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An intelligent and witty screenplay and three charismatic lead characters are the primary assets of Bull Durham, a film that is part sports movie, part romantic comedy and part character study, the parts so equally crafted into one of the surprise hits of 1988.
The setting is Durham, North Carolina and their minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls where we meet our leading triangle: Ebbie "Nuke" Laloosh (Tim Robbins) is a fledgling pitcher with the team, he has a bullet for an arm but not a clue what to do with it; Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is a cocky know-it-all catcher who spent three weeks in the majors who has just joined the team and is assigned to be Nuke's mentor; Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a sexy Bulls groupie who every season picks a member of the team to be a spiritual and sexual companion with for the season. It is the tangled relationship between these three characters on this sleepy cinematic canvas that make this movie work.
Director and screenwriter Ron Shelton mounts a story that provides surprises at every turn. First of all, Annie, who initially appears to just be sex on legs, is a woman with brains and is knowledgeable about baseball and shares her passion for the game with the players she adopts each season. I loved that during her first bedroom encounter with Nuke, she ties him to the bed and just reads poetry to him all night. But what really makes this story unique is that Nuke's relationship with Crash becomes just as important as the one with Annie. It is a little unsettling watching everything Crash says be correct which makes you wonder why he's not in the majors, a question not really addressed but we don't really care. Shelton's rich screenplay earned him an Oscar nomination for original screenplay and his direction is atmospheric and evocative.
The three lead performances are nothing short of superb...Costner has never been so charismatic onscreen and Sarandon creates a heroine who is equal parts sex appeal and intelligence. Tim Robbins officially became a movie star with his Nuke and even though the chemistry between Costner and Sarandon is off the charts, this film was the launching pad for an offscreen relationship between Sarandon and Robbins that lasted almost two decades. A rich and strikingly unconventional motion picture comedy that assumes the viewer is looking for something with a little substance and delivers.
An intelligent and witty screenplay and three charismatic lead characters are the primary assets of Bull Durham, a film that is part sports movie, part romantic comedy and part character study, the parts so equally crafted into one of the surprise hits of 1988.
The setting is Durham, North Carolina and their minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls where we meet our leading triangle: Ebbie "Nuke" Laloosh (Tim Robbins) is a fledgling pitcher with the team, he has a bullet for an arm but not a clue what to do with it; Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is a cocky know-it-all catcher who spent three weeks in the majors who has just joined the team and is assigned to be Nuke's mentor; Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a sexy Bulls groupie who every season picks a member of the team to be a spiritual and sexual companion with for the season. It is the tangled relationship between these three characters on this sleepy cinematic canvas that make this movie work.
Director and screenwriter Ron Shelton mounts a story that provides surprises at every turn. First of all, Annie, who initially appears to just be sex on legs, is a woman with brains and is knowledgeable about baseball and shares her passion for the game with the players she adopts each season. I loved that during her first bedroom encounter with Nuke, she ties him to the bed and just reads poetry to him all night. But what really makes this story unique is that Nuke's relationship with Crash becomes just as important as the one with Annie. It is a little unsettling watching everything Crash says be correct which makes you wonder why he's not in the majors, a question not really addressed but we don't really care. Shelton's rich screenplay earned him an Oscar nomination for original screenplay and his direction is atmospheric and evocative.
The three lead performances are nothing short of superb...Costner has never been so charismatic onscreen and Sarandon creates a heroine who is equal parts sex appeal and intelligence. Tim Robbins officially became a movie star with his Nuke and even though the chemistry between Costner and Sarandon is off the charts, this film was the launching pad for an offscreen relationship between Sarandon and Robbins that lasted almost two decades. A rich and strikingly unconventional motion picture comedy that assumes the viewer is looking for something with a little substance and delivers.