Synopsis:
After being shot as a young man by a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) in a hotel, baseball rookie Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) — now in his 30s — joins a minor league team run by cantankerous Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) and the more even-tempered Red Blow (Richard Farnsworth), both of whom are concerned about ongoing corruption by the team’s majority owner (Robert Prosky). Meanwhile, Hobbs is seduced by Brimley’s sexy niece (Kim Basinger) and visited by his small-town sweetheart (Glenn Close).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Barbara Hershey Films
• Barry Levinson Films
• Baseball Films
• Corruption
• Femmes Fatales
• Glenn Close Films
• Historical Drama
• Robert Duvall Films
• Robert Redford Films

Response to Peary’s Review:
Peary writes that “Robert Redford returned to screen acting after a four-year vacation for this pet project, an adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s superb baseball novel” (which I haven’t read). He implies that “looking fit as an athlete, displaying a convincing left-handed swing, and sporting boyish good looks:”

… Redford is well-suited to play “Roy Hobbs, an innocent country boy who has… pitching talent” but is seduced “into taking the wayward path” by a “mysterious woman in black (Barbara Hershey)” (based on the bizarre real-life star-stalking of Eddie Waitkus by Ruth Ann Steinhagen).

[POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT]

Peary argues that “in the early scenes this Barry Levinson-directed film brilliantly captures myth aspects of baseball prior to WWII, but then Levinson and Redford turn [the] picture into a schmaltzy fairytale.” He adds, “If you would have been happy if David O. Selznick decided to forget Margaret Mitchell and have Rhett stick it out with Scarlett, then you’ll accept these guys’ changing Malamud’s pessimistic ending” into a cheer-worthy one.

He points out that “Redford had early screen success playing men who sold out their convictions (i.e., The Candidate, The Way We Were) and it seemed Hobbs’ character as Malamud wrote it was ready-made for him” — but apparently “everyone wants to be a hero, especially one who seems to be more than human.”

Peary calls out the impressive atmosphere and “camera work by Caleb Deschanel” — and also notes the random distinction that Close’s character is viewed “as a symbol of purity even though she is an unwed mother.”

While I’m not a diehard baseball fan like Peary — and also not invested in how closely this film hews to its source material — I can see how viewers at the time may have been disappointed by the significant shift in the ending. Personally, I was more puzzled by the ultimate intent of the storyline, which mixes random elements of mysticism and nostalgia like nobody’s business. The shooting early on is indeed confusing (it’s apparently not explained in the book, either); what’s most clear is that we’re meant to see what happens when an older-than-typical athlete with star potential decides to finally pursue some version of his original dream. Other than that, corruption is a massive theme throughout (villainous Prosky is literally filmed in the dark):

… and the women in Hobbs’s life are either femme fatales (Hershey, Basinger) or earthly saints (Close). The biggest star of all, however, is Caleb Deschanel’s cinematography, which illuminates the period sets and actors with a gorgeous glow at all times.

Note: Robert Duvall is essentially wasted in a bit role as a sports journalist who first watches Hobbs strike out “The Whammer” (Joe Don Baker, playing a Babe Ruth-like star), then pursues him for his story throughout the rest of the film.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Joe Don Baker as “The Whammer”
  
• Fine period sets
  
• Caleb Deschanel’s cinematography
  
  

Must See?
No, but it’s certainly worth a one-time look as a well-crafted piece of nostalgia.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• TCM Article
• Q Network Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• NY Times Original Review
• DVD Savant Review