Film Forum

U.S., 1988.
Written and directed by Ron Shelton.
Starring Kevin Coster, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins.
DCP. Approx 108 min.

"A smash hit that has come out of left field...a rough, often uproarious, literate (to the extent that William Blake and Walt Whitman are mentioned) romantic comedy set in the world of minor-league baseball in the South, specifically, North Carolina. At the center of it are three singularly weird and wonderful, potential washouts....Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) is a part-time English teacher and full-time baseball groupie. At the start of each season, Annie chooses a promising rookie whom she can sleep with, and whose talents need to be honed to perfection by her knowledge of the game and of various mind-control exercises. Ebby Calvin (Nuke) LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) is Annie's pick for the season, a big, good-natured, none-too-bright pitcher...Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) is the old timer, brought in to catch and, primarily, to take the rough edges off Nuke....Mr. Shelton, a one-time baseball pro himself, clearly knows the milieu and hasn't forgotten any of the oddballs and misfits he ever met. From the richness of the dialogue, it's also apparent that he has a natural writer's gift for letting the imagination run freely on its own, from whatever might have been the original inspirations. He's not tied down by plausibility. As a director, he demonstrates the sort of expert comic timing and control that allow him to get in and out of situations so quickly that they're over before one has time to question them. Part of the fun in watching BULL DURHAM is in the awareness that a clearly seen vision is being realized. This is one first-rate debut."  — Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Winner, Best Screenplay, Los Angeles Film Critics Association  and Writers Guild of America and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
 

Reviews

"Rather than a vapid national epic, it is a warm, droll, deftly cracked romantic comedy."
— Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune

"I don’t know who else they could have hired to play Annie Savoy, the Sarandon character who pledges her heart and her body to one player a season, but I doubt if the character would have worked without Sarandon’s wonderful performance."
— Roger Ebert