The Natural [Blu-ray]

The version I purchased of The Natural was the two-disk Director's Cut set. I liked that viewers had the option at the very beginning to listen to Barry Levinson, the director, explain in brief how the cut altered the movie from the original theatrical release. Now, I saw the movie in the theater and once or twice on cable over the years, but honestly, I don't remember the original that specifically to tell what the differences are. I do appreciate having Levinson's comment about the changes up front, though. Viewers don't have to listen that first, but it's presented above the 'play movie' for those who are interested in doing so as I was.I enjoy Robert Redford movies and before the era of steroids and ridiculous salaries, I loved baseball, so seeing this in the theater upon release was natural for me. I recall liking it and thinking it was a bit slow in places, so buying the Director's Cut to see if that slowness was taken away, was also a natural for me. I may not enjoy baseball like I once did, but I still like a good Redford film performance.Levinson removed several minutes from the movie's first cut, rearranged and edited, and ultimately added five minutes and in total, this lengthened the movie by five minutes. The opening was definitely more tight, as he called it. Years ago, I remember thinking the opening in particular was so slow, almost dark and dreary, and I did not feel that way in watching the DVD today.Redford is Roy Hobbs, initially a young man with a bright future in baseball until he gets shot by a mysterious woman. It's sixteen years later when he finally gets a shot at the big leagues, although not everyone is on his side, including the manager (Wilford Brimley) who refuses to play such an old rookie. He doesn't even let him practice, until one day when Hobbs challenges him. Then the manager gets a big shock: this old rookie can play.From there, it's baseball drama and folks wanting to solve the mystery of Roy Hobbs' past while also putting in play a bit of a Black Sox scandal. The supporting cast is full of top notch actors, such as Glenn Close and Robert DuVall. Darrin McGavin, Kim Bassinger, Barbara Hershey, and Robert Prosky were also part of the cast. The big finale is an explosive delight, the kind that makes a fan cheer and smile with excitement. It takes a while to get there, but it's a good journey.The second disk has all of the bonus material, including a feature (in parts without a 'play all' option which annoys me) on the creation of the story and getting the movie made. It was truly interesting to hear the director and Redford discuss the ending of the movie and how it was changed from the novel, which provides a darker, more sad ending than what is seen in the film. That's followed by short "extras" that discuss different aspects of the movie, such as making era-appropriate uniforms, use of slow motion, and the one question President Reagan had about the movie.Next comes a segment called Clubhouse Conversations which includes folks like George Will, Bob Costas, Ryne Sandberg, Jason Giambi, and Don Mattingly talking (individually, not together) about the game of baseball. After this comes the shocking story of a baseball player shot by a female stalker. Though severely injured, he survived and returned to the game of baseball. She was the inspiration for the Barbara Hershey character in The Natural. The last part of this extra is about the various mythologies used in the novel and in the movie."The Heart of The Natural" is a featurette that features Cal Ripken Jr. on the gift or talent to play the game. This extends to include topics like the media and the business of the game. He also talks about heroes and the concept of role models.So, strong Redford performance, good drama, satisfying ending, and interesting extras make this an excellent DVD. Truly, my only complaint is the lack of a 'play all' option for that initial extra on The Natural coming together. Commentary would have been great, too, but as it is, the Director's Cut set is well worth it.

