He got lucky in those two films and strummed some of the most powerful American heartstrings there are - Baseball. My favorite baseball movie of all time would have to be The Natural staring Robert Redford. Yeah, everybody knows he's going to hit the homer in the end to win the game. Everyone knows he's going to do the right thing and go back to the good ole country girl Glenn Close and live Kim Bassinger to den with the vipers, but that's what makes it pure and simple. And that's why I like it.
Baseball is simple.
It's pure, and we have to guard against the outside forces in the game trying to take that away from us. If any movie ever portrayed that better I've never seen it. Robert Duvall plays my role if you will. The hard-nosed sports journalist that people can't really decide wether to like or not. If there was ever a middle of the road guy it had to be Duvall.