Friday, March 16, 2007

Natural, The [Director's Cut]


Well, it's spring, and that means baseball . . . and baseball films. Two classic movies are so universal that they appeal to non-fans as well, and, perhaps it's no coincidence that both of them incorporate elements of what's been called "magical realism." Kevin Costner made that Iowa cornfield come alive with the ghosts of Chicago "Black Sox" in "Field of Dreams" (1989), and Robert Redford had a special bat that seemed to work magic for the game's oldest rookie in "The Natural" (1984). Forget steroids and corked bats. This guy could hit . . . but only with Wonderboy, a bat he fashioned from a lightning-split oak tree when he was just a boy. Can you think of a better way to bring the magic of childhood into an adult world?

In an earlier review, John J. Puccio remarked that "'The Natural' basks in a kind of golden mythic glow that isn't often seen in movies anymore." Maybe that's because writer Bernard Malamud felt that the whole history of baseball has the quality of mythology. But unless you do your homework or are as much a student of the game as he was, it won't occur to you just how much of his novel and this film adaptation was based on real baseball events until you watch the bonus features on the new two-disc Director's Cut.

Barry Levinson explains that because "The Natural" was the first film from Tri-Star, there was a lot of pressure to deliver it on-time. As a result, Levinson says he wasn't able to craft the film the way he wanted, and so he used the occasion of a director's cut not just to add scenes, but to completely re-do the first act to make it closer in tone to Malamud's novel. Twenty minutes of new footage was added, but because of the re-edit, this version only runs six minutes longer than the original. In an introduction, Levinson downplays the significance, saying, simply, that he hopes fans of the book will find it "interesting."

Well, it's more than that. This cut of "The Natural" is definitive. It's more fully realized and makes more sense than what we saw in the theaters. Now, Roy Hobbs is darker and more troubled by a past that helps better prepare viewers for events to come. There's more emphasis placed on the 16 years lost when Hobbs, a local man who struck out the Whammer (Malamud's Babe Ruth character, played by Joe Don Baker) during the baseball giant's barnstorming tour, ends up getting shot by a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) en route to begin his own major league career. And with a silver bullet, no less.

On one of the extras, screenwriter Phil Dusenberry tells a story about how President Reagan was confused about why the woman pulled the trigger and asked him to explain. What was her motivation, the former sportscaster-actor wanted to know. To tell the truth, I never fully understood it myself, until this director's cut. Though the film's ending is still a complete "180" from the novel (in which Hobbs strikes out in his big championship game opportunity) the new first act makes "The Natural" feel even more mythic than before.

Cowboys have been America's mythic figures, compared by more than a few scholars to the knights of English mythos, so it's no coincidence that Malamud has Hobbs playing for the New York Knights, and the courtly intrigue involves greedy part-owners and a seductress (Kim Basinger). There's even a little of the Western hero in Hobbs, who "rides" into town a virtual stranger with a special skill that can save the townspeople--in this case, a lowly baseball team and their fans. But "The Natural" also celebrates baseball's early days, and in so doing, it reaches back into American folklore. This was baseball's golden era, and many of the scenes are, in fact, tinged with a golden cast, while other scenes bring in elements of another genre--the crime noir film. Instead of a private eye trying to figure out whodunit, it's a sportswriter (Robert Duval). Instead of an attractive client, we get another blast from Hobbs' past in Iris Gaines (Glenn Close)

Levinson bucked the tradition of hiring actors first and then teaching them how to play baseball by going after ballplayers. Many of the Knights were minor leaguers. That, combined with old-time character actors Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth in the dug-out, really create an atmosphere that celebrates baseball's olden days. We learn in some of the new features that they were also meticulous about the uniforms and equipment that they used, and hear from Redford how difficult it was to catch balls with a glove that had no stitching between the fingers and wasn't much larger than his hand.

There's much to admire and enjoy about "The Natural," but like "The Great Gatsby," another literary property that Redford attempted, not all of the magic makes it from the page to the screen. This cut is better than the original in that respect, but the screenplay by Dusenberry and Roger Towne seems more workmanlike than magical. There simply aren't enough stand-out lines. Other than a sports psychologist who gives repeat lectures comparing losing to various maladies, there's not much obvious humor either--which makes those scenes stand out in a peculiar way.