Good movie, soundtrack

Bonus movie 6 of 1984 in my journey through films of my lifetimeAll I remember is a baseball flying into lights and sparks going everywhere. As the years have gone on I have not found sports movies to be all that inspiring any more. Hopefully "The Natural" will give me a renewed interest!So it all came rushing back to me, my problem with sports movies. It's kind of like cop movies where the bad guys are the higher-ups in the organization. "So I Married An Axe Murderer" did a good job joking around about this. Who's the problem in The Natural? The higher-ups. I'm not yawning yet but the urge to roll my eyes is strong.Maybe one of the best terms I can use to describe "The Natural" is "sappy." I just don't think sports are more meaningful than the singular pennant or championship they aspire to within themselves. Golf movies are particularly egregious to this end (being sappy that is) but baseball is definitely a close second. This isn't the case for all of them. "Rudy" or "Hoosiers" would be a good example of movies that offers no transcendent nonsense. Despite my feelings here I'm not saying "The Natural" is a bad movie, actually it's quite good, but the appeal to the audience that would see a sport as all important falls flat to me, it seems almost childish. I feel like the main character in "Dazed and Confused" where he's looking for more out of life than just football. The old man comes up telling him how good the team looks and this guy just had different aspirations; this old man almost seems pathetic hoping for so much out of a high school football team while life is getting on for this young kid.Redford's acting is not much to speak of. He delivers his lines with this curt, placid cadence that is fine during a line reading but when the lights come on one would expect more. I could be wrong but I doubt he did much theater, few could even hear him much less be convicted of his character's motives. Likely he just got used to getting by on his looks and who could blame him. Truly someone like Harrison Ford would have really made this role and he looked just as good if not better.The ending, well that's the thing with sports movies: real sports are already full of drama so in sports movies it has to be contrived and over the top. "The Natural" doesn't dissapoint here. The final scenes feel more like Christmas morning than an ideal conclusion to a game. Is this a good or bad thing? I actually think it depends on what you want out of a movie. For me I thought it was a little cheesy, but I also couldn't blame someone who might have loved it.In the end I'm not embarrassed to recommend "The Natural." It's a good movie, it's not my kind of movie, but definitely good.Pros-well made film with beautiful cinematography-great cast-great score-good storyCons-Robert Redford delivers a wooden performance-has some predictable sports movies tropes

This review is for the 4k directors cut version of The Natural. I am not going to review the movie itself.The 4K is very nice. I enjoyed the sound quality particularly. I felt like I was hearing some dialogue for the first time despite having seen the movie many times.The main reason I bought this disk was for the director's cut. Unfortunately I was disappointed. The main change to the movie was at the beginning. The director attempted to recreate how he wanted to start the movie but was unable too due to various constraints. The new beginning doesn't feel like a finished project and really adds nothing new that we didn't already know. There is also some added scenes and extended dialogue here and there throughout the movie. Most add nothing to the movie and in some cases actually detract. For example in both cuts there is a scene where Mercy sees Roy Hobbs blow a pitch by one of the Knights. In the original this clearly triggers Mercy's memory and the next scene is him confronting Roy with the old drawing of his striking out the Whammer. In the director's cut they have inserted, between those two scenes, a scene where Mercy is searching old newspapers and then seemingly giving up in frustration. To me this added scene is pointless and just makes things less clear. The only added content that I felt enhanced the story was an extended scene between Memo & Roy. That scene gave me a better understanding of Memo and her relationship with Bump & Gus. Other than that I don't think anything new is added to the story. I would have liked to know more about what happened to Sam Simpson. I always felt like he just disappears from the movie.To sum up. Buy the Natural for the 4K quality but pass if you just want to see the director's cut.

Bon film assez ancien, mais l'histoire est bien.Le rêve de chacun peut être réalisé avec le temps.

Película libre de zona. Gran trabajo de restauración. Magnífica imagen y sonido en V.O. Para los hispano parlantes, viene audio LATINO, no castellano.

Está en latino

Testé sur PS3The natural (sorti dans les salles sous le titre français "le meilleur" en 1984)est un très beau film certes de facture classique, mais passionnant sur un joueur de base ball (Redford) revenu de loin et devenu à force d'opiniâtreté et de talent "le meilleur". Le film a été réalisé par Barry Levinson, avec une pléiade de stars (Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Robert Duval entre autres), magnifique à la photo et à la reconstitution d'une époque, le film est un classique américain.Sortie en blu ray import US, et inédit en France dans ce format le film est en région FREE!!!Mais..... c'est là que les ennuis commencent...si le film bénéficie d'une piste audio française avec sous titres français, les bonus (passionnants)ne sont proposés qu'en anglais avec sous titrages espagnol et portugais uniquement. Autre problème plus embêtant un décrochage constaté sur la VF ou le film repasse en VO durant une scène de restaurant pendant au moins deux minutes....Donc pour résumé :Profiter de ce magnifique film en import blu ray est possible sur les platine française mais préférer la V.O sous titré français pour un meilleur confort, et maitriser l'anglais (ou l'espagnol ou encore le portugais) pour profiter pleinement des bonus.note film 4/5. Blu ray 2/5 (à cause des problèmes cités ci dessus)

Même pour les personnes ne s'intéressant pas au baseball, c'est un film passionnant avec des acteurs convaincants. Je le recommande.