Films Directed by Barry Levinson (Film Guide) - Wag the Dog, Rain Man, Bugsy, Good Morning, Vietnam, the Natural, Young Sherlock Holmes, Sphere (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 26. Chapters: Wag the Dog, Rain Man, Bugsy, Good Morning, Vietnam, The Natural, Young Sherlock Holmes, Sphere, Man of the Year, Disclosure, Toys, What Just Happened, Sleepers, Liberty Heights, Envy, Bandits, Avalon, Diner, Tin Men, PoliWood, You Don't Know Jack, An Everlasting Piece, Jimmy Hollywood. Excerpt: The Natural is a 1984 film adaptation of Bernard Malamud's 1952 baseball novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson and starring Robert Redford. The film, like the book, recounts the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural" baseball talent, spanning decades of Roy's success and his suffering. The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress (Glenn Close), and nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (Kim Basinger). Many of the baseball scenes were filmed in Buffalo, New York's War Memorial Stadium, built in 1937 and demolished a few years after the film was produced. Buffalo's All-High Stadium stood in for Chicago's Wrigley Field in a key scene. It was the first film produced by TriStar Pictures. Roy Hobbs is a child, playing baseball with his father on the family farm. Roy's father dies suddenly while Roy is still young, collapsing under a tree. That tree is split in half by lightning, and young Roy carves a baseball bat from it, on which he burns the image of a lightning bolt and the label Wonderboy. In 1923, a 19-year old Hobbs (Robert Redford) is granted a tryout by the Chicago Cubs as a pitcher. The train to Chicago makes a stop at a carnival and Roy is challenged to strike out "The Whammer" (..".a thinly disguised version of Babe Ruth") (Joe Don Baker), the top hitter in the major leagues. He does so in front of many people, including a sportswriter named Max Mercy (Robert Duvall), who draws a picture of ...