X
- 1984
- PG
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 18 m
- 1984
- PG
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 18 m
Summary An unknown comes out of seemingly nowhere to become a legendary player with almost divine talent.
Directed By: Barry Levinson
Written By: Bernard Malamud, Roger Towne, Phil Dusenberry
- 1984
- PG
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 18 m
- 1984
- PG
- TriStar Pictures
- 2 h 18 m
The Natural
61
7.6
Where to Watch
Summary An unknown comes out of seemingly nowhere to become a legendary player with almost divine talent.
Directed By: Barry Levinson
Written By: Bernard Malamud, Roger Towne, Phil Dusenberry
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
61
53% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
47% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
61
53% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
47% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Natural is a fairy tale from start to finish, full of wildly implausible scenes that win over our emotions because, frankly, that's the way we'd like life to be. Being a baseball fan involves repeatedly experiencing exquisite pain and exquisite joy. Well, there's a lot of both in The Natural.
Let yourself go and be rewarded by the sight of a hero running home to victory through clouds of fire.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
7.6
74% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
13% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
13% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 23 User Ratings
7.6
74% Positive
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
13% Mixed
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
13% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
The Natural is dense with Boys' Life stories and grand heroics, and it sometimes wanders from black comedy to serious icon-bashing and back again. But mostly it's good fun. At the end, everyone in the audience is swinging imaginary bats. It's a great movie for summer. [11 May 1984, p.D1]
Levinson doesn’t seem to care about redemption, guilt, or any of that other nonsense. He wants to make “the great American baseball hero movie.” He wants to say something about old neighborhoods and fathers and sons playing catch in the late summer evening. The cinematography is lush, the Randy Newman score is epic. The period detail and baseball scenes are top notch.
Mr. Levinson, who both wrote and directed Diner, the small, exquisitely realized comedy about growing up aimless in Baltimore, here seems to be at the service of other people's decisions. Though entertaining in short stretches, The Natural has no recognizable character of its own.
A moment or two between Richard Farnsworth and Wilford Brimley recall the verbal skills of Levinson's Diner; the rest of the film is bloatedly “visual”: blinding backlighting, grandiose slow motion, overstudied montage.
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 4 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
Hochi Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
