I just caught this movie on TV for the first time. From reading the credits at the end, I realized Joe Don Baker is in it, but I didn't recognize him while I was watching. This is probably because I missed the first 20 minutes. Can anyone tell me when his character, the Whammer, appears and what his function is?
Thanks.
A somewhat corrupt Whammer and Roy meet on a train and later at a carnival. A bet is made by Roy's scout that Roy can strike out the great Whammer (resembles Babe Ruth) with three pitches. Roy strikes him out. Harriet Byrd now focuses on Roy instead of Whammer as someone to defeat in her way.
Aside from baseball, this segment matches up with medieval knights jousting at a tournament...if you are into that sort of thing.
Thanks.
shareThe Whammer appeard in the first part of the movie when a young Roy Hobbs is being taken by his manager Sam Simpson for a tryout ("taking my young pitching prospect for a looksee").
When Sam bets Max Mercy 10 bucks that Roy can strike out the Whammer in 3 pitches the following dialogue takes place.
Whammer: Oh you old bozer your brain must be full of mush! This *beep* couldn't strike me with a hundered pitches.
Sam: (holding out 3 fingers) Three is all he'll need.
Harriet Byrd: Oh, I do love contests of sport.
Whammer: (grinning) Do ya now. What about you Huckleberry, ya scared?
Roy: Not of you I'm not.
After seeing The Natural, I thought Joe Don Baker would have been perfect to play Ruth in a biopic; he looked a lot like Ruth and had the same swagger. I think he would have been better than John Goodman as Ruth.
shareNah... Joe Don has too mean of a disposition on his face. Babe was looked cheery... even when he wasn't smiling or there was a camera around him.
shareI agree, the real Babe seemed to always have a cheerful kid-like disposition on his face- he was just a big overgrown kid in a man's body with a huge appetite for booze, women and food.
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