“The Natural” Odyssey-like myth created by “Wonder Boy” Redford

"The Natural" synopsis

Roy, a baseball prodigy from Nebraska, surprised everyone around him by playing like a major league player. At the age of 20, he bids farewell to his girlfriend Iris, with whom he had promised his future, and departs for Chicago, filled with hope, in order to fulfill his childhood dream. However, an unexpected fate awaited him...

Index

• Robert Redford's troubled life
• Mythical structure as a “Kishinryu setan”
• A story of “those shrouded in light” and “those shrouded in darkness”

Robert Redford's troubled life

Robert Redford is undoubtedly a star actor who has carved his name in film history. However, his life was not all smooth sailing. Rather, it was a series of hardships.

Redford, who was good at sports from an early age, entered the University of Colorado as a baseball scholarship student, but dropped out after just one year after being discovered to be underage drinking. With his dream of playing baseball extinct, Redford travels to Europe to become a painter, but quickly returns home as he realizes the limits of his talent.

He studied stage design at a drama school, but that didn't work out either, so he took advantage of his good looks and turned to acting. She made her Broadway debut in 1959 and began appearing in movies and television, but was unable to land any major roles until she was in her 30s.

The turning point was the monumental work of American new cinema, `` Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid '' (69). The film was originally scheduled to star Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, but McQueen withdrew due to circumstances. Instead, the unknown Robert Redford was chosen to play the role of the Sundance Kid.

“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” Preview

This work led to him appearing in one after another, including `` The Sting '' (1973), `` The Great Gatsby '' (1974), and ``All the All the President's Men '' (1976), which are representative of American films. His first film as a director, Ordinary People (1980), received rave reviews from critics and won him the Academy Award for Best Director.

Since 1978, the Sundance Film Festival has been held with the aim of nurturing young filmmakers. A man who once walked a shadowy path until he was 30, unable to find his own path forward, has risen to the top of Hollywood as an actor, filmmaker, and incubator for young film creators.

It was only natural that Redford would be cast as the lead in ``The Natural.'' This movie tells the story of Roy Habbs, an old rookie who made his major league debut at the age of 35, and uses his superhuman hitting skills to lead his team to victory. It's not hard to imagine that he identified himself with the main character Roy. At the time, Redford was 48 years old, not even in his 30s, but close to his 50s.

Mythical structure as a “Kishinryu setan”