Bull Durham

Plot synopsis:
"Crash" Davis (Costner), a veteran of 12 years in minor league baseball, is sent down to the single-A Durham Bulls for a specific purpose: to educate hotshot rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin LaLoosh (Robbins, playing a character loosely based on Steve Dalkowski) about becoming a major-league talent, and to control Ebby's 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 (Sarandon), 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 a veteran to "try out" for anything. Before he leaves, Crash further 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, and gets him to think in different ways (and gives him the nickname "Nuke"). Crash forces Nuke to learn "not to think" by letting the catcher make the pitching calls (memorably at two points telling the batters what pitch is coming after Nuke rejects his calls), and lectures him about the pressure of facing major league hitters who can hit his "heat" (fastballs). Crash also talks about the pleasure of life in "The Show" (Major League Baseball), which he briefly 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, except for the fact that Annie and Nuke are currently a couple.
After a rough start, Nuke becomes a dominant pitcher by mid-season. By the end of the movie, Nuke is called up to the majors. This incites jealous anger in Crash, who is frustrated by Nuke's failure to recognize all the talent he was blessed with. Nuke leaves for the big leagues, Annie ends their relationship, and Crash overcomes his jealousy to leave Nuke with some final words of advice. The Bulls, now having no use for his mentor, release Crash.
Crash then 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.
Crash joins another team, the Asheville Tourists, and breaks the minor-league record for career home runs. We see Nuke one last time, being interviewed by the press as a major leaguer, reciting the clichéd answers that Crash had taught him earlier. Crash 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.

Tags: philosophical

Review:
Susan Sarandon, Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins all brought Ron Shelton's script to life and the three of them displayed some of the greatest chemistry ever captured on film.
Before they became giants of Hollywood, Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins stars in this great movie as some of the most interesting, yet simple characters.
Costner plays an aging baseball player who meets with rookie, soon to be great major league pitcher Tim Robbins.
Bull Durham works scene after scene, because the film never forgets that baseball is what binds all the characters together.Tim Robbins is nothing short of brilliant and Nuke Laloosh, the rising star youngster who walks 18 batters and strikes out 18 batters in his first minor league appearance - both league records.
Eventually, Crash's mentoring begins to pay off until he finally realizes that winning is "like, you know, better than losing!"The love triangle between Annie (Susan Sarandon), Crash and Nuke is wonderful and funny, but it mainly provides us with set up for the baseball scenes, like when Sarandon convinces Nuke to wear women's underwear while he pitches.
Susan Sarandon plays Annie Savoy, a baseball groupie in her sexual prime who likes to read poetry and give the players hitting advice.
And so along comes Crash Davis (Kevin Costner, one of the more underrated and less flashy stars of our time), playing an itinerant catcher who has managed to hit nearly 300 minor league home runs.
Nuke is just the hunk Annie needs to keep her from falling in love with Crash, but...well, this is a romantic comedy, so you can be sure that love will find a way.The baseball shtick and the interior dialogues of Robbins and Costner during the games ("Why's he want the heat?
Get that...woman out of your head--Time out!") are really funny, and the bit where Robbins shakes him off and Costner, as an object lesson for his young pitcher, tells the batter what's coming next allowing the batter to hit it out of the park (or onto the Bull Durham sign to win a free steak dinner--is this genuine Americana or what?) are a crack up.
Another great scene is on the bus when Crash lets the other players know that he once made it to the bigs where "...you hit white balls for batting practice and the ballparks are like cathedrals." Beautiful.Best dead-pan one-liner is when Crash catches Nuke in the locker room trying to adjust the panty hose girdle that Annie has talked him into wearing under his uniform: "The rose goes in the front, big guy."By the way, the great rock and roll soundtrack includes the galvanizing baseball song, "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" by John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame.
For Crash, Nuke, Annie and all the other characters in here baseball is a way of life not a sport and it is to be respected and in some cases worshipped.
