is the directors cut on the blu ray?

The Blu-Ray features the theatrical cut (THANK GOD) The director's cut SUCKS IMO.

1) The extra scenes add nothing to the film. Some included :

- After Roy smashes the clock, Memo is shown sneaking into Chicago to make out with Roy in an elevator.

- Gus and Memo are shown talking about why a big apartment would keep Memo from getting bored.

- After Roy strikes out his teammate in batting practice, Max is shown looking through articles and the scene ends with him still being confused. No realization is made about who Roy is, and they still come back to the confrontation with the cartoon drawing of Roy/The Whammer. Max realizing who Roy was and pulling out the drawing before meeting with Roy would have been a cool addition to the film, but the scene ends with him learning nothing new. The theatrical worked better in regards to this with Max rushing off after the strike out with the hold on the empty chair, and then the eventual confrontation. It makes Max look like a better investigator and is more to the point.

2) Sequences were cut down/altered.

- I HATE the opening in the director's cut. Levinson turns the opening of the film into a flashback sequence where Roy goes home to get Wonderboy and thinks back on his time on the farm. The theatrical version's opening does a much better job at establishing the relationship between Roy and his father. One of my favorite moments from the movie, is when Roy's father draws a circle on the fence telling Roy that it his spot. Then Roy proceeds to throw the ball through the target with his father smiling. This was cut out of the director's cut. Also, the build up with the creation of Wonderboy is better in the theatrical. Roy is shown getting out of bed, looking out his window, the lightning hitting the tree, and two cuts of Roy looking out the window. In the director's cut, Roy is already at the window, and we get a quick cut of Roy looking out.

- The scene where Roy strikes out the Whammer was cut down. In the theatrical, the crowd of people are shown celebrating with Roy after the strike out. In the director's cut, it abruptly cut to Roy running for the train after the last pitch hits the glove.

One annoying trend with Blu-Ray is that a lot of movies are being released with the director's cut only. While there have been times where a director's cut is better, the movie should always be released with both versions IMO. For example, as of right now you can only get director's cuts of Dumb and Dumber, Amadeus, The Warriors, and Payback on Blu-Ray and the theatrical cuts were better for each film. The one improvement I have seen so far was with Last of the Mohicans. When the film was released on DVD, they cut out a bunch of scenes and took out a key piece of music. When the film was re-released on Blu-Ray all the missing scenes and music were restored. Even the original ending was put back in.

Back on topic - I am just thankful they gave us the theatrical release of the Natural because it is a much better film than the director's cut IMO.

Ya I would've preferred to have both versions on blu ray, but it is what it is. People are attached to the film they grew up with.

Most of the differences in the 'Director's Cut' are in the 1st act. They were rushed to get the film done on-time and Levinson had a different vision in mind for what was released. Hence the Director's Cut. In the theatrical version, the first shot of the film is Roy waiting and getting on train (the editing is a bit choppy - you can tell when they switch shots of the train whizzing by). And then they immediately go into Roy's backstory……you can't really tell that the opening shot is present-day Roy getting on the train. In the Director's Cut, this is much more clear. Roy visits his childhood home, picks up Wonder Boy (a cool new scene with Roy visiting his childhood home), gets on the train, and the flashback scenes clearly represent Roy's thoughts and reminiscing. In many ways, I do think it makes for a more effective 1st act.

Aside from that first act, the Director's Cut isn't a whole lot different. If nothing else, the Director's Cut is interesting just to watch brand new scenes sprinkled throughout the film. Really good scenes, in my opinion.