Bull Durham-20th Anniversary Edition (1988)

"Limber, funny and as in touch with the pleasures of the flesh as it is with the pleasures of the game...  Hal Hinson, The Washington Post
"...[a] funny, sexy, literate love story...  Newsweek
"...loads its bases with laughter, romance, and tears...  People Magazine
"Grand Slam! Bull Durham is smashing in every department.  Rolling Stone
"...captures the reality, the language and the humor of the game as no baseball film ever has...Costner is terrific...  Steve Wulf, Sports Illustrated

Editor's Note The Durham Bulls are in a slump and have spent a hefty sum of money acquiring an untested young pitcher in the hopes of reversing their standings. Crash Davis, a 12-year veteran ballplayer who has spent most of his time bumming around as a minor league catcher, is assigned to mature the rookie pitching phenom named "Nuke." But a beautiful and enigmatic team groupie comes between the tutor and his student, enlightening both with her game of life, love and verse.

	Kevin Costner
	Susan Sarandon
	Tim Robbins
	Trey Wilson
	Adam Weiss - Editor
	Armin Ganz - Production Designer
	Bobby Byrne - Cinematographer
	David Lubin - Art Director
	David V. Lester - Executive Producer
	Mark Burg - Producer
	Michael Convertino - Original Music By
	Robert Leighton - Editor
	Ron Shelton - Director
	Ron Shelton - Writer

North Carolina's Durham Bulls have just acquired a hot new pitcher, "Nuke" LaLoosh, who has a Major League arm but Little League aim. The management has sent for veteran Minor League catcher Crash Davis to train the rookie and get him ready for the upcoming season. The team's biggest fan, an English professor at the local college, has a tradition of choosing one Bulls player each year to be her lover and baseball/poetry prodigy, and this year she must choose between two players that have caught her eye, the pitcher and the catcher. The two ball players bait each other on and off the field, compete for the woman's affections, and eventually, send the Bulls on a winning streak.

"Some days you win. Some days you lose. And some days, it rains." ---- Baseball Proverb repeated by Crash Davis (Kevin Costner)

Entertainment Weekly
"...Shelton stepped up to the directorial plate and smacked a dinger....A wry, sexy charmer..." -- Rating: A 12/20/1996 pp.82-3

New York Times
"...A film with spring fever, a giddy, playful look at life in baseball's minor leagues....[Costner] does a lot with his role..." 06/15/1988 p.C20

Los Angeles Times
"...A sweet and sexy comedy..." 06/15/1988 p.C1

USA Today
"...[With] Susan Sarandon at career peak....This is like no other baseball movie..." 01/27/1989 p.3D

Total Film
"...Shelton cracks open the game's mythologies, but it's the sexy sparkle between Costner and Sarandon that's the hook..." 11/01/2003 p.129

Premiere
4 stars out of 4 -- "One of the best and most honest baseball movies ever made, perfectly nailing the spirit of America's pastime." 08/10/2010

Variety 7 of 10
Bull Durham is a fanciful and funny bush league sports story where the only foul ball is its overuse of locker-room dialog. Kevin Costner is the quintessential American male who loves romance, but loves baseball even more...The Durham Bulls of North Carolina dream of getting called up to be 'in the show' as they endure another season of riding town to town on the team bus and suffering the dubious distinction of being one of the losingest clubs in Carolina league history...Sent over from another 'A' farm team to instruct, insult and inspire the Bulls' bullet-fast pitcher Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' Laloosh (Tim Robbins) is embittered veteran catcher Crash David (Kevin Costner). His job is to get the cocky kid's arm on target by game time...Costner is a natural as the dyed-in-the-wool ballplayer. His best lines are when he's philosophizing, like on being an All-American male who hates anything by Susan Sontag...Susan Sarandon is never believable as a community college English lit teacher who, at the start of every season, latches on to the most promising rookie - in this case Robbins.

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
"Bull Durham" is a baseball version of "Wall Street," in which everybody's takeover bid is for someone else's heart. The movie is being promoted as a romantic comedy, but Susan Sarandon has a great scene right at the outset where she corrects that notion. She holds a little meeting with two new members of the local minor-league ball club, and explains that every year she chooses one player to spend the season with, and they are the two current finalists...A lot of baseball is played along the way. "Bull Durham" was written and directed by Ron Shelton, who spent some time in the minor leagues, and this is a sports movie that knows what it is talking about. There are quiet little scenes that have the ring of absolute accuracy, as when a player is called into the office and told his contract is not being picked up, and the blow is softened by careful mention of a "possibility of a coaching job in the organization next season. . . ." And there probably isn't a coaching job, and nobody wants it anyway, but by such lies can sad truths be told..."Bull Durham" is a treasure of a movie because it knows so much about baseball and so little about love. The movie is a completely unrealistic romantic fantasy, and in the real world the delicate little balancing act of these three people would crash into pieces. - Roger Ebert