Bull Durham (1988)

Director:

Ron Shelton

Writer (WGA):

Ron Shelton (written by)

Release Date:

15 June 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

A Major League Love Story in a Minor League Town

Plot:

A fan who has an affair with one minor-league baseball player each season meets an up-and-coming pitcher and the experienced catcher assigned to him.

Plot Keywords:

Pitcher | Baseball | Minor League Baseball | Sports Team | Wedding

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 9 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Kevin Costner	...	Crash Davis
Susan Sarandon	...	Annie Savoy
Tim Robbins	...	Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh
Trey Wilson	...	Skip
Robert Wuhl	...	Larry
William O'Leary	...	Jimmy
David Neidorf	...	Bobby
Danny Gans	...	Deke
Tom Silardi	...	Tony
Lloyd T. Williams	...	Mickey (as Lloyd Williams)
Rick Marzan	...	Jose
George Buck	...	Nuke's Father
Jenny Robertson	...	Millie
Gregory Avellone	...	Doc (as Greg Avelone)
Garland Bunting	...	Teddy - Radio Announcer (as Carey 'Garland' Bunting)
Robert Dickman	...	Whitey
Timothy Kirk	...	Ed
Don Davis	...	Scared Batter
Stephen Ware	...	Umpire
Tobi Eshelman	...	Bat Boy
C.K. Bibby	...	Mayor
Henry G. Sanders	...	Sandy
Antoinette Forsyth	...	Ballpark Announcer
Shirley Anne Ritter	...	Cocktail Waitress
Pete Bock	...	Minister
Alan Mejia	...	Chu Chu
Max Patkin	...	Himself (The Clown Prince of Baseball)
Sid Akins	...	Core baseball player
Craig Brown	...	Core baseball player
Wes Currin	...	Core baseball player
Butch Davis	...	Core baseball player
Paul Devlin	...	Core baseball player
Jeff Greene	...	Core baseball player
Kelly Heath	...	Core baseball player
Mo Johnson	...	Core baseball player
Tim Kirk	...	Core baseball player
Todd Kopeznski	...	Core baseball player
John Lovingood	...	Core baseball player
Eddie Matthews	...	Core baseball player
Alan Paternoster	...	Core baseball player
Bill Robinson	...	Core baseball player
Dean Robinson	...	Core baseball player
Tom Schultz	...	Core baseball player
Sam Veraldi	...	Core baseball player
El Chico Williams	...	Core baseball player
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mark Jeffrey Miller	...	Grounds crewman (uncredited)
Rachel Singer	...	Fan (uncredited)

Directed by
Ron Shelton

Writing credits (WGA)
Ron Shelton		(written by)

Produced by
Mark Burg	....	producer
Charles Hirschhorn	....	associate producer
David V. Lester	....	executive producer
Thom Mount	....	producer

Original Music by
Michael Convertino

Cinematography by
Bobby Byrne

Film Editing by
Robert Leighton
Adam Weiss

Casting by
Bonnie Timmermann

Production Design by
Armin Ganz

Art Direction by
David Lubin

Set Decoration by
Kris Boxell

Costume Design by
Louise Frogley

Makeup Department
Leslie Ann Anderson	....	hair stylist (as Leslie Anne Anderson)
Cynthia Barr	....	makeup artist
Doreen Vantyne	....	assistant makeup artist

Production Management
David V. Lester	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Eugene Corr	....	second unit director
Gene Corr	....	second unit director
Ken Goch	....	first assistant director: second unit
Ric Kidney	....	first assistant director (as Richard J. Kidney)
Nina Kostroff-Noble	....	second assistant director (as Nina Kostroff)
Donald J. Lee Jr.	....	second second assistant director
Michael Samson	....	dga trainee

Art Department
Kristin Argue	....	drapery
Robert Beck	....	set dresser
David Brace	....	associate set decorator
Frances R. Brogden	....	art department assistant
James C. Brookshire	....	property assistant
Nino Candido	....	property master
Breon Dunigan	....	carpenter
Jay Fisher	....	set painter
Mark Geiger	....	carpenter
Jim Hill	....	construction coordinator
Bruce E. Kasson	....	assistant property master (as Bruce Kasson)
John A. Kelly	....	key scenic artist (as John Kelly)
Brick Mason	....	production illustrator
Kim McClees	....	set dresser (as Kim T. McClees)
Jeffrey L. McKay	....	carpenter
Thomas Michael Ryan	....	construction foreman
Ron Servicky	....	set dresser
'Polar Bear' Shaw	....	set dresser (as Polar Bear)
Theo Van Den Huevel	....	carpenter
Dwain Wilson	....	key set dresser (as Dwain F. Wilson)

