What is The Natural about?
The Natural is a story about decision making. Roy could be the greatest baseball player ever. He wants to be the best ever. But he keeps making decisions that compromise his ability to play the game. Some are made innocently. Others are guiltily. For younger viewers, The Natural serves as a warning. “You will be tempted by life’s vices. Be aware of what they take from you.” And for older viewers, it’s a reminder that even if you’ve lost time, there’s still time yet. You can still achieve something. But those same vices are there, waiting for you, eager to pull you away from the task at hand. Remember who and what inspires you and lights your way. Otherwise, the darkness will swallow you whole.
Cast
- Roy Hobbs – Robert Redford
- Iris Gaines – Glenn Close
- Pop Fisher – Wilford Brimley
- Red Blow – Richard Farnsworth
- Memo Paris – Kim Basinger
- Gus Sands – Darren McGavin
- Max Mercy – Robert Duvall
- The Judge – Robert Prosky
- The Whammer – Joe Don Baker
- Harriet Bird – Barbara Hershey
- Bump Bailey – Michael Madsen
- Bobby Savoy – George Wilkosz
- Based on – The Natural, novel by Bernard Malamud
- Written by – Roger Towne | Phil Dusenberry
- Directed by – Barry Levinson
How to understand The Natural
Off the farm
The first sequence of The Natural establishes Roy Hobbs as a simple farm kid with a big heart who has a love for baseball. He proposes to Iris, his childhood sweetheart. Everything seems good. But once he’s on that train, things change. It’s a world he’s unfamiliar with. Not only the creature comforts but also the subtlety of the social dynamics. Roy puts his best foot forward with Whammer and Max, only for them to “big league” him and act superior.
That initial confrontation asks the question: can Roy hold his own in this world or will it walk all over him? Which is the purpose of the carnival sequence.
Roy beats Whammer
The Natural uses Whammer as a stand-in for Babe Ruth, the most famous baseball player of all-time. So when the train stops at a local carnival, we get to see just how popular Whammer is, as a crowd gathers just to see Whammer hit some balls in a cage. In contrast, we have Roy with a small gathering at the bottle-throw. That juxtaposition shows just how impressive Whammer is and how far Hobbs has to go to be on that level. But. Each throw Roy makes brings more people over. There’s momentum. You get the sense of potential.
That culminates with the three-pitch challenge between Whammer and Roy. When Roy blows three straight by Whammer, it seems like anything will be possible for him. That he’s destined to be one of the greats. That answers our earlier question of “can Roy hold his own in this world?” Yes. Yes, he can.
Harriet Bird
Except the world isn’t just baseball. Harriet represents something more. She dresses like someone with money. And speaks to Roy about mythology and literature. All things that leave Roy feeling on his heels. He doesn’t know about Sir Lancelot jousting Sir Turquine (or was it Maldamor?). He hasn’t read Homer. But he doesn’t retreat. Instead, he uses his charm and confidence to try to woo Harriet.
This is the most important moment so far. Because we know Roy had proposed to Iris. Yet here he is flirting with Harriet. When she asks him “Do you have a girl?” he doesn’t answer. Then she holds his hand. And he responds in kind. That’s the tipping point. When facing Whammer, Roy had maintained his morality and sense of self, and won because of it. But here, with Harriet, he abandons his morals.
The shadow
As soon as Roy takes Harriet’s hand, its like the train goes into a tunnel. Suddenly the light vanishes from the room. Shadow splashes across Roy. Even the lights on the tables flicker out. He leans in for a kiss.
Right there, The Natural establishes a visual motif. When Roy is at his best, his true self, things are bright. When he loses his moral compass, things go dark. So viewers should pay attention to the use of light and shadow throughout The Natural.
The hotel room
At the hotel in Chicago, Roy should be focused on baseball. Instead, he responds to a phone call from Harriet to come to her room. He could have declined and stayed loyal to Iris. But he goes. There’s Harriet, dressed in black, with a black veil. Harriet has been a foil for Iris. Iris connects to Roy’s time on the farm, to his best self. Harriet represents the world outside the farm and Roy’s loss of innocence. Roy had proposed to Iris, yet here he is with Harriet, and she has on a veil, something typically associated with a bride on her wedding day. Except it’s black.
You can see how through this opening sequence The Natural has established a thematic spectrum with two clear oppositional points and then positioned characters to relate to one point or the other. Not only that, we have the visual motifs that reflect each extreme. So it does a lot of work right away that will carry us through for the rest of the film.
But that all culminates in this opening climax where Harriet shoots Roy. If he had stayed true to the angel on his shoulder, he’d be hours away from being on a baseball field. Instead, he listened to the devil on the other shoulder. And it led him to Harriet’s room. This is the consequence of his actions. Of his attention. She shoots him. And it costs him so much. Even though he lives, he loses out on his baseball career.
