The Natural : Why Did She Shoot Him?

Why Did She Shoot Him?

Has forever baffled me. Because she was jealous a man she knew for 1 day and never slept with had a woman back home?

Is that it? Or she felt like killing athletes? Strange. Felt more time could've been spent building up her character. Not 3 minutes.

Also Redford playing the teenager version of himself was horrible. Only real complaint. Why would they do that?? Couldn't find a random blonde kid to play the teen version of himself?

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

Remember the men reading the paper on the train? Someone was targeting the best athletes in the country, and shooting them with silver bullets. She was after the Whammer at first, who was the best player at that time, but changed her mind when Hobbs struck him out.
Her character is based on a real woman who was obsessed with a famous baseball player and nearly shot him to death.

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

"Just killing various athletes?" ...I think that she's more emblematic than that. She's karma or fate.
Delivered to us in this story, she's the personification of adversity, of disappointment and despair.
The conqueror of our heroes hubris. The ultimate nemesis of all heroes... seductively embodied,
in the guise of the femme fatale.

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

""Just killing various athletes?" ...I think that she's more emblematic than that. She's karma or fate.
Delivered to us in this story, she's the personification of adversity, of disappointment and despair.
The conqueror of our heroes hubris. The ultimate nemesis of all heroes... seductively embodied,
in the guise of the femme fatale."

In a story that at least attempts to portray the importance, or at least the existence, of the mythic hero, I'm sure you're right that she symbolizes more than just a serial killer/attacked of athletes. And as she, as you explained, symbolizes the price of hubris, when Roy meets Kim Basinger, she says she feels like they've met before (interesting that she says it, and not Roy, but I digress), and we see scenes of Roy living it up with her intercut with the Knights on a horrid losing streak, the importance of her name - Memo - becomes apparent, and it seems as though Roy HAS forgotten that lesson and will repeat history in another failure. (I think her last name - Paris - is important too, symbolizing decadence, meaning when Roy is using, or allowing his talent to cuse him to become decadent, instead of keeping his eyes on the prize, he is lost. (Paris meaning decadence as in "How are you gonna keep Em down on the farm once they've seen Paris", if you've ever heard that old saying). She's a memo to him, or a memory, of his past, if he chooses to see it.

Love this film and the nods to mythology and heroism. Makes me think of things like Bebe Ruth calling his shot, all that.

....and Whitey's on the moon

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

In the Movie, Gus tells Roy Hobbs he lost $100,000 once on 3 pitched balls. He then mentions he got even with the fellow later though. Could it be that the 3 pitches that struck out the "Whammer" resulted in Gus having Roy Hobbs shot?

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

Well duh....

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

Why a "well duh..."? I don't believe there's any evidence presented in the movie that Harriet Bird shot Hobbs for Gus Sands- she was a nutjob who at first had her eyes literally on The Whammer (as the greatest player in baseball) but immediately changed her gaze to Hobbs when he struck him out. She was a stalker intent on shooting whomever was the greatest player in the game. Her character is based on an actual crazy woman who shot a MLB player in the late 40s/early 50s.

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

She was a stalker intent on shooting whomever was the greatest player in the game.

That's not how stalkers work. Their focus is centered around one particular person. I've never heard of a stalker who was that wishy-washy to immediately change his/her attention over to someone else after 3 measly pitches.

Her character is based on an actual crazy woman who shot a MLB player in the late 40s/early 50s.

Just because it's based on an actual crazy woman doesn't make it realistic. Did that crazy woman change HER mind after 3 measly pitches? Was she intent on killing the greatest player in the game?

And why even kill the greatest player in the game? Once you kill the greatest, then someone else immediately becomes the greatest. And then if you kill that person too, someone else takes the top-spot, etc. That seems like a lost cause if that's your goal as it will never end.

Nice try TurtleTommy, but it's a huge plot-hole. In a movie where they do a pretty-good job at assigning motives to the characters, they really half-assed it on this one and could easily have come up with something better…

Maybe she was working for a rival-team… Maybe she was in love with The Whammer and couldn't stand seeing someone show him up… Maybe he reminded her of a dude that dumped her, so she took out her revenge on him. The possibilities are endless…

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

Damn? You really exist! I thought you were like a fable or something…like Keyser Soze

Re: Why Did She Shoot Him?

I wish! Keyser is my hero!
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