Sound Department
David W. Alstadter	....	adr recordist (as Dave Alstadter)
David W. Alstadter	....	foley recordist (as Dave Alstadter)
Lorna Anderson	....	sound editor
Tim Ballou	....	cable person
Lon Bender	....	supervising sound designer (as Lon E. Bender)
Lon Bender	....	supervising sound editor (as Lon E. Bender)
Larry Boudry	....	sound recordist
Neal Burger	....	sound editor
Richard Burton	....	sound editor
Steve Cohen	....	adr recordist
Steve Cohen	....	foley recordist
Steven B. Cohen	....	sound recordist
Jeff Courtie	....	foley mixer
William Dotson	....	assistant sound editor (as William D. Dotson)
Kirk Francis	....	sound mixer
Stan Gilbert	....	adr editor
Robert W. Glass Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer
Kevin Hearst	....	sound editor
Devon Heffley Curry	....	adr supervisor
Alan Holly	....	adr mixer
Paul Holzborn	....	foley artist
Larry Kemp	....	supervising sound editor
Lou Kleinman	....	sound editor
Bob Minkler	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Robert Minkler)
James Moriana	....	foley artist
Richard L. Morrison	....	foley mixer
Dan M. Rich	....	sound editor
Frank Smathers	....	adr editor
Mychal Smith	....	boom operator
Cathie Speakman	....	sound editor
Wylie Stateman	....	sound editor
David Terry	....	sound mixer: second unit
Robert Thirlwell	....	sound re-recording mixer (as Robert M. Thirlwell)
Scott Warner	....	assistant sound editor
Jeff Watts	....	sound editor
Gordon Webb	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Jeff Hyde	....	special effects technician
Vern Hyde	....	special effects technician

Stunts
Webster Whinery	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Perry Adleman	....	second assistant camera
Eric Bartsch	....	grip
Christian H. Burton	....	first assistant camera: second unit (as Chris Burton)
Marg Chiaventone	....	lamp operator
Joe D'Alessandro	....	additional first assistant camera
Eric Engler	....	camera operator (as William Eric Engler)
John Ferguson	....	gaffer (as John C. Ferguson)
Robert Allan Guernsey	....	first assistant camera
Billy Hendricks	....	lamp operator (as William B. Hendricks)
Paul Henry	....	dolly grip
Robert Hillman	....	director of photography: second unit
Robert Hoelen	....	grip
Robert James	....	key grip
Eric Jones	....	grip (as Charles Eric Jones)
Scott Lieu	....	best boy
Richard Craig Meinardus	....	camera operator: second unit (as Dick Meinardus)
Charles Minsky	....	additional photographer
York Phelps	....	grip
Van Scarboro	....	video playback operator
Tommy Ray Sullivan	....	lamp operator
Monica Sweet	....	lamp operator
James Tomaro	....	best boy (as James R. Tomaro)
Joel David Warren	....	still photographer (as Joel Warren)

Casting Department
Susan Brogden	....	location casting assistant
Karen Standard	....	location casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Robin Hill	....	costumer
Selma F. Hill	....	seamstress
Deborah Latham	....	costume supervisor
Lily Scott	....	costume assistant
Alonzo Wilson	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Celeste Beard	....	assistant editor
Phil Downey	....	color timer
Margaret Goodspeed	....	assistant editor
Steven Nevius	....	assistant editor (as Steve Nevius)
Marypat Plottner	....	synching editor
Lewis Schoenbrun	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Danny Bramson	....	music supervisor
Paul Brown	....	score mixer
Wayne Peet	....	musician: organ
Ellen Segal	....	music editor

Transportation Department
J. Wesley Adams	....	driver (as Wes Adams)
Karen Chalk Wheeler	....	driver (as Karen Chalk)
C.M. Daniell Jr.	....	driver
Allan Hamilton	....	driver (as Allan D. Hamilton)
Wayne Jones	....	driver
Sonny Knight	....	driver
James J. Mulvaney	....	driver
Jim Petti	....	transportation
Peyton Reed	....	driver (as Peyton T. Reed)
Jonathan A. Rosenfeld	....	transportation captain
John Schultz	....	driver
David Siegel	....	transportation coordinator
Brian Steagall	....	driver
O'Brian Tomalin	....	driver

Other crew
Lawrence J. Banks	....	assistant: Mr. Mount
Kippi Bell	....	assistant: Mr. Berg
Jeff Block	....	assistant: Bonnie Timmermann (as Jeffrey Block)
Pete Bock	....	baseball consultant
Laura Brown	....	craft service
David Cook	....	production assistant
Steven Crandell	....	production assistant
Allen Custard	....	location manager
Stewart Dixon	....	production assistant
Steve Edwards	....	production assistant
William Ted Fowler	....	craft service
Sabine French	....	production secretary
Anita L. Giordano	....	caterer
Anita V. Giordano	....	caterer
Carmen Giordano	....	caterer
Karen Golden	....	script supervisor
Sam Goldrich	....	production consultant
Cynthia Greenhill	....	assistant: Mr. Costner
Michael E. Hernandez	....	caterer
David Linck	....	unit publicist
Grady Little	....	baseball trainer
Barbara Lucey	....	financial representative
Carrie Morrow	....	post-production auditor
Leonard A. Oakland	....	assistant: Mr. Shelton
Deborah Parker	....	production assistant
Dan Perri	....	title designer
Suzanne Ryan	....	assistant: Bonnie Timmermann
Beth Semans	....	assistant location manager
Jon Shapiro	....	photo researcher
Janice F. Sperling	....	production coordinator
Ricki L. Stein	....	production auditor
John Teitloff	....	craft service
Anne Wilson	....	assistant production auditor (as Anne Moosman)