What was Harriet’s goal?
We don’t get to hear her motivations. We can only analyze her dialogue and behavior. When she thought Whammer was the best, she latched onto him. After Roy won the contest, she reoriented. Right before she fires, what does she say? “Roy, will you be the best there ever was in the game?” So there seems to be some motivation around snuffing out talent. That’s why she was initially attracted to Whammer. She would go down in history, become part of the mythology, if she killed Whammer. Same with Roy. She turns his story from triumph to tragedy. That poetry seemed to appeal to her.
We do know Roy wasn’t her first victim. When we first see Max, he tells Whammer about an Olympic athlete and football star, both shot with a silver bullet. So that lines up with the theory of taking down athletes who were at their prime.
What about Gus? Did he pay Harriet?
Yeah, this is a weird one. When Roy first meets Gus, at dinner, Gus says, “I once bet $100,000 on three pitched balls.” Roy doesn’t seem to connect the dots to his showdown with Whammer. He asks “How’d you make out?” Gus: “Didn’t. But the next week, I ruined the guy with a different deal.”
If Gus really was referring to Roy, then it becomes a bit of a logistical nightmare. We don’t see Gus on the train or at the carnival. So how did he make the bet? Max could have called him before the three-pitch contest. But we don’t see that. It’s also 1923. It wasn’t like phones were plentiful. They certainly didn’t guarantee connection like cell phones do now. But let’s assume Max did call Gus or that Gus was there. Then what? It’s certainly not a week later when Harriet calls Roy to the hotel. It’s likely the very next day. Maybe Harriet had been Gus’s agent, taking out athletes who had lost him money. Which is what happened to the Olympan and the football player? But she seems eager. Crazed. And how she stalked Whammer seemed predatory. Not something done by a minion.
I think it makes more narrative sense and thematic sense if Harriet acted on her own. So why have Gus say what he said? It creates a parallel between the two events. Between then and now. It conveys to the viewer that Roy’s about to face a similar trial to what he had previously failed to overcome. Which brings us back to our original question: can Roy hold his own in this world? Or will he, once again, give over to the baser parts of his being and become undone?
Memo is the new Harriet
Just as Roy establishes himself as a premier baseball player, he falls into a relationship with Memo Paris. Personality-wise, she and Harriet have nothing in common. But both act as destructive influences on Roy. Both represent that Big City sophistication that contrasts his farm background and makes him feel special and important. While he shows no interest in money and fame, he actively pursues validation through Harriet and Memo. And allows them to, in different ways, destroy him.
With Harriet, it was a single shot. Memo, it’s far more slow and insidious. The dinners, drinks, and intimacy cause Roy to get in late, fall asleep even later, and wake up far from his best. His mind isn’t on baseball. Even though he’s perfectly healthy, he’s not playing the game to his full potential.
Roy’s slump
The slump positions Roy’s on-field ability as a direct consequence to his behavior off the field. When he was his best self, he was a top prospect who could have been the greatest to ever play the game. Then he pursued Harriet and that throwing away of his morals resulted in him not playing baseball for 16 years. Not just because of the injury but the shame, guilt, anger, regret. When he steps back onto the field, he’s that humble farm boy. And he hits home run after home run after home run.
Until Memo. Notice she always wears black. And so does Gus. And that they’re in league with the Judge, whose entire office was couched in darkness. When Roy is part of that group, he compromises his morals. And thus his baseball playing suffers.
Iris, bringer of light
When Roy leaves New York, he leaves behind Memo and the life she represents. This positions Roy in a more neutral place. Which is when the movie decides to reintroduce Iris. She attends the game and wears that big hat that catches the sunlight and glows like a halo. Knowing what we know about the use of shadow, it should be obvious what the halo-hat and Iris’s white dress symbolize. She embodies all the good that Roy had and has struggled to reclaim. Her presence breaks him out of his slump. After a conversation with Iris, Roy spends the rest of the road trip playing great baseball.
That’s pretty much it
Once you know all of this, there isn’t much left to discuss, thematically. Roy’s in a battle for his soul. Around Memo, he’s losing. Around Iris, he’s winning. Memo, Gus, and the Judge all try to compromise Roy’s moral compass, especially at the end, when it comes to the playoff game. While Iris and Pop motivate Roy to be his best.
Ultimately, when Roy hits the game-winning home run, it shatters the stadium lights and the baseball field becomes awash in light and dark. That’s life. The world. That’s Roy. That’s you. That’s me. We all have light and darkness within us. And different factors influence us one way or the other. It’s up to us to make the right choices, be around the right people, to choose being our best over indulging what makes us feel good in the short term.
