The Natural

Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable that begins when 14-year-old Hobbs (Redford) fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy (Robert Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs’ career. But a meeting with a mysterious woman shatters his dream. Years pass and an older Hobbs reappears as a rookie with The New York Knights. Overcoming physical pain and defying those who have a stake in seeing the Knights lose, Hobbs, with his boyhood bat, has his chance to lead the Knights to the pennant and to finally fulfill his dream.

Directed by Barry Levinson (DINER) and nominated for 4 Oscars, THE NATURAL is credited with leading the boom of baseball movies that followed (FIELD OF DREAMS, BULL DURHAM). Robert Redford hadn’t stared in a film in three years and was 47-years-old when he stared as the 35-year-old Roy Hobbs during filming in 1983. Redford’s athleticism and baseball scholarship to the University of Colorado three decades earlier honed his sweet lefty swing, making him look the part.

ONE SHOW ONLY! Sunday, August 2 @ 10:30AM in Avalon 1