The Indomitable (1984)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The indomitable |
| Original title | The Natural |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1984 |
| length | 134 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Barry Levinson |
| script | Bernard Malamud , Roger Towne |
| production | Mark Johnson |
| music | Randy Newman |
| camera | Caleb Deschanel |
| cut | Stu Linder |
| occupation | |
| |
The Unyielding is a 1984 sports film directed by Barry Levinson . The plot is based on the novella The Natural by Bernard Malamud , who also worked on the script. The film was released in US cinemas in January 1984 and was shown in Germany from October of the same year.
action
The film tells the story of Roy Hobbs, a baseball player who grew up on a farm in the American Midwest . As a boy, he trained with his father in the fields around the house, but Roy died of a heart attack when Roy was a teenager. When the tree under which his father died is struck by lightning one night, young Roy carves a new bat out of the wood , which he calls Wonderboy .
A few years later, Hobbs has a chance to gain a foothold in the professional league, which is why he leaves his home. When he enters into a liaison with a female fan, his career comes to an early (temporary) end, because the young, mentally unstable woman turns out to be shooting him down and shortly afterwards committing suicide.
16 years later, the aged Hobbs, who had gone through the lower divisions after his recovery, was hired by a top division team. As you will learn later, the contract only comes about because the owner of the team, the so-called "judge", is not interested in real reinforcements, because if it does not succeed, he takes over complete control of the team, which is partly still the coach heard. The judge is supported by the player Sands and Memo Paris, who prevent the players from leading a professional life for him. Despite this starting position, the underdog team developed into a winning team thanks to Roy Hobbs. Hobbs also meets his childhood sweetheart Iris again and learns that he had a son shortly before he left.
Despite various other problems during the season, the team eventually actually reached the championship final, in which Wonderboy was broken. Roy Hobbs beats the decisive home run with the borrowed bat Savoy Spezial, which he had carved some time earlier with Bobby Savoy, the ball boy of the team, by striking the floodlights with the ball, spectacularly, which then sparked.
The film ends with a scene in which Hobbs and his son are seen playing baseball together.
Reviews and feedback
Roger Ebert criticized that the film was too much about Redford and that the baseball scenes and various details were unrealistic. By the magazine Cinema contrast, received the Indomitable the highest rating: "With fabulous images, captivating baseball scenes and the then 48jährigen (and as Twen not entirely convincing) Robert Redford says director Barry Levinson a wonderfully old-fashioned sports story."
The film grossed about $ 48 million in American cinemas on a budget of $ 28 million.
Awards
The indomitable was nominated for four Oscars in 1985 (Glenn Close as best supporting actress, best production design, best camera and best film music ), but got nothing.
Web links
- Cool Hand Luke in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Cool Hand Luke at Rotten Tomatoes (English)