Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Bull Durham (1988)
Director: Ron Shelton
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Less a baseball movie than a romantic comedy based around the sacred diamond. Each season, Annie (Sarandon) - devout believer in the Church of Baseball - favours one member of the Durham Bulls minor league team with her patented instruction in the subtle arts of baseball and love-making. Selecting young acolyte Ebby (Robbins), she initiates him into the secret of 'breathing through your eyelids', encourages him to wear a suspender belt while pitching, and ties him to a bed to read him extracts from Whitman's erotic poem 'I Sing the Body Electric'. The seasoned Crash (Costner) meanwhile grooms the youngster for a shot at the major league, concentrating on his fast but undisciplined pitching, because he throws like he fucks, all over the place. Paradoxically, writer/director Shelton's intimate knowledge of baseball allows him to convey the feel of the game, its esoteric mythology and quirky superstitions, without losing sight of the real issue: when will Annie and Crash get it together? The film's delicious charge stems not from a rush towards a big game climax, but from the aching pleasure of Crash and Annie's potential consummation. Exuding easy charm, Costner confirms his status as the romantic leading man of the late '80s; Sarandon is sexier reading Emily Dickinson's poems fully clothed than most actresses would be writhing naked on a bed; together, they are indeed the bodies electric. Marvellous stuff.Author: NF
Cast & crew
Director: Ron Shelton
Producer: Thom Mount, Mark Burg
Cast: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl, William O'Leary, David Neidorf, Danny Gans, Tom Silardi, Max Patkin full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 108 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.
What do you think?
Post your review now