Oh look, it’s Saturday Morning Cinema on a Sunday night, because my Saturday was filled with zero initiative and activity. It was beautiful. Despite my exercising exactly why Saturday’s exist (aka rest and relaxation), there are more baseball movies to watch, and the next recipient of the SMC treatment is The Natural.

Imagine you have a, ahem, natural talent gifted in your genetics at creation and honed to pristine perfection through practice. Now, imagine you are on the cusp of being able to use that talent  to achieve your dreams only to have life throw you a, ahem, curveball and derail those plans. Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) was full of youthful exuberance for his opportunity to join the Chicago Cubs. Yet, like many young men before and after him, he fell victim to a beautiful woman who nearly gave him a kiss of death. Roy’s story, however, did not end with that gunshot kiss. He would receive a second opportunity to face the demons and detractors that derailed his youth.

I realized I had never watched The Natural from start to finish and, consequently, had missed some key plot points. Shamefully, I apparently had only focused on the baseball sequences. Now, putting all the pieces together, this movie transcends baseball to tell a story of loss, perseverance, love, and redemption. The thought of having a world of opportunity within one’s grasp, especially after achieving it the right way like Roy did, only to have it ripped away by deceitful and ill-intended other parties creates a nasty pit in my stomach. To exacerbate that pit, not only did tragedy upend Roy’s baseball career, but he encounters the same tribulations and deviants later in life, never truly escaping the dangerous variables in his life.

Situations worse than Roy’s experiences impact people every day, so the film’s narrative provides good commentary and an uplifting message. Things can go downright bad in your life, so be sure to surround yourself with as many good people as you can and keep moving forward. Eventually, the bad will exist in the past and the future will always hold opportunity. Alternatively, perhaps The Natural was just trying to convey that people should continue to pursue their passions regardless of the hurdles thrown in their paths. The movie could also be devoid of any deep meaning and simply be about a good baseball player who left and then came back to the game to complete some remarkable feats. I felt something more than just excitement when I watched it, however, and that should be the goal of any film.

Okay, so the movie is a classic. Robert Redford is great, and I am not even sure he is acting. Is Robert Duvall a good guy, a villain, or just a story piece? I am still pondering that answer. Wilford Brimley should have been in every eighties movie in addition to sharing his fondness for Quaker Oats. Also, Glenn Close plays a lady in white who is not after Dalmatian puppies, and I still want to call her Meryl Streep. My brain has, for whatever reason, forever linked their names and faces together in a hybrid power actress. Final verdict: I am glad I finally took time to watch the entire movie from start to finish.