Sub-themes
There are a few sub-themes.
History repeats itself
One sub-theme is that history repeats itself and life is cyclical. Roy starts on the farm, he ends on the farm. He had a dad who taught him to love baseball. He becomes a dad who teaches his son to love baseball. Harriet compared Roy to Lancelot, drawing a connection to moments out of history, myth, and literature to present day situations. Even Harriet shooting Roy was part of a pattern. Then you have the line near the end where Roy says, “You were right, Memo. We have met before.” He hadn’t actually met her, but he realized Memo’s the same kind of figure as Harriet, someone trying to take him away from the game he loves.
Redefining your dreams, being satisfied with what you’ve done, and life beyond baseball
Roy had a somewhat childish dream of being able to go down the street and have people say “There goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was.” Iris tries to convince him that he has already accomplished a lot and inspired countless people. As much as Roy wanted to be the best there ever was, his own decision-making made such a dream impossible. But. It doesn’t mean he can’t find something that still satisfies him. When Pop says “You’re better than anyone I ever had. And you’re the best goddamned hitter I ever saw,” that’s good enough for Roy. That someone who had spent his entire life in baseball would say that…that’s enough.
On top of that, you have what happens after Wonderboy breaks. Bobby Savoy brings Roy the bat they made together, with its “Savoy Special” branding. That proves to Roy that he did make an impact, just like Iris said. He can walk away from the game satisfied with what he’s accomplished. Especially following the home run that brings down the Judge and gives control of the Knights back to Pop. He did good work.
Now, what matters most to him is being a dad. As much as Roy loved baseball, there’s more to life than just the game. And he’s finally ready to accept that.
Why did Roy get called up?
We have the dialogue when the Judge calls the head of scouting, Carson. The Judge is upset that Hobbs is so good. But what does Carson say? “Judge, I’m doing what you asked. Hobbs is a joke, a nobody from nowhere.”
That begs the question: how did Hobbs perform while playing independent ball? He played there for two weeks. Did he not hit at all? Was he only mediocre? Or was he smashing home run after home run after home run? If it’s not the latter, then why did he suddenly turn into Prime Barry Bonds with the Knights? The power of being back in the majors? If he was hitting like God’s gift to baseball, then why would Carson send him to the Knights if he was working with the Judge to purposefully tank the season?
If it wasn’t clear, the Judge had ordered Carson to send him bad players. That way he could guarantee a losing season and full-ownership of the Knights, based on his deal with Pop. It’s possible Carson actually hated the Judge and sent Hobbs to help Pop. But we have no evidence to support that. The only evidence we do have is what he says to the Judge.
This won’t be a big deal for 99% of people who watch The Natural. But it’s the kind of little narrative detail that I get hung up on.
Is The Natural based on a true story?
Kind of. People assume Bernard Malamud based Roy Hobb’s story on Eddie Waitkus. Waitkus played in the MLB from 1941 to 1955. But this fan, Ruth Ann Steinhagen, had been obsessed with Eddie the few years he was on the Chicago Cubs. Then he was traded to Philadelphia. When the Phillies came into town to play the Cubs, she checked into the hotel the team was at, left a note for Eddie to come to her room, then, when he got there, she shot him. Waitkus survived and even returned for the 1950 season. Ruth ended up in a mental hospital.
So there are clear parallels to Roy. But Malamud made what happened a lot more dramatic and thematic. The stuff of mythology rather than true crime.
How good was Roy Hobbs?
First, we have to establish how much Roy played. In the novel, Hobbs plays his first game around June 20th. In 1939, the year The Natural takes place, the MLB schedule had 154 games. June 20th was about the 50th game of the season for most teams. So that means Roy could have played in 100 games.
But, in the movie, the first date we see comes from a newspaper and says July 27th, 1939. Quite clearly. It even has a calendar with the month of July. At that point, it’s been only a couple games since Bump’s demise and Roy’s ascendancy. Certainly not over a month. The next paper shows July 29th. But then, get this, another newspaper says July 24th. Which means we’ve jumped backwards in time. When we see the Life magazine issue with Roy on the cover, the date is August 14th, 1939. One article mentions a 12-game winning “skein”.
Roy’s slump starts in August. We know this from one of the newspapers: “Cold Knights in August. Lose 9 of Last 12.” So that means at least 12 games have passed since the Life printing on August 14th. But not enough for us to leave August. If they play a game a day, with 31 days in August, then Roy’s slump started as early as the 15th or as late as the 19th. We see a 13th loss. 14th, 15th, 16th, then four more newspapers that talk about Roy’s slump and show him with Memo. That makes it seem like another week has come and gone. When the team leaves for Chicago, the newspaper date says Aug. 30.