Well, it's spring, and that means baseball . . . and baseball films. Two classic movies are so universal that they appeal to non-fans as well, and, perhaps it's no coincidence that both of them incorporate elements of what's been called "magical realism." Kevin Costner made that Iowa cornfield come alive with the ghosts of Chicago "Black Sox" in "Field of Dreams" (1989), and Robert Redford had a special bat that seemed to work magic for the game's oldest rookie in "The Natural" (1984). Forget steroids and corked bats. This guy could hit . . . but only with Wonderboy, a bat he fashioned from a lightning-split oak tree when he was just a boy. Can you think of a better way to bring the magic of childhood into an adult world?

In an earlier review, John J. Puccio remarked that "'The Natural' basks in a kind of golden mythic glow that isn't often seen in movies anymore." Maybe that's because writer Bernard Malamud felt that the whole history of baseball has the quality of mythology. But unless you do your homework or are as much a student of the game as he was, it won't occur to you just how much of his novel and this film adaptation was based on real baseball events until you watch the bonus features on the new two-disc Director's Cut.

Barry Levinson explains that because "The Natural" was the first film from Tri-Star, there was a lot of pressure to deliver it on-time. As a result, Levinson says he wasn't able to craft the film the way he wanted, and so he used the occasion of a director's cut not just to add scenes, but to completely re-do the first act to make it closer in tone to Malamud's novel. Twenty minutes of new footage was added, but because of the re-edit, this version only runs six minutes longer than the original. In an introduction, Levinson downplays the significance, saying, simply, that he hopes fans of the book will find it "interesting."

Well, it's more than that. This cut of "The Natural" is definitive. It's more fully realized and makes more sense than what we saw in the theaters. Now, Roy Hobbs is darker and more troubled by a past that helps better prepare viewers for events to come. There's more emphasis placed on the 16 years lost when Hobbs, a local man who struck out the Whammer (Malamud's Babe Ruth character, played by Joe Don Baker) during the baseball giant's barnstorming tour, ends up getting shot by a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) en route to begin his own major league career. And with a silver bullet, no less.

On one of the extras, screenwriter Phil Dusenberry tells a story about how President Reagan was confused about why the woman pulled the trigger and asked him to explain. What was her motivation, the former sportscaster-actor wanted to know. To tell the truth, I never fully understood it myself, until this director's cut. Though the film's ending is still a complete "180" from the novel (in which Hobbs strikes out in his big championship game opportunity) the new first act makes "The Natural" feel even more mythic than before.

Cowboys have been America's mythic figures, compared by more than a few scholars to the knights of English mythos, so it's no coincidence that Malamud has Hobbs playing for the New York Knights, and the courtly intrigue involves greedy part-owners and a seductress (Kim Basinger). There's even a little of the Western hero in Hobbs, who "rides" into town a virtual stranger with a special skill that can save the townspeople--in this case, a lowly baseball team and their fans. But "The Natural" also celebrates baseball's early days, and in so doing, it reaches back into American folklore. This was baseball's golden era, and many of the scenes are, in fact, tinged with a golden cast, while other scenes bring in elements of another genre--the crime noir film. Instead of a private eye trying to figure out whodunit, it's a sportswriter (Robert Duval). Instead of an attractive client, we get another blast from Hobbs' past in Iris Gaines (Glenn Close)

Levinson bucked the tradition of hiring actors first and then teaching them how to play baseball by going after ballplayers. Many of the Knights were minor leaguers. That, combined with old-time character actors Wilford Brimley and Richard Farnsworth in the dug-out, really create an atmosphere that celebrates baseball's olden days. We learn in some of the new features that they were also meticulous about the uniforms and equipment that they used, and hear from Redford how difficult it was to catch balls with a glove that had no stitching between the fingers and wasn't much larger than his hand.

There's much to admire and enjoy about "The Natural," but like "The Great Gatsby," another literary property that Redford attempted, not all of the magic makes it from the page to the screen. This cut is better than the original in that respect, but the screenplay by Dusenberry and Roger Towne seems more workmanlike than magical. There simply aren't enough stand-out lines. Other than a sports psychologist who gives repeat lectures comparing losing to various maladies, there's not much obvious humor either--which makes those scenes stand out in a peculiar way.

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