Bull Durham
Published September 29, 2018
Film info
- Title Bull Durham
- Director Ron Shelton
- Year 1988
- Run time 1hr 48m
- Genres Comedy, Romance
- Tagline Romance is a lot like baseball. It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game.
A romantic love story set in the dirt and grit of minor league baseball. Sarandon is a groupie for the Carolina Durham Bulls who chooses a protege each season to school in the art of love. This season she picks the team's untameable pitcher but eventually abides her true passion, the team's catcher, Costner.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:35 | “I believe in the church of baseball.” |
| 7:10 | Significant amount of chewing gum on this baseball field |
| 8:53 | Mascots should get danger money. |
| 12:10 | Sitting there with one arm in a bucket of ice must be weird. One half of you frozen. |
| 20:43 | The only thing he missed out was believing that children are the future. |
| 28:02 | I like sportsperson inner monologue. Endlessly fascinating. |
| 33:38 | This woman can talk herself out of anything! |
| 38:02 | Hit bull, win steak. Amazing. |
| 40:51 | What is the word ’lollygag’ all about? |
| 46:18 | Doesn’t matter how much you want to fight, you can’t step outside on a moving bus. |
| 47:57 | Loving the radio guy doing his own foley. |
| 58:29 | I like the rest of the team knowing what tactics he’s employing, because they’ve all been there. |
| 1:05:58 | The sports interview cliches. Love it. |
| 1:21:06 | I like that they call it the Show. |
| 1:27:51 | “You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance.” |
| 1:32:59 | Bit less saxophone wouldn’t hurt. |
| 1:35:55 | I’m not about sharing cereal. Really not. |
| 1:38:46 | You don’t see a lot of fountain pens in movies anymore. |
| 1:43:20 | He DOES make it to the show as a manager. Just in a different film, and a different sport. |
Conclusions
Had never heard of this film but I like a sports film and I like a good Kevin Costner movie, so this ticked all the boxes. I wasn’t sure at first about the concept of a baseball groupie, but once you go with it, you have a fun film with some interesting concepts. Youth versus experience, the hot-head that won’t listen, learning things outside the sport that help inside, and trying to make the best of things when they don’t go your way.
It was funnier than I’d expected, and it hit the compromise well between sports film and romantic/drama. A nice surprise!
Rating: 4/5.
Rating: 4 / 5