12.28.2007

AN OVERLY TALKATIVE AND SOMEWHAT UN-SELF-AWARE 13-YEAR-OLD BOY DESCRIBES THE FILM "THE NATURAL" TO HIS FATHER DURING A LONG CAR TRIP, CIRCA 1984

"I think you would like 'The Natural.' It's about baseball. Robert Redford plays this baseball player who is really good. His name is Roy Hobbes. One time, he, um, strikes out Babe Ruth at a county fair, um, only it's not actually Babe Ruth, but a character called 'The Whammer.' He's played by the guy from 'Walking Tall.' So, anyway, Roy gets to the major leagues, but he's old and no one thinks he's any good. Then this guy on his team gets killed when he runs into a fence. Has that ever happened? It would be really weird if it did, don't you think? So, um, anyway, Roy gets his chance, and he's really good! He uses a bat he made himself when lightning struck a tree in his yard when he was a kid. Sorry, I forgot about that part. The bat is called 'Wonder Boy.' So he gets to be a big star, and he falls in love with this woman played by Jessica Lange. But, um, there's this old guy who wants the team -- they're called the New York Knights -- to lose because then he gets to take it over. But Roy keeps hitting home runs and the team keeps winning. But then at the end, he's up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, but he ... every time he swings, he hurts his side ... oh, I forgot. Earlier in the movie, when he was a young baseball player, this woman shot him and he quit playing. So that’s why he is so old when he, um, finally gets to the major leagues. So he's batting in the bottom of the ninth, and it looks like he hit a home run, but it was a foul. And he broke his bat! So he ... so the bat boy brings him the bat he made with Roy earlier in the movie. Roy goes back to the plate, and there’s, like, blood on his shirt and the umpire looks worried. Then Roy hits a home run and it hits the lights and this shower of sparks hits the field as Roy runs around the bases. It's a very good movie. I think you would like it. Oh, and it wasn't Jessica Lange, it was Glenn Close. She was in 'The World According to Garp.' Have you seen it? ..."