To rate as the greatest baseball movie of all time, the story should involve baseball themes and a baseball moral, drawing an analogous line to real life. There were some athletically acceptable scenes in this movie, filmed not far from my house, at the time, but actors seldom portray athletes convincingly, and these actors were no exception to the rule. Redford utilized a number of former baseball players as consultants, to his credit, indicating he wanted the scenes to look authentic. But the pyro-display home run/climax was just silly, though typical Hollywood, as was the idea of a guy keeping the same Wonder Boy bat his whole life and throughout a major league season, without cracking it, nearly a physical impossibility. It rates a 3 for its effort and entertainment value, but there are much more entertaining baseball stories/movies.

A really good movie, but does tend to drag a bit at times. Walks a pretty fine line between realism and fantasy, but never gets too far out. I do want to add that I was given an extra credit by my Mechanical Drawing teacher in high school because of this movie. In one scene, someone asks Redford how he got the wood in his bat so hard, and Redford answers, I boned it. The teacher had never heard the phrase before and said anyone that could bring something in showing what it meant to bone a bat (fill in your dirty joke here) would have their grade raised 10 points. It just so happened that I had a Sport Illustrated subscription at the time, and in one article they went into great detail about how to bone a bat. So, thanks for the 96, Mr. Redford.

A great movie about loss and recovery. Roy Hobbs was a rising star who was shot and disappeared. He comes back later in life to just play Baseball. He gets his game back, helps a losing team and a losing coach win again, saves a team and gets his girl back. Magical stuff that is played up with enough mystery to keep one intrigued. The time period of the movie was just right and the performances were good. One of the best baseball movies made.

An echo of mythology and Arthurian tales. (Knights and the baseball bat is a sword) People don't get the slow pace of the movie because it represents American mythology. The Natural is about redemption and hope. It's a great sports movie that suggests mythology for a country that has no real knights to speak of. . .a classic.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of this. I found it over-maudlin, although there are some very good scenes and some fine acting by the supporting cast.

Wow. the natural was probably the best baseball movie ever. i mean theres too many amazing things to talk about in that movie. But when Roy Hobbs hit that ball and as soon as he made contact and lightning struck and the cover was smacked off the ball and they played the theme song. aww i shivered. If you havent seen it... see it!

An incredible movie -- sports or non-sports. The story is predictable, yet tugs at your heartstrings quite well. It provides a nice and fairly realistic ('cepting Roy Hobbs) look at old time baseball. As a Phillies fan, I know the Hobbs character is loosely based on Eddie Waitkus, a young phenom who was shot by a woman, and returned to help guide the Phillies into the World Series. I love the haunting theme song, which you hear at ballparks all over the country.

Where ya from Habbsh? Greatest baseball movie. My nickname is Hobbs on my local summer league team. Redford is the man.

I am not a big baseball fan, but I really enjoyed The Natural (released in 1984 and directed by Barry Levinson). For the uninitiated, the concept of the film is a born baseball player (ie the natural), Roy Hobbs played by Robert Redford, who struggles with competing forces of good and evil, represented by three different women that he meets along the way to failure and stardom. In the end, Hobbs must choose his final path. The casting was great for The Natural, with the aforementioned Redford along with Wilford Brimley as the crusty old school General Manager Pop Fisher, Robert Duvall as sportswriter Max Mercy, Robert Prosky as the team owner who has turned to the dark side, and Darren McGavin as gambler Gus Sands who attempts to corrupt Hobbs' innocence. While Kim Basinger does well as the femme fatale Memo Paris, Glenn Close as Iris Gaines, Hobbs highschool sweetheart and savior, just didn't work for me. The cinematography for the film was wonderful as the amber-tinted color gives the movie a aura of authenticity for the time setting of the film (1930's) and the climactic scenes give the viewers the feel that they are at the game. The bottom line is that while there may be other sports films that are peers to The Natural, none have surpassed it.

Schmaltzy, melodramatic, predictable, epic ... probably the most beautifully filmed sports movie ever made.

I said pick me a winner, bobby. Not this pile of crap.

Best baseball movie of all time. Period.