''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...
sports film written and directed by
Ron Shelton. The film stars
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Costner, various accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and a Primeti ...
as
"Crash" Davis, a veteran catcher from the
AAA Richmond Braves, brought in to teach rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and Jacob Singer in '' Jacob's Ladder'' (1990), as well as winning an Academy ...
) about the game in preparation for reaching the major leagues. Baseball
groupie Annie Savoy (
Susan Sarandon) romances Nuke, but finds herself increasingly attracted to Crash. Also featured are
Robert Wuhl and
Trey Wilson, as well as "The Clown Prince of Baseball",
Max Patkin. The film is partly based upon Shelton's experience in
minor league baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
, and depicts the players and fans of the
Durham Bulls, a
minor-league baseball team in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
.
''Bull Durham'' was a commercial success, grossing over $50 million in North America, well above its estimated budget, and was a critical success as well. ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' ranked it the #1 Greatest Sports Movie of all time. ''
The Moving Arts Film Journal'' ranked it #3 on its list of the 25 Greatest Sports Movies of All-Time. In addition, the film is ranked #55 on
Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies." It is also ranked #97 on the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
's "
100 Years...100 Laughs" list, and #1 on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
' list of the 53 best-reviewed sports movies.
Plot
The
Durham Bulls, a
single-A
Single-A, formerly known as Class A and sometimes as Low-A, is the fourth-highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States, below Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A, Double-A (baseball), Double-A, and High-A. There are 30 teams cl ...
Minor League Baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
team, are dealing with another sparsely attended losing season, with one thing working for them: Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, a hotshot rookie
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...
known for having a "million dollar arm, but a five cent head," who has potential to become a
major league talent. "Crash" Davis, a 12-year veteran in the minor leagues, is sent down from
Triple-A as the team's
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...
to teach LaLoosh to control his haphazard pitching. Crash immediately begins calling Ebby by the degrading nickname of "Meat", and they get off to a rocky start.
Thrown into the mix is Annie, a "baseball groupie" and lifelong spiritual seeker who has latched onto the "Church of Baseball" and has, every year, chosen one player on the Bulls to be her lover and student. Annie flirts with both Crash and Ebby and invites them to her house, but Crash walks out, saying he's too much of a veteran to "try out" for anything. But before he leaves, Crash sparks Annie's interest with a memorable speech listing the things he "believes in", ending with, "I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days... Good night".
Despite some animosity between them, Annie and Crash work, in their own ways, to shape Ebby into a big-league pitcher. Annie plays mild
bondage games, reads poetry to him, gets him to try different mental approaches to pitching, and gives him the nickname "Nuke", after Annie compares his overeagerness to a "nuclear meltdown."
Crash forces Nuke to learn "not to think" by letting the catcher make the pitching calls. After Nuke shakes off his signs, he twice tells the batters what pitch is coming, leading to both players hitting
home runs; he also lectures him about the pressure of facing major league hitters who can hit his "heat" (
fastballs). Crash talks about life in the major leagues, which he lived for "the 21 greatest days of my life" and to which he has tried for years to return. Meanwhile, as Nuke matures, the relationship between Annie and Crash grows, until it becomes obvious that the two of them are a more appropriate match.
After a rough start, Nuke becomes a dominant pitcher by mid-season, adding to the Bulls' good fortunes; in the end, he is called up to the major leagues. This incites jealous anger in Crash, who is frustrated by Nuke's failure to value the rare talent he has. Nuke leaves, Annie ends their relationship, and Crash overcomes his jealousy enough to leave Nuke with some final words of advice.
The Bulls, now having no use for Nuke's mentor, call up a younger catcher and release Crash. Crash presents himself at Annie's house and the two consummate their attraction with a weekend-long lovemaking session. Crash then leaves Annie's house to seek a further minor-league position.
