Product Details

• Actors: Robert Redford, Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley
• Directors: Barry Levinson
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Director's Cut, Dubbed, Dolby, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
• Run Time: 144 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000P3XQQC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,443 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Includes the ALL-NEW Director's Cut DVD, a New York Knights baseball cap, a replica Roy Hobbs Autographed baseball and 5 New York Knights Baseball cards!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I didn't see it comin'...", May 2, 2007

By 

Bobby Underwood "starlighthotel" (Manly NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Natural Director's Cut Limited Gift Set (DVD)

"The life we learn with and the life we live with after that." -- Glenn Close

This beautiful film about a dream derailed by a dark fate which takes the form of two outwardly lovely but inwardly unbalanced women has my vote for the greatest baseball movie ever made. Director Barry Levinson and screenwriters Roger Towne and Phil Dusenverry turned Bernard Malamud's novel into a meaningful fable that transcends baseball and encompasses life itself.

Robert Redford is Roy Hobbs, whose only dream is to walk down the street one day and have people say: "That's Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was." Roy's dad on the farm instills in his son the love for baseball, recognizing in him an extraordinary gift like none before him. When he passes suddenly, young Roy fashions a bat from a tree struck by lightning and the mythic elements of the story begin to take shape.

Glenn Close is wonderful as Roy's sweetheart. She is pure of heart, with no agenda other than Roy's happiness. She is the light of his youth and his life, and will bring him back to his destiny, in contrast to the twisted agenda of two other young women. Levinson smartly dresses Close in white, and both Barbara Hershey and Kim Basinger in black, to contrast the good and evil bidding for Roy's fate.

When a dark episode in a hotel room nearly ends Roy's life, 16 years pass before he returns to baseball with the New York Knights. Scoffed at by Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) at first, he and his assistant, Red (Richard Farnsworth), finally give Hobbs a chance and soon he and his bat, "Wonder Boy," take on a mythic quality. But a reporter named Max (Robert Duvall) is bound and determined to discover the secret of those 16 missing years and destroy Roy's chance to be the best there ever was.

It is more than just Max trying to derail his dream, however. Beautiful Kim Basinger is Memo Paris, whose outward appearance can only mask the stone cold part of her heart for so long. Roy almost sees it too late, but when he does, utters the now famous line: "I was wrong Memo. We have met before."

It will be Iris (Glenn Close) who once again acts as Roy's shining light, her kindness and decency and understanding giving Roy strength to have one last go at his dream. She will act as his lighthouse in a storm of dark fate and unbalanced young women, guiding him full circle back to a farm and a life still full of dreams.

This director's cut not only has an additional 15 minutes of film, but it looks and sounds better than ever. The extras are really special in this set. Not only do you get an "autographed" Roy Hobbs baseball, and Roy Hobbs' rookie cards, but a blue New York Knights baseball cap as well. If, like me, you are a fan of this magical film, you'll want to grab this up before they're all gone, just as I did.

This film is for anyone who ever dreamed of being the best there ever was and had those dreams derailed for a time by something they didn't see comin'. It doesn't matter if that dream was of baseball, carpentry, or writing. Perhaps that is the magic of this film. This is a lovely period piece, beautifully shot. Because it is about so much more than just baseball, it is the best baseball movie there ever was......

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "People don't start playing ball at your age, they retire!", March 11, 2011

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Natural Director's Cut Limited Gift Set (DVD)

By turns elegiac, romantic, scary, sad and heroic, director Barry Levinson's THE NATURAL concerns a man sidetracked by a severe injury for nearly two decades who finally gets his chance to star in the Major Leagues, for the mythical New York Knights.

Roy Hobbs and Wonder Boy, the bat he carved from a tree felled by lightning, quickly turn the team's fortunes around, yet after-effects of an old gunshot wound to the torso may kill him before season's end.

This screen adaptation of a Bernard Malamud novel (loosely based on Arthurian legend) changes that author's dark ending to one of triumph.

Its main character has much in common with Bosox slugger Ted Williams: uniform number, batting style, wanting to be the best of all time, hitting a home run in his last at bat, etc. The shattered scoreboard actually happened at Ebbetts Field and the shooting incident was also taken from a true event, the wounding and comeback of Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus.

Highest recommendation for one of the most inspirational sports movies ever made.

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(7.4) The Natural (1994) Robert Redford/Glenn Close/Kim Basinger/Wilford Brimley/Barbara Hershey/Robert Prosky/Joe Don Baker/Michael Madsen/Robert Duvall (uncredited: Darren McGavin)

5.0 out of 5 stars A better movie and great collector's items, March 3, 2011

By 

Vic Sage - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Natural Director's Cut Limited Gift Set (DVD)

I bought this item thinking I would get a cheap set of items just a promo to sell the director's cut. I was wrong. The NY Knights ball cap was worth the money I spent on this set. Then there is the "Roy Hobbs" baseball. Of course there is no such person as Roy Hobbs ball but this as close as your going to get. The final thing are the trading cards which show off the highlights of the movie. I took the front cover of the box and made a mini poster with these cards. It looks like it came from Sony. As for the movie I think the director's cut is better then the theatrical cut. Over all the whole package is worth the money you will spend on it.
Allen Y.