For me the best scene in this movie comes in the pool hall at the end with three generations of baseball player we know that one day nuke, will be in crash's position and that crash will eventually be in the old guys position it's the baseball way of life.
Howevever it's a way of life that's changing and this is shown in the almost forlorn at times shot's of the ballpark and main characters, like the lady says you have to respect the ball player who's just trying to finish out the season.Direction, script and performances (Costner's best performance ever I think even over Field of Dreams and the Untouchables) are superb see this movie you wont regret it.
The way Costner struggles being a great baseball player and a career Minor Leaguer with an abundance of knowledge and love for the game sets his character apart from any other.
There's all the love in the world for this great American pastime, but there's also some interesting and literate discussions going on all the time in this smart and witty comedy, as well as some memorable characters whom we like and find easy to watch.Kevin Costner plays "Crash" Davis, a veteran minor league catcher who's hired by the Durham Bulls to act as a mentor to their new pitcher Ebby LaLoosh (Tim Robbins).
At the same time, sexy Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon), the Bulls' loyal groupie, takes an interest in Ebby as she makes a habit of hooking up with one young player every season and helping the man to mature.
Naturally, some sparks fly as the two guys both get attracted to Annie.Writer / director Ron Shelton truly knows the territory, having been a minor league baseball player himself, although he doesn't in truth feature a lot of game action.
Continuing my plan to watch every Kevin Costner movie in order, I come to 1988's Bull Durham Plot In A Paragraph: Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) a baseball fan who takes a new lover each season, finds her life complicated when Crash Davis (KC) an aging catcher is brought to the The Bull Durham's to provide some help for "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) a hot young pitcher who has a great fastball but no control or handle on life.
Costner and Robbins are both absolutely excellent in their portrayals of frustrated Minor Leaguers trying to get to the "show" (i.e. the MAJOR LEAGUES for those of you who do not know the lingo.) and the setting is beautiful; a small southern town where baseball is probably the best thing on Earth because everything else is boredom.
The Annie character is also an interesting twist on the necessity of a female figure to calm down too much boiling testosterone.MLB players like Milton Bradley need an "Annie Savoy" - unfortunetely they apparently do not yet; I hope these tortured souls of MLB will someday find an "Annie" or at least watch this movie so chairs stop flying into the stands at MLB parks and these guys can get back to the real business of just playing the game.If you are a serious baseball fan this is a must see; if you're clueless or just don't get the draw of not just the game but of honest "Americana" - don't bother; maybe at least try to figure it out..
It's no surprise that Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner play the leading roles in this sleazy film.
There's something to be said about Minor League Baseball.While the Major Leagues have their glitz and glamor,the minor leagues are a bit different.It's not so glitzy.It's not so glamorous.Everything having to do with the minor leagues happens on a much smaller scale.For some,like me,the atmosphere of the minors is much more appealing because you don't have a bunch of millionaires out there saying "look what I can do".What you do have are guys trying to prove themselves worthy of that next step,the Major League level,which means that they are more likely to be giving their all.Minor league ballparks,depending upon which ones you go to,have a lot to offer as far as fun things to do for the family as far as contests and the like.What Bull Durham does for the average movie watcher is project that very atmosphere that I have just described.When you watch the film,you feel like you are at the ballpark having a blast.The three way interaction between the characters played by Costner,Robbins,and Sarandon is a great display of artistry that no one should miss.There are elements of language and sexuality that some may find offensive as well as slams against Christianity that made me personally uneasy,but otherwise this film is a definite fun time..
I believe Ron Shelton wrote a screenplay based upon his experiences in the minor leagues and feel the balance between baseball as a fun game and as a business/job were overall solid.Here's my main problem with the film -- the character of Annie is ultimately a self-righteous manipulative whore.
I can accept it as an unlikely scenario in a comedy, but it's the only male/female relationship I could allow to slide by since the woman wasn't developed as a character very fully.Overall, I found the game of baseball handled in a good and serious manner befitting the thousands of players currently working in the minor leagues but the portrayal of Annie as a savior and helper of one player per season was despicable via her manipulative use of sex and need for control.