Nuke is seen one last time, being interviewed by the press as a major leaguer, reciting the clichéd answers that Crash had taught him earlier. Crash joins another team, the
Asheville Tourists, and breaks the minor-league record for career home runs. He then retires as a player and returns to Durham, where Annie tells him she's ready to give up her annual affairs with "boys." Crash tells her that he is thinking about becoming a
manager for
a minor-league team in Visalia. The film ends with Annie and Crash dancing in Annie's candle-lit living room.
Cast
Background
The film's name is based on the nickname for
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
, since 1874, when
W. T. Blackwell and Company named its product "Bull" Durham tobacco, which soon became a well-known trademark. In 1898,
James B. Duke purchased the company and renamed it the
American Tobacco Company. By this time, the nickname "Bull City" had already stuck.
The film's writer and director, Ron Shelton, played
Minor League Baseball
Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
for five years after graduating from
Westmont College in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...
. Initially playing second base for the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...
' farm system, he moved from the
Appalachian League
The Appalachian League is a Collegiate summer baseball, collegiate summer baseball league that operates in the Appalachian regions of Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Designed for rising freshmen and sophomores using wooden ...
to California and then Texas before finally playing
AAA baseball for the
Rochester Red Wings
The Rochester Red Wings are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Rochester, New York, and play their home games at Innovative Fie ...
in the
International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
. Shelton quit when he realized he would never become a major league player. "I was 25. In baseball, you feel 60 if you're not in the big leagues. I didn't want to become a Crash Davis", he said.
He returned to school and earned a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
in sculpture at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...
before moving to Los Angeles to join the city's art scene. However, he felt more kinship in telling stories than in creating performance art. His break into filmmaking came with scriptwriting credits on the films ''
Under Fire'' and ''
The Best of Times''.
According to
Justin Turner, the bull in right field that was hit for a home run in the film is actually in left field at
Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Production
According to Shelton, "I wrote a very early script about minor league baseball; the only thing it had in common with ''Bull Durham'' was that it was about a pitcher and a catcher."
That script was titled ''The Player To Be Named Later''; a single anecdote from that script made it into ''Bull Durham''.
For ''Bull Durham'', Shelton "decided to see if a woman could tell the story" and "dictated that opening monologue on a little micro-recorder while I was driving around North Carolina."
Crash was named after
Lawrence "Crash" Davis but was modeled after Pike Bishop, the lead character
William Holden played in ''
The Wild Bunch'': a guy who "loved something more than it loved him."
Annie Savoy's name was a combination of the nickname ("Annies") that baseball players gave their groupies and the name of a bar; she was a "High Priestess
hocould lead us into a man's world, and shine a light on it. And she would be very sensual, and sexual, yet she'd live by her own rigorous moral code. It seemed like a character we hadn't seen before."
After Shelton returned to Los Angeles from his road trip, he wrote the script for ''Bull Durham'' in "about twelve weeks."
Filming began on October 5, 1987, and wrapped on November 30, 1987, after 56 days of filming. When Shelton pitched ''Bull Durham'', he had a hard time convincing a studio to give him the opportunity to direct.
Baseball movies were not considered a viable commercial prospect at the time and every studio passed except for
Orion Pictures who gave him a $9 million budget (with many cast members accepting lower-than-usual salaries because of the material), an eight-week shooting schedule, and creative freedom.
Shelton scouted locations throughout the southern United States before settling on Durham in North Carolina because of
its old ballpark and its location, "among abandoned tobacco warehouses and on the edge of an abandoned downtown and in the middle of a residential neighborhood where people could walk".
According to ''NO BULL: The Real Story of the Rebirth of a Team and a City'' by Ron Morris, Shelton decided because the city was "run down with vacated tobacco warehouses and boarded up downtown storefronts" it made a "down-and-out, minor-league town that represented his story well."
[ The Imperial Tobacco Warehouse, which is currently owned and has been renovated by Measurement Incorporated, was used as a filming location. The Queen Anne style James Manning House, built in 1880, was used for Annie Savoy's romantic encounters.]
