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Bull
Durham (1988)
In writer/director Ron Shelton's feature debut, a
humorous and intelligent romantic sports comedy-drama about a mediocre
Carolina minor leagues baseball team - the Durham Bulls; first-time
director Shelton, a former second-baser in the minor leagues,
had made a prominent career of sports movies that realistically examined
the participants' heart, both in terms of sportsmanship and in terms
of romance. His writing (and directing) credits have also included: The
Best of Times (1986) (football), White Men Can't Jump (1992) (basketball,
also directed), Blue Chips (1994) (basketball), Cobb
(1994) (baseball, also directed), The Great White Hype (1996) (boxing), Tin
Cup (1996) (golf, also directed), and Play It To the Bone
(2000) (boxing, also directed):
- during the film's opening title credits sequence,
cultured and literate baseball and sports groupie Annie Savoy (Susan
Sarandon), a junior-college English teacher and sexually-seductive
baseball groupie, provided a lengthy, off-screen speech regarding
her beloved team - the Durham Bulls of North Carolina; she described
her offbeat 'life-as-baseball' beliefs in a celebrated "The
Church of Baseball" monologue (sermon, actually) to the accompaniment
of church organ music, as she was preparing
to leave her house and walk downtown to the local Durham Bulls
ballgame: ("I believe in the Church
of Baseball. I've tried all the major religions and most of the
minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva,
trees, mushrooms, and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance,
there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches
in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. (sigh)
But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much
guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You
see, there's no guilt in baseball, and it's never borin' (giggle)
- which makes it like sex. There's never been a ballplayer slept
with me who didn't have the best year of his career. Makin' love
is like hittin' a baseball. You just gotta relax and concentrate.
Besides, I'd never sleep with a player hittin' under .250, unless
he had a lot of RBIs or was a great glove man up the middle. You
see, there's a certain amount of life wisdom I give these boys.
I can expand their minds. Sometimes when I've got a ballplayer
alone, I'll just read Emily Dickinson or Walt Whitman to him. And
the guys are so sweet, they always stay and listen. Of course,
a guy'll listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay. I make
them feel confident, and they make me feel safe - and pretty. Of
course, what I give them lasts a lifetime. What they give me lasts
142 games. Sometimes it seems like a bad trade, but bad trades
are part of baseball. I mean, who can forget Frank Robinson for
Milt Pappas, for God's sake? It's a long season and you gotta trust
it. I've tried 'em all, I really have. And the only church that
truly feeds the soul - day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.")
- after arriving at the ballpark, there were the typical
sights and sounds surrounding the game; the new hotshot pitcher
for the perennial losing team - the Durham Bulls; making his professional
debut was moronic, erratic, dim-bulb young, up-and-coming rookie
pitcher-ballplayer Ebby Calvin "Nuke" (or "Meat")
LaLoosh (Tim Robbins); his wild pitches knocked down
the bull mascot twice (throughout the film) and also sailed into
the booth of the sports announcer
- 12-year veteran journeyman baseball catcher
"Crash" Davis (Kevin Costner) was being returned to the
A-league to mentor the green young upstart LaLoosh; he had been acquired
to teach the clueless LaLoosh (who was being groomed for the major
leagues and was worth 100 grand) how to discipline his behavior and
improve his concentration, including his erratic pitches
- after the game, Crash and Laloosh were competing
for dating prospects with Annie, both in a local country-western
bar and in Annie's living room, where she proposed to "hook
up with one guy a season"; she announced that she was deciding
between them, but Crash was reluctant to "try out" for
Annie as one of her draft picks; as Crash was leaving for the door,
Annie asked: "What do you believe in, then?", and he
gave a classic, memorable philosophical speech: ("Well,
I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's
back, the hangin' curveball, high fiber, good Scotch, that the
novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, over-rated crap. I believe
Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there oughta be a constitutional
amendment outlawing AstroTurf and the designated hitter. I believe
in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents
Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve. And I believe in long,
slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Good-night.")
- and Annie gave a breathless reply: "Oh my!"
- after Crash left, Annie fooled Laloosh in her bedroom
into being intellectually seduced by tying his wrists with ropes
attached to her steel-framed headboard, and during his bondage,
she read Walt Whitman poetry to him; she had made her choice for
the season and told Crash: "I'm committed to Nuke for the
season. You had your chance the other day"
- during an extended road trip on a bus, Crash
taught Nuke (now nicknamed "Meat") the lyrics to his butchered
version of "Try
a Little Tenderness" on the team bus (instead of "Young
girls they do get wearied" he sang: "Young girls they
do get woolly")
- in the middle of the night, Crash (and three other
players) took a taxi to the city's ballfield, and smashed through
a metal gate barrier, found the water control valves for the field's
sprinkler system, and soon the entire infield and outfield were
deliberately flooded; they then played in
the muddy, water-soaked ball field
- as a way to combat Annie's choice of Nuke for the
season, Crash convinced Nuke to rechannel his sexual energy into
his pitching and away from her - depriving Annie of sexual fulfillment
- later during a nightgame, the entire
infield met on the pitcher's mound to discuss wedding gifts for
the upcoming marriage of the team's devout Christian, Jimmy (William
O'Leary) to amoral groupie Millie (Jenny Robertson), punctuated
by irate fast-talking pitching coach Larry Hockett's (Robert Wuhl)
suggestion: ("...candlesticks always make a nice gift, and
uh, maybe you could find out where she's registered and maybe a
place-setting or maybe a silverware pattern")
- eventually, Annie began to realize that "Crash" might
be a better-suited match for her sexual come-ons. She came to Crash's
place and offered herself: "I want you," but when he
declined, she flatly stated: "This is
the damnedest season I've ever seen. I mean, the Durham Bulls can't
lose, and I can't get laid"; she had a chance to sample his
beliefs about three-day long kisses at the conclusion of the film
when "Crash" was released from baseball playing altogether
(although he might be a minor league manager) and he sought to
retire with dignity. He looked up Annie and then over a drink,
they kissed, and soon made love
- their love scene during a weekend-long session was
exaggerated - they rolled over, tumbled from the bed to the floor,
still kissing and locked together, as she grabbed for traction
from a nearby table leg - moaning and shaking. Their love-making
was followed by a bowl of Wheaties ("Breakfast
of Champions") in the kitchen; wearing his oversized sports
jacket (while he wore one of her robes), she glowed at him:"God,
you are gorgeous...You wanna dance?"; he tossed his cereal
bowl into the sink where it smashed into pieces, and he pulled
her onto the kitchen table, where they resumed making love after
he answered: "Yes"; in the next scene, Annie's arms were
tied to the bedpost, as she succumbed to having her toenails painted
red by "Crash," and then they were in the bathtub together;
they slept until early the next morning when Crash left her bed
and wrote a goodbye note before driving off
- by the end of the film, "Nuke" had
been called up and promoted to the majors. Seen one last time and
now wearing a T-shirt for the ska-punk band Fishbone, he was being
interviewed by TV reporter Raye Anne in a baseball stadium, using
words and cliches that Crash had taught him: ("...Anyway,
a good friend of mine used to say, 'This is a very simple game.
You throw the ball, you catch the ball. You hit the ball. Sometimes
you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains.' Think about that
for a while")
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"I believe in the church of baseball"
Crash's Beliefs and Annie's Response: "Oh my!"
Pitching Mound Discussion
Annie with Crash
TV Reporter Interview
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