Simply A Masterpiece

Good concept, poorly executed.

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

"Bull Durham" was released in 1988. It was written and directed by Ron Shelton, who knew his way around an American baseball field, and runs the bases in a swift, witty 108 minutes. 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. It happily combines romantic comedy and baseball: many people still consider this the best movie about the boys of summer. Costner plays a veteran catcher brought in to mentor a talented but wild young pitcher (Robbins). Sarandon plays a teacher and baseball fan that takes one player under her wing (and into her bed) every year, and provides her own baseball wisdom, coaching and life experience!The director, Ron Shelton does a superb job of bringing this story to life and hopefully satisfying the sports fan and rom-com addict at the same time. Full of some great, witty dialogue and earthy one- liners, this film does have its share of sex and bad language (it is rated 18) so be prepared for that, but it plays with a very natural and fun feeling to it. The most surprising thing to me though is that this isn't necessarily a baseball movie. Sure, the sport in question is baseball, but it could be any other sport, with a young upcomer (Robbins) being coached by experienced veterans (Costner and Sarandon), and the unconventional coaching methods that might be used. Especially by Sarandon's character. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Bull Durham only received Oscar recognition in one category that of Original Screenplay. But that screenplay is the basis of the film that broke the mold for baseball films.When you think of baseball films you think of heroic type films like the biographical stories of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Monty Stratton. Or some funny, but still reverential films like Kill The Umpire or It Happens Every Spring. 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. You could never have a character like her with the infamous Code in place. Sarandon is frank, she loves sex, she loves baseball and she sees herself doing her bit for the national past time. Her concentration this year is on Tim Robins who is a promising Sandy Koufax like pitcher before Sandy got control of his pitching and gave us five of the best seasons ever seen before announcing his premature retirement.Also giving Robins his concentration is veteran catcher Kevin Costner hired specifically for that purpose by the Raleigh-Durham Bulls. Between Sarandon and Costner they turn Robins into someone fulfilling his promise. 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'. As he says "the 20 best days in my life". Like actors, athletes on team sports want to play in whatever major leagues there are. If not they're like Costner, hanging on because of the love of the game.Costner has the philosophy of Stan Musial who was quoted as saying he knew it was time to quit because the pain outweighed the fun of getting paid to play a sport. I suspect that Musial would have felt the same had he been a journeyman player like Costner rather than the Hall Of Famer he is.No way that Christian athlete William O'Leary would have been a character in a film made under the Code auspices. Younger groupie Jenny Robertson makes a point of showing him what he's missing.Ron Shelton who was a minor league ballplayer drew from some rich memories of those times to give us Bull Durham. It's both a serious and also irreverently funny look at those who participate in our national past time and the women who service them.

It's the professional pitching debut of Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) for the A ball Durham Bulls. He has a million dollar arm and a five cents head. They bring in veteran catcher Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) to mentor the young pitcher. Only he's too old for this stuff. Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a baseball philosopher and team super fan. Every year, she picks one player to hook up with and guide. Much to Crash's dismay, she picks Nuke.This is a funny and charming baseball movie. It's got Kevin Costner's great "I believe in..." speech. It's also got all the inside baseball interior-voice and behind-the-glove fun. It loves baseball both in its grandness and the little things. It romanticizes the game as well as its sad lowly grind. It's probably the best comedy movie about professional baseball.

This is unfairly forgotten sports comedy . It's far better than the more famous and overrated "Major league". 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"). Each of them shines here. Costner is charming and very likable as the smart and bitter old baseball player. Sarandon is incredibly funny as the woman obsessed with baseball and sex . Robbins is very convincing as the incredibly talented , but stuck up young baseball player.I like that this movie doesn't follow a typical "from zero to hero" story that is so often (TOO often) seen in this type of movies. Instead we got here a story about love triangle between two baseball players and baseball fan . The movie is a character comedy and it's fun to see how the characters interact with each other and change during the movie. There is great chemistry between them.I love the wisecracks from Costner's mouth , Sarandon is HOT and Robbins is adorable when he throws into the bull.There is some great music here . Soundtrack is full of great songs like: Bill Haley and The Comets "Rock around the clock" , Edith Piaf "Non , je ne regrette rien" and "La vie en rose" , Ike and Tina Turner "I idolize you" , The Everly brothers "When I will be loved" , Los lobos "I got loaded" and Joe Cocker "Woman loves a man".The only thing that I didn't like is the religious approach to the baseball. I'm not a fan of baseball and I couldn't really relate to it, but the baseball fans probably will be happy.A very pleasant , charming and enjoyable comedy. Good way to spend your time. I give it 7/10.