An excellent example of the "Hollywood-ization" of a work taken from another medium. As mentioned in other comments, the cinematography and historical realism are both top-notch. The storyline takes on mythic proportions though choosing a one-dimensional good v evil, corruption v purity theme rather than exploring the multi-dimensional and in my opinion, more realistic and human themes prevalent in Malamud's novel. Hobbs here is the straight-up American Golden Boy, played to the hilt by Redford, and ably supported by Duvall, Basinger, Close, Brimley, et al in archetypal characters (atavistic sportswriter, temptress, pure old-fashioned girl, crusty manager). Enjoyable to watch, if only for the nod to the "good old days" of baseball when players were larger than life yet also more accessible to the common fan.
Review of The Natural
