The Big Picture The best sports movies usually have very little to do with the actual competition. The game being examined is used as a metaphor for the hardships of life and how we get up after being knocked down. 1984's The Natural, directed by Barry Levinson, is based on Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel of the same name and is the quintessential example of a movie about sports that ostensibly comes across as a movie about life choices.
The Natural PGDramaDocumentarySport Release Date May 11, 1984 Director Barry Levinson Cast Robert Redford , Glenn Close , Kim Basinger , wilford brimley , Barbara Hershey , Robert Prosky Runtime 134 Writers Bernard Malamud , Roger Towne , Phil Dusenberry Studio TriStar Pictures Expand What Is 'The Natural' About? Redford plays Roy Hobbs, a young, country-strong farmhand during the 1910s whose innate ability to play baseball leads to an unlikely meteoric rise from the rural Midwest to...
The Outstanding Women in 'The Natural' Each Symbolize Something Different Redford, Duvall , and Brimley are all terrific as the male leads in The Natural, but the outstanding turns by the female players who come into and out of Roy's life make the film dynamic. Each represents a unique element in the story that determines what Roy ultimately values in himself. Hershey symbolizes the dangerous and unstable part of newfound fame and the pitfalls that come with it.