Bull Durham [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Overview

A blend of comedy, drama and romance, Bull Durham follows the intertwining of three lives brought together by the great American pastime. Crash Davis (Kevin Costner, showcasing his Midwestern charm) is a perennial Minor Leaguer assigned to the Durham Bulls, a hapless team with a long tradition of mediocrity. There he tutors a young, dim-witted pitching prodigy, Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) in the ways of baseball, life, and love. Each strikes up a romance with Annie (Susan Sarandon), the team's "mascot" who takes it upon herself to sleep with a new player every season. Each has his/her own conflict: Crash struggles to end his career with some measure of dignity; Nuke struggles to make it to the "big show"; and Annie struggles to find something more than a roll in the hay -- and of course, Crash and Nuke come into conflict over Annie's affections to further complicate matters. The film treats the sport of baseball with a sort of casual reverence, highlighting both the drama and the humor inherent in the game, illustrated by Annie's numerous references to baseball as "her religion."

Product Details

Release Date:	07/10/2018
UPC:	0715515218115
Original Release:	1988
Rating:	R
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:48:00
Sales rank:	9,056

Special Features

Two audio commentaries, featuring Shelton and actors Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins New conversation between shelton and film critic Michael Sragow Program from 2001 featuring interviews with cast and crew, including Shelton, Costner, Robbins, and actor Susan Sarandon Appreciation of the film from 2008 featuring former players, broadcasters, and sports-film aficionados NBC Nightly News piece from 1993 on the final season of baseball at Durham Athletic Park, where Bull Durham takes place and was shot Interview with Max Patkin, known as the Clown Prince of Baseball, from a 1991 episode of NBC's Today Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kevin Costner	Crash Davis
Susan Sarandon	Annie Savoy
Tim Robbins	Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh
Trey Wilson	Joe 'Skip' Riggins
Robert Wuhl	Larry Hockett
Jenny Robertson	Millie
William O'Leary	Jimmy
David Neidorf	Bobby
Danny Gans	Deke
Tom Silardi	Tony
Lloyd Williams	Mickey,Mickey
Rick Marzan	Jose
Max Patkin	Himself
George Buck	Nuke's Father
Carey Garland Bunting	Teddy,Teddy - Radio Announcer
Gregory Avellone	Doc
Robert Dickman	Whitey
Timothy Kirk	Ed
Don Davis	Scared Batter
Stephen Ware	Abused Umpire
Tobi Eshelman	Bat Boy
Henry G. Sanders	Sandy,Sandy
Antoinette Forsyth	Ballpark Announcer
Shirley Anne Ritter	Cocktail Waitress
Alan Mejia	Chu Chu
Wes Currin	Core Baseball Player
Paul Devlin	Core Baseball Player
Jeff Greene	Core Baseball Player
Kelly Heath	Core Baseball Player
Mo Johnson	Core Baseball Player
Todd Kopeznski	Core Baseball Player
John Lovingood	Core Baseball Player
Alan Paternoster	Core Baseball Player
Bill Robinson	Core Baseball Player,Core Baseball Player
Tom Shultz	Core Baseball Player
Sam Veraldi	Core Baseball Player
C.K. Bibby	Mayor
Craig Brown	Core baseball player
Sid Aikens	Baseball Player
Butch Davis	Baseball Player
Eddie Matthews	Baseball Player
Bonnie Timmermann	Actor
El Chico Williams	Baseball Player
George Flower	Nuke's Father
Pete Bock	Minister
Michael Convertino	Composer

Technical Credits

Ron Shelton

Ron Shelton	Director,Screenwriter
Mark Burg	Producer
David V. Lester	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Thom Mount	Producer
Bonnie Timmermann	Casting
Kirk Francis	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The National Pastime got quite a ribbing in this sexy, insouciant romp -- which still ranks among the best romantic comedies of the ‘80s. Bull Durham recounts the travails of North Carolina’s Durham Bulls, a bush-league baseball team hoping that recently signed pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) will lead the club to victory. Embittered veteran catcher"Crash" Davis (Kevin Costner, at that time a newly minted star) is assigned to work with the talented but undisciplined rookie. Susan Sarandon positively gleams in perhaps her most alluring characterization, that of a seductive groupie who bestows sexual favors on a different team member every year. (She’s picked Nuke as the current season’s lucky recipient, but she seems equally attracted to Crash.) Oscar-nominated writer-director Ron Shelton (Tin Cup) scripts this novel variation on the venerable "triangle" plot with great panache, and he also coaxes terrific performances from his exceptional cast. Smart, sassy, and saucy, Bull Durham wowed moviegoers in 1988 and continues to be a guaranteed crowd pleaser. The Special Edition DVD sports a recently shot making-of documentary, which includes new interviews with Costner, Sarandon, and Robbins. Shelton, Costner, and Robbins collaborate on the feature commentary, and there’s a "Sports Wrap" featurette as well.

Barnes & Noble

In Bull Durham, baseball is a religion, at once sacred and profane, simple and complicated. This is not the baseball of retractable roofs and million-dollar contracts, but the dusty world of minor-league ball, one which proves to be a perfect backdrop for comic drama. The three leads are flawless: Tim Robbins displays his very capable comic side as the new kid with the "million-dollar arm and the five-cent head"; Susan Sarandon is delightful as the groupie with more on her mind than just sex; and Kevin Costner's easy-going charm is perfect for the role of the aging ballplayer. While the sexual chemistry between Costner and Sarandon is particularly strong (unique in a film with older leads) it was Sarandon and Robbins who began a real-life relationship following production. The film's one real fault -- and not an insignificant one -- is that for a movie about sports and sex, Bull Durham runs on a little too long toward the end. Writer/director Ron Shelton spent five years in the Orioles' farm system as an infielder, and his love for all things baseball permeates the film. Those expecting a rousing jock adventure may be disappointed: Bull Durham uses baseball to tell a story that's about people first and the sport second. It is an uncommonly adult portrait of three disparate people brought together by fate, and in this case, that fate happens to be called baseball.

All Movie Guide

Limber, funny and as in touch with the pleasures of the flesh as it is with the pleasures of the game, Bull Durham, the...baseball movie starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon, eases up on you, lazy as a cloud, and carries you off in a mood of exquisite delight. To borrow W.P. Kinsella's phrase, it has the thrill of the grass. Hal Hinson

Washington Post