Just saw "The Natural" last night. Here's some comments and nits.

*How can Roy Hobbs win the game in Chicago by hitting a homer? Aren't they the away team?

*One guy on the IMDB commented that Hobbs has three strikes on him before he hits the game-winning homer in the last scene. I found it difficult to say by two things--I can't tell if the ump is calling a ball or strike on the first pitch Hobbs sees. Also, this mythical baseball world might not count a foul ball as a strike.

*I was an amazing dunce when I first saw the film and two scenes at the end (the identity of Iris' son and the significance of Hobbs' new bat) went over my head. I can understand the bat, but I didn't tumble to the son until I read a Roger Ebert review. I still don't get how it could be possible unless Hobbs saw Iris some time in the interim between his shooting and his appearance with the Knights because the kid does not look a day older than 16 to me.

*You're telling me that Roy Hobbs was not all over the papers after he was shot by a silver bullet like the college athlete? You're telling me that they never tumbled onto the fact that Harriet Bird was apparently a fetish-thrill killer? You're telling me that Max Mercy wouldn't find it interesting that the kid that struck out the Whammer was later shot, and he wouldn't follow every scrap of what happened to Roy Hobbs? How can everyone forget that this kid exists?!

*I don't get Max Mercy's character. If he wasn't played by Robert Duvall, the character would crumble into dust.

*Why is big-time sports columnist Max Mercy hanging out with the dead-last New York Knights in the pre-Roy-joins-the-team scene?