The Natural is a 1984 American sports film based on Bernard Malamud's 1952 novel of the same name, directed by Barry Levinson, and starring Robert Redford, Glenn Close, and Robert Duvall. Like the novel, the film recounts the experiences of Roy Hobbs, an individual with great "natural" baseball talent, spanning the decades of Roy's career. In direct contrast to the novel, the film ends on a positive tone. It was the first film produced by TriStar Pictures.