Bull Durham is written and directed by Ron Shelton, it stars Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Robert Wuhl and Trey Wilson.
Music is by Michael Convertino and cinematography by Bobby Byrne.Annie Savoy (Sarandon), small town groupie of the Durham Bulls minor league baseball team, takes a different player from the team into her bed each year and in the process imparts her considerable knowledge of the game on them.
Baseball groupie Susan Sarandon only sleeps with one player a season: Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner both want to be that player.
America's two favorite pastimes, baseball and sex, combine in Bull Durham, a delightful romantic comedy with a real-life happy ending.Susan Sarandon, in her totally adorable heyday, plays a baseball groupie with a tradition of having an affair with a different player of the Durham Bulls each season.
Rating-7/10Bull Durham is a sports film which boasts a great cast, comedy throughout and actually some good bits of baseball.
Whatever sport movie fans may think of the sport, you should enjoy this and I felt that this was firmly a good movie.The story is a fun film about a minor league baseball who hire a veteran batsman and a young promising pitcher who may make it big one day, both the characters work together well and the story always lets the two express there polar opinions and feelings.
It can be funny at time, not really laugh out loud but it still raises some chuckles and if anything it is very much feel good and smile like entertainment.Kevin Costner in the main role is good and really shows his wise face as the wise old veteran batsman Crash Davis.
Even those who don't like baseball would like this film.Ron Shelton's film is about a 12-year veteran catcher of the minor leagues named Crash Davis who is assigned to mentor hotshot pitcher Ebby "Nuke." Along their moments of bondage, they rival each other in getting the attention of Annie who believes in the "Church of Baseball" and she has a program where she chooses one player per season to be her lover.This film is well-acted.
I'm not exactly a fan of sport comedies , but this one is one of the best I've seen.The movie really heavily on the trio of stars : Kevin Costner ("Dancing with the wolves") , Susan Sarandon ("Dead man walking") and Tim Robbins ("The Shawshank Redemption").
Ron Shelton's Screenplay & Direction, both, are very-well done, while the Performances, are remarkable.'Bull Durham' Synopsis: Crash" Davis, a veteran catcher is brought in to teach rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh about the game in preparation for reaching the Major Leagues, While, Baseball groupie Annie Savoy romances Nuke but finds herself increasingly attracted to Crash.'Bull Durham' is humorous, energetic & most of all, entertaining.
Bull Durham doesn't seem to enjoy the game of baseball nearly as much as it's foul mouthed players.Kevin Costner is the only reason to watch this film -- he gives a fire-cracker of a performance..
I wasn't even aware there were such things as "baseball-groupies" or "Annie's" as I believe they're called but as ball-game slappers go, it has to be said that Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy and her young sidekick Millie, certainly offer an understandable come-hither attraction to the dumb grunts who make up the baseball team's ranks.The acting by the A-list cast is very good, Sarandon in particular scoring (no pun intended) as the inexhaustible, Durham Bulls fan with a novel way to bring on young talent in the team, well supported by a a very young looking Tim Robbins as her number one draft pick this particular year and Kevin Costner as the seen-it-all-before old lag who arrives to encourage Robbins' character in more traditional manner but who likewise falls for Annie's charms and ends up competing with his protégé for the squiring rights.Like I said, a lot of the baseball terminology and action pretty much passed me by, although I did enjoy Costner's universal roll-call of sporting clichés to Robbins for his first major television interview.
Kevin Costner, in one of his 3 baseball movies, gives one of his most memorable performances as Crash Davis, a close-to-retirement minor league baseball player who never got his true shot at fulfilling his dreams in the big-leagues.That's the strongest asset the film boasts, is the bittersweet story of someone who gave it his all and even then, it may not be enough to be successful.
Complement that with a bittersweet story, memorable performances, and a funny script and you have one of the great sports movies of the last 30 years.+Well-written+Romance & baseball+Back and forth with Catcher-Pitcher dynamic-Sarandon's character motives don't hold up7.9/10.