Thanks
Paula Abdul	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• The Mount Company

Distributors

• Orion Pictures Corporation (1988) (USA) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1988) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1991) (USA) (TV)
• Cecchi Gori Home Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (199?) (Australia) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (199?) (Netherlands) (VHS)
• Flashstar (199?) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Image Entertainment (1989) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1995) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Image Entertainment (1998) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (Europe) (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD) (20th anniversary edition)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2010) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2000) (USA) (VHS)
• Orion Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia-Hoyts Home Video (19??) (Australia) (VHS)
• Sandrew Film & Teater (1998) (Sweden) (VHS)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Cinema Research

Other Companies

• Capitol Records  soundtrack
• Cinema Research  titles and opticals
• Compact Sound Services  sound re-recording
• Inter Video  24 frame video services
• Kona Cutting  negative cutting
• North Carolina Film Office  filmed in
• Sportsrobe  costumes

Also Known As:

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

UK:15 (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating) (1990) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 | USA:R (certificate #29162) | West Germany:12 | Spain:13 | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Argentina:16 | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:M | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:18 | Philippines:R-18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Arlington, Texas, USA

Company:

The Mount Company

Trivia:

Ron Shelton was a former minor league baseball player and used his experience as the basis for the story.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Crash and Nuke step outside in the back of the bar, Nuke throws the ball through the door window. When they turn to go back into the bar, the door is already open.

Quotes:

Larry:Well if there was one chick who would know you were pulling your hips out early it'd be Annie.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (2000) (TV)

Soundtrack:

WHEN WILL I BE LOVED

A diamond in the rough

(Note: Over 500 of my movie reviews are now available in my book "Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can't Believe I Swallowed the Remote!" Get it at Amazon.)

I thought I read the book, or at least I dreamed it, but this is NOT adapted from something by Larry McMurtry, although it sure seems like it oughta be. It is one hell of a funny, crafty, too real for life, kind of movie. The brilliant script, full of clever one-liners, was written by Ron Shelton (White Men Can't Jump (1992)), who actually played minor league ball in the Orioles farm system. Shelton also directed and did a bang-up job. This is a funny movie that is really funny.

What I recalled (when I found out this wasn't from Larry McMurtry) was a baseball novel for juniors that I had read when I was a kid about a crafty, veteran minor league catcher who had once made it to the big leagues but got beaned and never got over it, always bailing out from an inside curve ball. (This was in the days before batting helmets.) He fell back to the minors and went from team to team and town to town, hitting a ton until somebody figured out that his knees would buckle if you brushed him back a bit, and then he'd have to move on. Kevin Costner's part reminds me of that guy (without the beaning phobia).

Susan Sarandon plays Annie Savoy, a baseball groupie in her sexual prime who likes to read poetry and give the players hitting advice. She is just wonderful as she plays sexy mom to the boys, a new one every summer, just so she can avoid any kind of real relationship or commitment. 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. He is tough and savvy and once made it to the Show for 21 days. Tim Robbins plays Ebby Calvin "Nuke" "Meat" LaLoosh, a not too bright, wild-armed phenom who needs more than a little guidance. He gets a lot from both Crash and Annie, who are intent on schooling him in their differing expertise. 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? I wanna throw the deuce..." And, "Don't think, ... 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. But also great are the scenes with Sarandon as she philosophizes ("I believe in the Church of Baseball") and wise-cracks her way through the boys of summer, especially the scene where she ties Nuke up in bed and reads him some Walt Whitman. Now THAT really tires the boy out! 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. (Or maybe the title's "In Center Field": "Put me in coach. I'm ready to play, today, in center field.")

It's a shame that Shelton did not win the Oscar for this script, it's really that good. (Ronald Bass won for Rain Man.) The characters are just fascinating and full of life, and not just the three leads. The bit players are funny too, including the hard-talking, middle-brained manager, the mindless pattering coaches, the sweet young groupie girl who makes it with all the players as fast as she can. Even the team clown is good.

The irreverent characterizations, the sweet story, the realistic atmosphere of baseball in small town America (only slightly burlesqued), and some fine acting all rolled together make this one highly diverting little film, actually one of the best baseball films ever made. See this with your best babe. She'll like it as much as you.