Shelton cast Costner because of the actor's natural athleticism. Costner was a former high school baseball player and was able to hit two home runs while the cameras were rolling and, according to Shelton, insisted "on throwing runners out even when they (the cameras) weren't rolling". He cast Robbins over the strong objections of the studio, who wanted Anthony Michael Hall instead. Shelton had to threaten to quit before the studio backed off.
Producer Thom Mount (who is part-owner of the real Durham Bulls) hired Pete Bock, a former semi-pro baseball player, as a consultant on the film. Bock recruited more than a dozen minor-league players, ran a tryout camp to recruit an additional 40 to 50 players from lesser ranks, hired several minor-league umpires, and conducted two-a-day workouts and practice games with Tim Robbins pitching and Kevin Costner catching. Bock made sure the actors looked and acted like ballplayers and that the real players acted convincingly in front of the cameras. He said, "The director would say, 'This is the shot we want. What we need is the left fielder throwing a one-hopper to the plate. Then we need a good collision at the plate.' I would select the players I know could do the job, and then we would go out and get it done."
Reception
Box office
''Bull Durham'' debuted on June 15, 1988, and grossed $5 million in 1,238 theaters on its opening weekend. It went on to gross a total of $50.8 million in North America, well above its estimated $9 million budget.
Critical response
The film was well-received critically. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kevin Costner is at his funniest and most charismatic in ''Bull Durham'', a film that's as wise about relationships as it is about minor league baseball." On Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data.
Background
Ed Mintz, who ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
According to a ''Los Angeles Times'' poll of 100 film critics, ''Bull Durham'' was the second most acclaimed film of 1988, second to only to the documentary '' The Thin Blue Line''.
In David Ansen's review for ''Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...
'', he wrote that the film "works equally as a love story, a baseball fable and a comedy, while ignoring the clichés of each genre". Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...
praised Shelton's direction in his review for ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'': "He demonstrates the sort of expert comic timing and control that allow him to get in and out of situations so quickly that they're over before one has time to question them. Part of the fun in watching ''Bull Durham'' is in the awareness that a clearly seen vision is being realized. This is one first-rate debut".
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
praised Sarandon's performance in his review for the ''Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...
'': "I don't know who else they could have hired to play Annie Savoy, the Sarandon character who pledges her heart and her body to one player a season, but I doubt if the character would have worked without Sarandon's wonderful performance". In his review for ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'', Steve Wulf wrote, "It's a good movie and a damn good baseball movie". Hal Hinson, in his review for ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', wrote, "The people associated with ''Bull Durham'' know the game ... and the firsthand experience shows in their easy command of the ballplayer's vernacular, in their feel for what goes through a batter's head when he digs in at the plate and in their knowledge of the secret ceremonies that take place on the mound". Richard Corliss, in his review for ''Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', wrote, "Costner's surly sexiness finally pays off here; abrading against Sarandon's earth-mama geniality and Robbins' rube egocentricity, Costner strikes sparks".
Legacy
''Bull Durham'' was named Best Screenplay of 1988 by New York Film Critics' Circle. The film became a minor hit when released, and is now considered one of the best sports movies of all time. In 2003, ''Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'' ranked ''Bull Durham'' as the "Greatest Sports Movie". In addition, the film is ranked number 55 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies." It is also ranked #97 on the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
's " 100 Years...100 Laughs" list, and #1 on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
' Top Sports Movies list of the 53 best reviewed sports movies of all time. ''Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' ranked ''Bull Durham'' as the fifth best DVD of their Top 30 Sports Movies on DVD. The magazine also ranked the film as the fifth best sports film since 1983 in their "Sports 25: The Best Thrill-of-Victory, Agony-of-Defeat Films Since 1983" poll and #5 on their "50 Sexiest Movies Ever" poll. In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. ''Bull Durham'' was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the sports genre. The real life Durham Bulls, playing in the single-A Carolina League at the time of the film's release, would later see the team open a new ballpark ( Durham Bulls Athletic Park) in 1995, and would be promoted to the triple-A International League
The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major ...
in 1998.
