80's Month Day 5: The Natural

The Natural is a 1984 sports movie starring Robert Redford as a baseball player named Roy Hobbs.

The film starts out with a young Roy playing baseball with his father on their farm. Later, Roy's father dies under a tree and that evening the tree is struck by lightning. Roy decides to carve a baseball bat from the damaged tree and even burns a lightning bolt and the name "Wonderboy" on the barrel. Jump ahead a few years to a now 19yr old Hobbs who is on his way to a tryout with the Chicago Cubs. Along the way, while at a carnival, Hobbs is challenged to strike out one of the Majors top hitters,"The Whammer" (played by Joe Don Baker) and much to everyone's surprise he does.

Soon after, Hobbs meets a woman named Harriet who lures him to her hotel room. Harriet then shoots Hobbs and commits suicide. It turns out Harriet had been killing rising star athletes, and two others had already been murdered.

Jump to 16 years later. Hobbs now 35, and no longer a pitcher but now playing right field instead, has just been signed by the last-place New York Knights. The move that frustrates the team's manager Pop Fisher (played by Wilford Brimley) who isn't thrilled by the signing of a middle-aged rookie. After riding the bench for some time, Hobbs eventually gets his chance to play and, along with his bat 'Wonderboy', stars to turn the season around for the Knights. There's a lot that goes on between this point in the season and the Knights winning the pennant at the end, which you know early on is going to be where the film ends up. Hobbs' old gunshot injury causes him problems, Pop Fisher loses his ownership of the team if they fail to win the pennant, Hobbs refuses a bribe to throw the season, there is (of course) a love interest, there is a sports writer played by Robert Duvall desperate to find out anything he can about Hobbs' past, Hobbs helps the bat boy make is own bat which will come back later on in the film... It's not a movie that throws any real surprises at you, but it's all done really well

Overall, it's an entertaining movie and a must-see for baseball fans.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

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