released on April 3, 2007.[23] A two-disc edition, it contains the featurette "The Heart of the Natural," a 44-minute documentary featuring comments from Cal Ripken, Jr. and Levinson; it is the only extra released originally with the 2001 DVD. Sony added a number of other extras, however, including: "When Lightning Strikes: Creating The Natural," a 50-minute documentary discussing the origins of the original novel and the production of the film; "Knights in Shining Armor," which addresses the mythological parallels between The Natural, King Arthur and the Odyssey; and "A Natural Gunned Down" which tells the story of Eddie Waitkus, a baseball player who was shot by Ruth Ann Steinhagen, a female stalker, in an incident which inspired the fictionalized shooting of Roy Hobbs.[24] The film itself has been re-edited, restoring deleted footage to the early chapters of the story. These scenes expand on the sadness of Hobbs, focusing on his visits to his childhood home as an adult and his childhood memories.[24] The "gift set" version of the release also included some souvenirs: a baseball "signed" by Roy Hobbs; some baseball cards of Roy Hobbs and teammates; and a New York Knights cap.

The film score of The Natural was composed and conducted by Randy Newman.[25] The score has often been compared to the style of Aaron Copland and sometimes Elmer Bernstein. Scott Montgomery, writing for Goldmine music magazine, referenced the influence, and David Ansen, reviewing the film for Newsweek, called the score "Coplandesque."[26][27] The score also has certain Wagnerian features of orchestration and use of Leitmotif. Adnan Tezer of Monsters and Critics noted the theme is often played for film and television previews and in "baseball stadiums when introducing home teams and players."[24]

Levinson also described to Bob Costas in MLB Network's "Costas at the Movies" how he heard Newman develop the movie's iconic theme: "We were racing to try to get this movie out in time and we were in one room and then there was a wall and Randy's in the other room. One of the great thrilling moments is I heard him figuring out that theme...You could hear it through the wall as he was working out that theme and I'll never forget that."

The soundtrack album was released May 11 on the Warner Bros. label, with the logo for Tri-Star Pictures also appearing on the label to commemorate this as their first production.[28]

In Season 4, Episode 8 of Better Call Saul, Jimmy McGill refers to Kim Weksler's legal strategy as "watching Roy Hobbs smash out stadium light".

In The Simpsons episode "Homer at the Bat", the origin story of Homer's "Wonder Bat" parodies this movie.

In the Season 4 Episode 6 of Archer titled "Once Bitten", Archer's venom-inspired dream sequence is a parody of this film with Archer in the role of Hobbs, and substituting lacrosse for baseball.

• The Natural at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Natural at Box Office Mojo
• The Natural on IMDb