My daddy donated the scoreboard

Rating: Null/10 (21 June 2013)

Some kind of classic, "Bull Durham's" an unconventional baseball movie from writer/director Ron Shelton.
Unlike most films in the genre, "Bull Durham" lacks a gauzy, sentimental tone, has no time for nostalgia, doesn't overly romanticise the game, is narrated by a woman and focuses on the day-to-day drudgery of life in the minor league circuit. And whilst a disturbingly high number of baseball films indulge in hokey, metaphysical subplots (angels, destiny, vague spiritualism, baseball-as-religion etc), "Bull Durham" parodies such things with conversations about quantum physics, new age religions and its cast of silly, superstitious players.
The plot? Susan Sarandon plays Annie Savoy, a teacher and baseball groupie who's stuck in a kind of perpetual adolescence. Trying desperately to prolong the glory days of life on campus, she has a habit of hooking up with young, up-and-coming baseball stars. In this regard she takes Ebby "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) under her wing. Problem is, Nuke is also being groomed by Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), a veteran player who attempts to mould the kid into something special.
Costner and Sarandon create a couple of memorable characters. Legs always agape, and with the vampish hunger of a Bette Davis, she's a Southern firecracker who overwhelms men with her sexuality. Opposite her is Costner's Crash. Armed with wit, Cosnter's trademark khaki trousers with pleats, and an endless knowledge of everything from baseball to garter belts, he's a burnt out middle ager who, like Annie, tries to live vicariously through Crash. The film then ends with Crash and Annie, products of a very 1960s credo of eternal youth, turning their backs on the "young man's game". They stop living through surrogates and abandon their hopes of reaching the big leagues.
It's an odd way for a sport's film to end. Whilst most in the genre build up to a climactic showdown, "Durhum" sees its heroes fading into anonymity, giving up on eternal youth, appreciating the power of quiet wisdom and sliding into a quiescent, mature relationship. Unsurprisingly, writer/director Ron Shelton played minor league baseball himself during the 1960s.
8/10 â€“ Worth two viewings. See "Moneyball".