The Natural

The Natural is a 1952 novel about baseball written by Bernard Malamud and Kevin Baker. The book centers around Roy Hobbs, a baseball prodigy whose career is sidetracked when he is shot in a chance encounter. Most of the story concerns his attempts to get back into baseball later in life, when he plays for the fictional New York Knights with his legendary bat, "Wonderboy." The story closely parallels the legends of Percival and King Arthur.

The Plot

The movie begins by showing Roy Hobbs as a grown man, looking too old for his years, silently awaiting a train that will take him to New York for one last chance at being a ballplayer, although those specifics are not revealed until later. The film then cuts to a lengthy flashback showing Hobbs as a young boy playing baseball on an American farm, somewhere in the mid-West, with his father. He is obviously a highly talented baseball player. When a tree, under which his father had died, is destroyed by lightning, he takes a piece of the tree and makes a bat from it, on which he burns a lightning bolt and the label "Wonderboy". He carries the bat with him throughout his career, in a musical instrument case.

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As Hobbs embarks on his baseball career, it seems to be prematurely cut short due to a misfortunate chance encounter with a crazed female fan, Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey), who shoots him in the mid-section just before committing suicide. (This incident, from the book, was based on a real-life case of a female stalking and shooting a ballplayer, Eddie Waitkus).

Related Topics:
Barbara Hershey - Eddie Waitkus

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The story skips forward 16 years, to when Hobbs is in his mid-thirties. He helps a down-on-their-luck, fictitious team called the New York Knights rise to stardom and pennant contention. An unscrupulous and cynical reporter, Max Mercy (Robert Duvall), hounds Hobbs through this season. The mystery of those sixteen years is slowly revealed as his angelic, old childhood sweetheart, Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), returns to his life. It turns out that his early injuries have damaged his stomach and may prevent him from helping the Knights win the pennant.

Related Topics:
Robert Duvall - Glenn Close

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The owner of the Knights, The Judge (played by Robert Prosky), tries to persuade, even bribe, Hobbs to throw the remainder of the season due to a contractual agreement between The Judge and Hobbs' coach, Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley), whereby The Judge will obtain full ownership from Pop if the team fails to win the pennant. The Judge is joined in this persuasion by a gambler, Gus Sands (Darren McGavin), and his mistress, Memo Paris (Kim Basinger).

Related Topics:
Robert Prosky - Wilford Brimley - Darren McGavin - Kim Basinger

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Hobbs battles through many distractions and adversities, including succumbing to the sexual persuasions of Memo, being poisoned and offered a bribe, and even the shattering of "Wonderboy" at a critical moment, to help the Knights win the pennant. The movie ends with Hobbs playing baseball with his son, and his old childhood sweetheart, Iris Gaines (Glenn Close), in a farm field, in a scene that echoes the beginning of the movie. The very last shot, of Hobbs throwing the ball, is the shot that appears on the DVD cover.

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