Natural selection
Based on a book by Bernard Malamud, the movie follows the story of Roy Hobbs, who is a naturally gifted athlete from a small town in Nebraska. Working most of his young life to be the best at baseball, Roy hits a road bump on the way to the majors. That road bump is a mysterious young woman and a silver bullet to the gut. Having disappeared for 16 years, and never making it to the majors, Hobbs finds a way back to the game and fights to make himself known and do what he does best — play baseball.
You can call this a drama if you want, but for my money I think it would be split down the middle between drama and tragedy. Hobbs fought his way to be the best (drama), but was stopped short of his dream due to a freakish incident (tragedy). When he comes back to play he carries a mysterious aura around him and he tells no one about his past (drama). The bittersweet tragedy is that his entire career was killed thanks to a mistake and he only has one year to redeem himself (tragedy) and no matter what he does he won’t get another chance. That’s what makes this movie so good is that he might go out on top, but tragically you’ll (the audience) always wonder how far he could have gone. That in itself is the most tragic part of the film.
What’s even funnier about this point is that the original book was meant to end on a sour note. Roger Towne changed it up and made it very ’80s’, though the tragic essence still resides in the happy ending.
Robert Redford’s portrayal of a young and old Roy Hobbs is breathtaking. While there wasn’t much, if any, make-up applied to tell the difference between the two generations, Redford’s own acting ability leads the age difference. Not many actors have this type of talent. So when you see him at the age of 18-20 he’s not the same when he’s in his 30s. That’s how great of a job Redford did with Roy Hobbs.
Finally, this is one of those movies that goes under the category of ‘timeless classics’. Due to how it was shot and how well it was acted, and more importantly the time period they were shooting for, the film doesn’t age one bit. Much like the spirit of baseball back in that day, the movie captures everything that was once great about the sport, and not so great, and makes you want to watch it over and over again.
Is there a downer about the film? I wish they had talked more about his past, but other than that it was nearly perfect.
Just a bit outside
The Blu-ray conversion for this classic is good, but not great. There are scenes where the HD really shines and then there are scenes where it looks like a DVD. For a film like this it seemed that the best bet was to get it completely converted properly. This is a classic film that has won many accolades for story and performance. Having grainy shots here and there disrupt the beautiful cinematography that Levinson’s crew put together. For example, the scene where Hobbs strikes out the Whammer, there’s a ton of graininess in the scene. The background, which is gorgeous, is just full of it. When they cut to the shot where the train is in the background and the where the Whammer is located it looks great. This is a country scene and it should have been treated better (there’s so much here that could have shined bright on Blu-ray). On the flip side to that coin, when you see the scene at the end of the film you’re going to get goosebumps. Again, the visuals are good, but not great.
As for the audio, Randy Newman’s soundtrack shines in DTS-HD. The sound effects are pretty damn good too. Sony Pictures got this one perfect.
Finally, the features are great, but one in particular hurts the movie (so don’t watch it prior to the film). Here’s what you’re looking at:
●When Lightning Strikes: Creating The Natural
– Pre-Game: A Novelist Steps Up To The Plate
– The Line-Up: Assembling The Moviemaking Team
– Let’s Play Ball: Filming The Show
●Clubhouse Conversations
●A Natural Gunned Down: The Stalking of Eddie Waitkus
●Knights in Shining Armor: The Mythology of The Natural
●Extra Innings
●Heart of The Natural
I could have gone a lifetime without knowing the ending to the book. Seriously, it made me depressed on two levels. The first, I like the Roy Hobbs character. Knowing that he strikes out at the end put a damper on the character (especially when you hear it read). The second, I don’t like when Hollywood changes the original endings to books. Keep it legit and capture the story that the book put together. This ending is a 180 degrees from the book’s ending. You simply cannot do something like this.
As for the other features, they’re strong. You get some great interviews with actors, cast and crew. For a ‘re-release’ on Blu-ray you’re getting some good stuff.