MovieChat Forums > The Natural (1984) Discussion > If you liked the movie...

If you liked the movie...

posted 10 years ago by lowellstone
10 replies | jump to latest

I love baseball and I have always enjoyed the movie. I had heard that the ending in the book was somewhat different, and with that in mind, I read the book (novelette) or long short story.

Without attempting to spoil the book, I'll just say that the entire tone of the book and the ending itself were less than upbeat. It caused me to read an entire anthology of stories by Malamud, and I found the tone to be similar in all of them.

Even after this, I still love the movie.

[–] bumperdropper 10 years ago

Not surprising. The book that 'Field of Dreams' was based on was also much different in tone, less inspirational. Seems to be the pattern for a lot of Hollywood movies based on novels.

[–] cozfer 10 years ago

This is one of the few instances where I liked the movie better than the book (much better in fact).

[–] Fluke_Skywalker 9 years ago

There are ways to have the hero(es) lose and still be inspiring; Rocky, Cool Runnings, Best of the Best, but not here. Hobbs has to hit that home run. Everything is riding on it. The fact that it's so iconic (knocking out the lights, showering sparks down) and the music is so amazing just makes a good moment a classic.

Downbeat endings are more the realm of novels anyway. When it comes to movies, I think we want to see the good guy get the girl and save the day.

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A journey into the realm of the obscure: http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/

[–] HowYaLikeDemApplesWill 8 years ago

Well said....people want to see redemption.

Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] MichaelMovieLoft 9 years ago

Yeah, I read the book in Mythology class years ago. I had seen the movie so many times and loved it so I was able to carry a conversation in class on certain points. I would agree the ending is downbeat and depressing. I disliked it so much that I threw away the book after class was over. The interesting thing about it is Malamud loved the movie version of The Natural, even if it had a more optimistic ending than his book.

MM

[–] DaveBowman2001 8 years ago

I never read the book, but from what I've heard, I would agree. I generally don't like predictable cliche fairy tale happy ending movies, but this one just resonates with me and gets me every time. Maybe because I played baseball most of my life. I can really relate to Roy's Character in most ways always hated how his career/talent were destroyed, but love how he got a chance at redemption.

[–] jonmac-78418 8 years ago

Agreed 100%! I read the book after seeing the movie(probably 25 years ago) and while the book was great, I swore that I could never read it again. I was heartbroken at the end and remember it every time I see the movie on TV. If I had read the book prior to seeing the movie, I'm certain I would feel differently. In all honesty, I'm glad I saw the movie first, as it's one of the few movies that I have loved through my transition from a young adult to nearing middle age. Most movies I enjoyed in my youth are the sames ones I try and watch now and try to figure out how I could have liked them at one time(one example that comes to mind is Youngblood).

[–] gottaluvafriend 8 years ago

I read the Malamud, too, and much prefer the movie's ending. I think Malamud was trying to write a prose homage to the classic poem about Casey.

[–] kaneforgov 7 years ago

Malamud's book is classic tragedy. The movie is a story of redemption.

[–] gottaluvafriend 7 years ago

I don't know enough about literature to recognize classic tragedy though that sounds like the correct description for the book.