So time is a bit dilated. Roy’s initial hot streak started in late-July, lasted 12-20 games, and ended mid-August. His slump started mid-August and lasted another 12-20 games.
After the slump-buster in Chicago, Memo talks to Roy on the phone and a shot shows a newspaper headline about the lady in white. At the top of the paper, it says September 3rd. But in the montage that follows, one article says “Boston, July 8”. The next paper says July 27.
The film clearly has some continuity errors around newspaper dates. Especially because the montage of the Knights winning culminates with them being on the brink of taking the pennant. There are only a few games left in the season. Which is what leads to the one-game playoff against Pittsburgh to see who will win the pennant and represent the National League in the World Series.
Looking at the 1939 Yankees, their final game of the season was September 30th. Knowing the baseball season ends in September, it wouldn’t make sense for the Knights to have a playoff game at the end of July or early August, which is what the post-Chicago montage seems to imply. So we should throw those out and use the September date from the paper Memo had. That would mean the final road trip lasted through the month of September. And Roy dominated. Then the team returned to New York, Memo poisoned Roy, and he spent a week or so in the hospital, before the final game at the end of September/early October.
Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer, once speculated, back when he was still writing for ESPN, that Hobbs played 115 games, batted .350, and hit 44 HR, with 106 RBI. But that seems insanely generous. Part of that is because Simmons just assumed Hobbs started playing late May, thought the Chicago series was in July, and that the slump was in August.
But we know better. Hobbs actually started playing around July 27th, about game 90 for most teams in the 1939 season. August 14th was game 107-ish. September 3rd was game 127. And the season ended on 154.
So Roy had around 17 good games, then up to 20 bad ones, followed by about 25-ish more good ones. He played, at most, about 62 games.
That’s 47% less than what Simmons thought. If we cut Simmons’s predictions down accordingly, then Roy hit 23 HR and had 56 RBI. Figuring out his batting average is a bit more difficult. Let’s try to establish a baseline. Say outside of his slump Roy went 3 for 3 every single game. That would be 42 games of 3 hits per game, so 126 total hits in 126 plate appearances. Then say during his slump, he went 0 for 3. That’s 0 hits in 60 appearances. Add those together and you get 126 for 186. That’s a .677 average. Which would be unbelievable. Like far and away the greatest season ever, by orders of magnitude. So he probably wasn’t that good. Right?
What if Hobbs went 2 for 3 during his hot streak? That’s 84 hits in 186 at bats. Good for a .451 average. Which would still be incredible. Ted Williams is generally considered the best all-around hitter in baseball history. Ted’s best batting average was .407, in 1953. No one has hit .400 since. When you look at the best batting averages in league history, Hugh Duffy hit .440. But that was 1894. Roger Hornsby hit .424 in 1924. If Roy hit .451, it would still be heads above any of his contemporaries.
1 for 3 every game would put him at 42 hits in 186 at bats. Which is only .225 and is the opposite of impressive. So it seems safe to assume that during his hot streak, Roy had somewhere between 1-2 hits a game. Sometimes more. And hit for around .350 to .400 overall. I would imagine he hit 20-30 homers and not 40-60.
Did Memo poison Roy? Was she a bad person?
Yes. And yes. Memo was not some unwilling participant. Roy was, to her, an opportunity. It seemed she would have been happy ending up with him, but only in the context that he threw the game and compromised his integrity so they could get a huge payday. That’s what she wanted—the payday. And then the life of fame that would come from Gus and the Judge using Roy as a face for whatever business endeavors they had in mind. That would guarantee Memo’s long-term future. So she wasn’t mad that Roy didn’t love her but that his morality would prevent her from having her dream life. Memo had many opportunities to do right by Roy, and each time she picked what was best for her.
Was Roy…kind of a hypocrite?
Yeah. On the one hand, you need Roy to fall victim to his vices for the movie to tell the story it wants to tell. On the other hand, he says all he cares about is baseball and being great at baseball. We see how morally upright he is. Then as soon as Memo enters the picture, he throws all of that away. When he slumps, to an embarrassing degree, he shows no concern. Which feels like it goes against his entire character. Why would this guy be okay with dropping balls in the outfield? With striking out at bat after at bat? Wouldn’t he put two and two together and focus less on Memo and more on the sport?
I can hear the devil’s advocate screaming “That hypocrisy is the point!” I just have a hard time accepting Roy’s idealism about baseball and overall morality when he so gleefully and ignorantly abandons both without any self-reflection. It comes off as mechanical, plot-driven, rather than believable and consequential. At least to me. I’m not criticizing the idea. Just the execution.
Excellent analysis!