Review of The Natural (1984) by Lary A — 30 Jun 2012
Just for the record, this film is #1 on my recent List of The Twenty-four Greatest Baseball Movies of All Time. I saw it first with a girlfriend in 1984 at the Strand in Madison,NJ. As we left the theater, it was obvious that it had affected me profoundly.
..I even got teary toward the end. She noted it saying..."What's the big deal? It was only a baseball movie... Redford wasn't even that good." We broke up shortly thereafter and I will never forget her inadvertent contribution by these revealing comments.
Everything about this iconic film is as close to perfect as perfect comes. The story, from the imaginative pen of Bernard Malamud, is good enough for a bedtime story, the casting is pitch perfect with everyone from Redford to Barbara Hershey in tune, and, of course, it's about baseball and transcendence---but it isn't preachy or stuffed with pretentious allegory, although it has allegory to spare.
..it's baseball afterall.
This review of The Natural (1984) was written by Lary A on 30 Jun 2012.
The Natural has generally received positive reviews.
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