-The Natural

Based loosely on Bernard Malamud’s novel of the same name, The Natural weaves elements of Arthurian legend (for example, Wonderboy as Roy Hobbs’s Excalibur) and baseball into a great chivalric romance that frequently is seen at the head of lists of top sports films. The film differs from the book significantly enough to completely change the message of Malamud’s novel, for which some film critics took the film to task. The Natural was nominated for four Academy Awards and a Golden Globe award.