Great casting and great dialogue

Rating: 9/10 (16 December 2006)

Many people say this movie is too sappy and doesn't follow the book. Yes, it is somewhat over dramatic in parts but you have to keep in mind that most sports movies are (greek) tragedies portrayed against a sports background. The scenes are excellent, you could almost turn off the volume and enjoy the movie. But then you would miss the great relationship between Pop Fisher and Red Blow - what a stroke of genius casting these two together. Just great casting: Basinger is great as upper class white trash, McGavin, as per usual, steals several scenes, you can't help but hate Duvall and Prosky, Baker plays a great Babe Ruth, Madsen plays a great Prima Donna, and Glenn Close is her usual great. Barbera Hershey could possibly be the answer to the Trivia Question: what actress played in the 2 greatest sports movies ever (The Natural & Hoosiers). Almost every scene has a memorable quote. Most would say The Pride of the Yankees is the greatest baseball movie ever but when you compare the two, I'd say that Cooper's acting dominates Redford's portrayal; otherwise every other actor from The Natural dominates their counterpart in the The Pride of the Yankees. The two dance scenes in each movie are a real bonus: I think it's some famous pair (Yolina and Velez) dancing to Profidea and Redford/Basinger dancing to Duke Ellington. Almost every scene in The Natural has a frame or two which, if frozen, would be a fantastic still - my favorite would be Pop Fisher sitting on the darkened bench as Hobbs rounds the bases in his final Home Run, all you see is a rough outline of a stunned Pop with the exploding lights reflected in his glasses. I'll close with my five greatest sports movies of all time (not in order) Hoosiers, The Hustler, The Cincinnati Kid, The Natural, Rocky.