History Film / TheNatural

* BlandNameProduct: The Knights are obviously the New York Giants, but with the Arthurian theme.

* KarmaHoudini: Memo, Max, Gus and the Judge get no comeuppance at the end, though the Judge does lose his shares to Pops in the film and gets a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown in the book. Gus also loses a lot of money he bet on Roy (having made a phone call earlier saying to bet "everything), although its implied he makes and loses big bets regularly.
* LaserGuidedKarma: Max is making a drawing of Roy striking out, depicting him as the goat -- Roy fouls a ball straight back into the pressbox, glass shards flying everywhere, as if he knew what Max was doing and is sending him a message.

** Roy Hobbs is something of a CompositeCharacter inspired by both Ruth and Ted Williams. both a tremendous pitcher (he strikes out the Whammer) and a fearsome slugger, much as Ruth was in real life. Williams was also a decent pitcher who was quickly changed to a left fielder while still in the minors, wore the number 9, and hit a home run in his last at bat of his career. Williams also said that he wanted people to see him walking down the street and say "There goes Ted Williams, the best there ever was."

* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: Memo is a [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] absolute GoldDigger in the book but in the film seems to have some genuine feelings for Roy, being upset when he throws her aside as opposed to her throwing him aside in the book.

* FirstGirlWins[=/=]VictoriousChildhoodFriend: Roy refuses to throw the game and run away with Memo, and the final scene shows him playing catch with [[spoiler: his son]] while Iris watches with a smile.

** Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Eddie Waitkus was shot in the chest in his Chicago hotel room by deranged fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen in 1949. He recovered from his wound and played six more seasons in the big leagues, starring with the 1950 "Whiz Kids" Philadelphia team that won the National League pennant. Steinhagen was confined to a state hospital for three years, then lived in quiet obscurity until her death in 2012 at age 83.

** Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Eddie Waitkus was shot in the chest in his hotel room by deranged fan Ruth Ann Steinhagen in 1949. He recovered from his wound and played six more seasons in the big leagues, starring with the 1950 "Whiz Kids" Philadelphia team that won the National League pennant.
** Bump Bailey's penchant for suffering injuries was based on Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Pete Reiser's propensity for accidents. Bump's fatal crash was based on that suffered by "Doc" Powers in 1909 (for the record, Reiser suffered a skull fracture after crashing into a wall as well, but survived)

'''Roy Hobbs''': And then? And then when I walked down the street people would've looked and they would've said 'there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game'.

A 1984 film based on the 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, directed by Creator/BarryLevinson and starring Creator/RobertRedford as Roy Hobbs, a supernaturally gifted young baseball talent whose career is derailed when he is shot in the gut by a deranged fan (Creator/BarbaraHershey). Sixteen years later he makes his belated big league debut, but his dark secret threatens to destroy him.

Notable as the first film to be produced by Creator/TriStarPictures (but not the first released, as that honor goes to ''Where the Boys Are '84'').

* TheFilmOfTheBook: Adapted from the novel by Bernard Malamud. Malamud's novel is considerably darker in tone (Hobbs becomes an arrogant {{Jerkass}} as a result of his sudden fame, whereas he remains a goal-oriented NiceGuy in the movie) and has a [[spoiler:DownerEnding in which Roy turns out to be completely useless without the Wonderbat at the end, striking out and is about to be disgraced by Mercy's (highly-inaccurate) report]], whereas in the movie, [[spoiler:he gets the Knights to the World Series]].

* SerialKiller: Unfortunately for Roy, his whole life is turned upside down by running into one of these. We never find out [[spoiler:why is it that Harriet Bird hunts down great athletes to shoot them dead with silver bullets]] beyond the obviously implied "[[LooneyFan she's nuts]]".

* ScaryShiningGlasses: The Judge's dimly-lit office allows him to do this pretty often, better seen when he tries to bribe (and blackmail, just to be sure) Roy to take a dive.

* EtherialWhiteDress: Iris standing in the stands in her white dress, looking angelic as the sun sets behind her (her translucent white hat looks like a halo as the sun shines through it).

A 1984 film based on the 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, directed by Creator/BarryLevinson and starring Creator/RobertRedford as Roy Hobbs, a supernaturally gifted young baseball talent whose career is derailed when he is shot in the gut by a deranged fan. Sixteen years later he makes his belated big league debut, but his dark secret threatens to destroy him.

Also in the cast are Creator/RobertDuvall, Creator/GlennClose, Creator/KimBasinger, Creator/WilfordBrimley, Creator/BarbaraHershey, Creator/RobertProsky, Creator/RichardFarnsworth, Creator/JoeDonBaker, Creator/MichaelMadsen, and Creator/DarrenMcGavin.

** About a third of the way through the film, the Knights' bat boy Bobby Savoy comments that he wishes he had a bat of his own, and Roy agrees to make one with him. [[spoiler: After Wonderboy breaks in the climactic game, Bobby loans him the bat he and Roy made -- named "Savoy Special" -- and Roy sends the next pitch crashing into a lighting tower.]]

* GiveMeASword: A baseball bat, this time. "Go pick me out a winner, Bobby."

** LaserGuidedKarma: Max is making a drawing of Roy striking out, depicting him as the goat -- Roy fouls a ball straight back into the pressbox, glass shards flying everywhere, as if he knew what Max was doing and is sending him a message.

* RunningGag: "I shoulda been a farmer."

* TemptingFate: When he finally lets Roy have a chance to bat, Pop says "Knock the cover off the ball." Roy proceeds to do exactly that