It stars Kevin Costner, in what may be the first of his successful sports-themed movies, Susan Sarandon, and a young Tim Robbins, at the outset of his career.
None of these films will ever have a character like Susan Sarandon, a well known baseball Annie which is what the players have dubbed their groupies.
But baseball is a most unsentimental game as Costner knows and Sarandon's avocation is also one with some heartbreak.Best scene in the film is Costner describing what it's like in the Major Leagues, 'the big show'.
"Making love is like hitting a baseball: you just gotta relax and concentrate." In what is not your classic sport movie, the focus of Ron Shelton's Bull Durham is on the relationships of the players to each other and to the team's number one fan, Annie Savoy.
Soon after the film opens, she brings Nuke LaLoosh and Crash Davis, played by Tim Robbins and Kevin Costner respectively, and lets them know that they are both in contention to be her lover.
Kevin Costner portrays a veteran 'player to be named later', doing what he can to mature a hot shot but dim-witted rookie pitcher (Tim Robbins), while competing against him off the field for the heart (and body) of local groupie/baseball guru Susan Sarandon.
Gladly, there is not way too much focus on the game being shown on screen--there's just enough to make it a true baseball movie, but the movie revolves around the way baseball affects people, particularly those who love it but never saw any good come of it.In the film, Costner is Crash Davis, a minor league vet who is brought in to play catcher for the Durham Bulls to mentor their pitching prospect, "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) who has a "million dollar arm and a five cent head." The relationship between the two is humorous and eventually becomes serious after awhile as the film takes its turn for the dramatic.While I didn't particularly care for the film's portrayal of its female characters, Sarandon did make the film a bit more interesting than just a generic love interest because she's so fixed on baseball and strange things like romantic era poetry.This is not really a true comedy, and perhaps the slight dislike I have with the film is because of that expectation, but it's mostly the ineffective romance stuff.
Costner in particular is excellent, showing a knack for verbal comedy and physical heroism that he put on a shelf until "Tin Cup." And Tim Robbins turns in a memorable performance as Nuke Laloosh.I see no reason in going into the plot details, as everyone who has seen the film knows what "Bull Durham" is about, and those who haven't seen it are in for a wonderful treat.
Unfortunately, even with a cast like Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins, this movie failed miserably.
If I had to pick between the two of them, I'd pick Freddie, no doubt about that one.The film centers around the hard-throwing yet iratic arm of LaLoosh (Robbins) and in order to make it to the show, he needs lessons in baseball and in life from no other than a twelve-year minor league veteran catcher, Crash Davis (Costner).
Bull Durham is a comedic baseball film starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins.
This film is about the happenings of two baseball players' year in a minor league team."Bull Durham" is only fairly engaging, which is a surprise as it is a sports movie.
i enjoyed this little baseball drama/lite comedy movie starring Kevin Costner,Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins.it's one of three baseball themed films starring Costner,the other two being Field of Dreams and For Love of the Game,both of which i have seen and will post reviews of.as for this film,even though i'm not a baseball fan,i still liked the movie.it tries hard to make the game seem profound,but it doesn't quite convey it,in my opinion.the three main characters are likable and sympathetic,so you really want to root for them,yet at the same time they are sad and almost tragic.but the movie is worth watching.it never gets boring.for me,Bull Durham is a 7/10.
Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) has had a chance to play in the major league, but finds himself back in the minors training Nuke (Tim Robbins), a young pitcher with a wild arm.
And then there's Susan Sarandon, who creates a love triangle when she enters their relationship, claiming sex with her can create a better ball player.Tim Robbins has consistently made great movies, even disposable stuff like "Nothing to Lose".
Yes, Costner was a tad unconvincing as a ballplayer, but held his own...what makes this movie so great are the unique characters (Crash Davis, Annie Savoy, Nuke, etc...), the side stories and the exploitation of many baseball clichés.