'' Variety '' called it an " impeccably made ... fable about success and failure in America . " James Berardinelli praised '' The Natural '' as " a rguably the best baseball movie ever made " . ESPN 's Page 2 selected it as the 6th best sports movie of all time . Sports writer Bill Simmons has argued , " Any ' Best Sports Movies ' list that does n't feature either '' Hoosiers '' or '' The Natural '' as the No. 1 pick should n't even count . " Director Barry Levinson said on MLB Network 's " Costas at the Movies " in 2013 that while the film is based in fantasy , " through the years , these things which are outlandish actually happen ... like Kirk Gibson hitting the home run and limping around the bases ... Curt Schilling with the blood on the sock in the World Series . " Leonard Maltin 's 18th annual '' Movie Guide '' edition called it " too long and inconsistent . " Dan Craft , longtime critic for the Bloomington , Illinois paper , '' The Pantagraph '' , wrote , " The storybook ending is so preposterous you do n't know whether to cheer or jeer . " In '' Sports Illustrated '' , Frank Deford had faint praise for it : " '' The Natural '' almost manages to be a John Simon of '' National Review '' and Richard Schickel of '' Time '' were disappointed with the adaptation . Simon contrasted Malamud 's story about the " failure of American innocence " with Levinson 's " fable of success ... and the ultimate triumph of semi-doltish purity , " declaring " you have , not Malamud 's novel , but a sorry illustration of its theme " . Schickel lamented that " Malamud 's intricate ending ( it is a victory that looks like a defeat ) is vulgarized ( the victory is now an unambiguous triumph , fireworks included ) , " and that " watching this movie is all too often like reading about '' The Natural '' in the '' College Outline '' Roger Ebert called it " idolatry on behalf of Robert Redford . " Ebert 's television collaborator Gene Siskel praised it , giving it four stars , also putting down other critics that he suggested might have just recently read the novel for the In a lengthy article on baseball movies in '' The New Yorker '' , Roger Angell pointed out that Malamud had intentionally treated Hobbs ' story as a baseball version of the King Arthur legend , which came across in the film as a bit heavy-handed , " portentous and stuffy , " and that the book 's ending should have been kept . He also cited a number of excellent visuals and funny bits , and noted that Robert Redford had prepared so carefully for the role , modeling his swing on that of Ted Williams , that " you want to sign At the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , retrospectively compiled reviews from 38 critics give the film a score of 82 % , with an average rating of 7.1 / 10 . The website 's consensus reads : " Though heavy with sentiment , '' The Natural '' is an irresistible classic , and a sincere testament to America 's '' The Natural '' was nominated for four Academy Awards : Actress in a Supporting Role ( Glenn Close ) , Cinematography ( Caleb Deschanel ) , Art Direction ( Mel Bourne , Angelo P. Graham , Bruce Weintraub ) , and Music ( Randy Newman ) . Kim Basinger was also nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Awards
57th Academy Awards
The Natural (film)