In 2003, a 15th anniversary celebration of ''Bull Durham'' at the National Baseball Hall of Fame was canceled by Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey. Petroskey, who was on the White House staff during the Reagan administration, told Robbins that the actor's public opposition to the US-led war in Iraq helped to "undermine the U.S. position, which could put our troops in even more danger." Costner, a self-described libertarian, defended Robbins and Sarandon, saying, "I think Tim and Susan's courage is the type of courage that makes our democracy work. Pulling back this invite is against the whole principle about what we fight for and profess to be about."
For years, Ron Shelton has contemplated making a sequel and remarked, "I couldn't figure out in the few years right after it came out, what do you do? Nuke's in the big leagues, Crash is managing in Visalia. Is Annie going to go to Visalia? I've been to Visalia. That will test a relationship ... It was not a simple fable to continue with – not that we don't talk about continuing it, now that everyone's in their 60s".
Actor Trey Wilson, who played Durham manager Joe Riggins, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 40, seven months after this film's release.
Awards and honors
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...
* Best Original Screenplay – Ron Shelton (nominated)
Golden Globe Awards
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual Awards ceremony, award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally ...
* Best Actress – Musical or Comedy – Susan Sarandon (nominated)
* Best Original Song – " When a Woman Loves a Man" (nominated)
Writers Guild of America Award
* Best Original Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
Boston Society of Film Critics
* Best Film – (won)
* Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975.
Background
Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles–based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organi ...
* Best Screenplay- Ron Shelton (won)
National Society of Film Critics
* Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
* Best Supporting Actor – Tim Robbins (3rd Place)
1988 New York Film Critics Circle Awards
* Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
* Best Supporting Actor – Tim Robbins (4th Place)
Other honors
In 2000, the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
placed the film on its 100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked #97. And in 2008, AFI included ''Bull Durham'' on its Top 10 Sports Films list as the #5 sports film.
Home media
''Bull Durham'' was originally released on DVD on October 27, 1998, and included an audio commentary by writer/director Ron Shelton. A Special Edition DVD was released on April 2, 2002, and included the Shelton commentary track from the previous edition, a new commentary by Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins, a ''Between the Lines: The Making of Bull Durham'' featurette, a ''Sports Wrap'' featurette, and a Costner profile. A "Collector's Edition" DVD celebrating the film's 20th anniversary was released on March 18, 2008, and features the two commentaries from the previous edition, a ''Greatest Show on Dirt'' featurette, a ''Diamonds in the Rough'' featurette that explores minor league baseball, ''The Making of Bull Durham'' featurette, and Costner profile from the previous edition. The Criterion Collection also released blu-ray and DVD editions of the film which included a new conversation between Shelton and film critic Michael Sragow.
See also
* List of baseball films
* Fayetteville Generals/ Cape Fear Crocs/ Lakewood BlueClaws franchise
* Carolina League
* Buzz Arlett (then all-time U.S. minor league home run king when this film was released, whose home run record was broken by Mike Hessman in 2015)
* '' Major League''
* '' Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit''
References
External links
*
*
*
''Bull Durham'' Turns 20
''No, But I Saw the Game''
an essay by Roger Angell at the Criterion Collection
Interview with Susan Sarandon about ''Bull Durham''
at Texas Archive of the Moving Image
{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film
1988 romantic comedy films
1988 films
1980s sports comedy films
American baseball films
American romantic comedy films
1988 directorial debut films
Durham Bulls
Films directed by Ron Shelton
Films scored by Michael Convertino
Films set in 1987
Films set in North Carolina
Films shot in Durham, North Carolina
Orion Pictures films
American sports comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films
English-language romantic comedy films
English-language sports comedy films