Out of Left Field

With baseball season fast approaching, I journeyed to my local video rental proprietor with the sole intention of viewing and reviewing something in the spirit of America’s National Pastime. After some internal debate, I settled on the 1984 classic, The Natural. Before going into any type of detail, I should disclose that this film now occupies a very unique place within the hallowed halls of my filmic memory. Although I will try and remain objective, the very core of this film’s ethos called to me, like the fabled Sirens of Greek mythology. Of course, the Sirens also caused many a ship to crash into a rocky shoreline. Suffice it to say, I do realize what I find to be pleasing is, in all likelihood, somewhat flawed. So, with that being said …

Charles Robert Redford Jr. (known to most simply as “Robert Redford”) portrays the character Roy Hobbs, an individual with an unrelenting love for the game of baseball. Starting from boyhood, we begin with Master Hobbs set against a Rockwellian backdrop. His father recognizes his gift early, and works on cultivating the boy’s skills. In the first of many regrettably heavy-handed moments, Mr. Hobbs warns him that talent is only a prerequisite for success. Then, in a very quirky backstory told through quick vignettes, we see Master Hobbs witness his father’s death, the tree under which his father died get blown to pieces by lightning, and then Hobbs working one of the shards of said tree into a bat in which he wood burns “Wonder Boy” onto the barrel.

Flashing forward approximately ten years, we find Hobbs on a train, traveling to audition for the Chicago Cubs. Stopping somewhere on his travels, he strikes out a fictional Babe Ruth-like character (named “The Whammer”) at a county fair on three pitches. A supposedly beautiful woman (played by the pedestrian Barbara Hershey), who we later realize had her sights set on killing The Whammer because of his arrogant ways, instead focuses her insanity on Hobbs. Once arriving in Chicago, she seriously wounds Hobbs with a single gunshot to the abdomen.

Another sixteen years pass, and we are now greeted by a somewhat grizzled middle-aged Hobbs (who, according to all characters, appears out of “nowhere”) who finally gets his shot to play in the Major League for the fictitious New York Knights. What follows is a story of the redemption and triumph of a man who refuses to let anyone or anything deter his dream. Although the film suffers from hokey subplots and forced performances from a number of the actors and actresses, I was able to detach from some of the more unsightly components and instead focus on the central plot of a man, very much past his prime, giving it all he has.

I do not think anyone would disagree with the statement that few films in the Hollywood canon truly “inspire.” But, the “magic” of Tinseltown seems to reside in the fact that for each of us, there seems to be at least one film that has affected us in a profound manner. With The Natural, I find inspiration in the idea that, living in a time that champions youth and prodigal talent, someone who has an undeniable drive to overcome seemingly impossibly obstacles can taste success later in life. And furthermore, this reinforces my notion of it never being too late to potentially realize far-flung dreams of my own. In closing, let us raise a proverbial glass: here’s hoping that we all can enjoy what comes “naturally” to each and every one of us, all the while giving it all we have.

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