The Natural (1984)

This film was not good.
Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) is a small-town kid with an amazing talent in baseball. He has a magic arm and just when you think he's going to be a big star, he meets the first of two femme fatales: Harriet Byrd (Barbara Hershey). Though she's supposed to be an older, wiser, more worldly woman, it's hard to tell because Redford is too old for the role. Despite having a fiance back home on the home in some unnamed mid-western state, he nevertheless goes to her hotel room for whatever reason, as no desire burns in his eyes. In a scene that I didn't think about, assuming that she was going to seduce him, something unexpected happens, she shoots him for whatever reason. He doesn't die, but he's in the hospital for a huge amount of time and doesn't get back to the majors for sixteen years.
The coach of the New York Knights, Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley) isn't happy that he has a middle-aged rookie on the team and only allows him to warm the bench while the assistant coach, Red (Richard Farnsworth) thinks that Roy has potential. Roy finally gets his chance after the current right fielder dies after crashing through the wall to catch a ball. I found that pretty ridiculous, though probably not impossible. At first, Ray is brilliant, in his first at bat, he literally crushes the cover off the ball. Roy is an instant sensation, until he meets Pop's niece, Memo (Kim Basinger). Side Note: What the hell kind of name is Memo? She is femme fatale number two, in with the manager of the Knights, who wants to kick Pop out of the game once and for all, and gain money in the process. So Roy's bad streak begins though it ends when his first love, Iris (Glenn Close), whose name isn't mentioned in the film returns to see one of his games. It is also revealed that she has a son. Call me crazy, it would have been a bigger twist if Roy hadn't have been the father.
Then, just as the Knights are almost in the playoffs, Gus (the unbilled Darrin McGarvin, aka The Old Man from A Christmas Story) and the owner's right-hand man uses Memo to drug Roy which means his old injury flares up and he's taken to a maternity hospital because it's the 'closest'. He is bribed not to play another game, and the doctor would agree because the silver bullet is slowly tearing away the lining in his stomach. But he doesn't listen and against doctor's orders, plays, and hits the winning home run as he starts to bleed out. And Iris tells him about their son, finally which leads me to Side Note #2: There is this lovely little invention called a condom. I've heard that they are very effective.
Though the ending is happy, I knew it had to happen, the bad guys, especially stereotypical bad guys, can't win.
I felt like I was watching a film on the outside, the characters didn't invite me in and the acting was lackluster with not much change in facial expressions and actions that seemed to come out of nowhere, at times. I found the plot unbelievable and though Redford did have a good scene every now and then, he was far too old for the role, even after the character aged sixteen years. And though I have against Glenn Close, I can't believe that she was nominated for an Oscar for this role. Basinger was better, despite for the money Roy would get to not play in the game so she could escape from underneath the owner's thumb. Also, Roy when someone's uncle says that she is not to be trusted, you really should listen to him. Grade: C+