Bull Durham (1988)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: Kevin Costner at his funniest and most charismatic in Bull Durham, a film that's as wise about relationships as it is about minor league baseball.
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Cast
as Crash Davis
as Annie Savoy
as Ebby Calvin 'Nuke' LaLoosh
as Joe 'Skip' Riggins
as Larry Hockett
as Millie
as Jimmy
as Bobby
as Deke
as Baseball Player
as Tony
as Baseball Player
as Mickey
as Jose
as Baseball Player
as Himself
as Nuke's Father
as Teddy
as Doc
as Whitey
as Ed
as Scared Batter
as Abused Umpire
as Bat Boy
as Sandy
as Ballpark Announcer
as Cocktail Waitress
as Chu Chu
as Baseball Player
as Nuke's Father
as Sandy
as Minister
as Core Baseball Player
as Teddy (Radio Announcer)
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Mayor
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
as Core Baseball Player
News & Interviews for Bull Durham
Critic Reviews for Bull Durham
All Critics (63) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (61) | Rotten (2) | DVD (14)
Screwball Annie and hardball Crash aren't playing the same game, which is Shelton's conceit as well as a possible screen-writing miscalculation.
Ron Shelton, who wrote and directed the film, displays a knowledge of and affection for the national pastime. You can see it in the knowing detail he brings to even the minor characters.
[Shelton is] uncanny at putting us inside his players' heads when they're on the mound or up at bat, running their private litanies of encouragement and subversion to psych themselves up.
Rather than a vapid national epic, it is a warm, droll, deftly cracked romantic comedy.
The acting in Bull Durham cannot be faulted and should be remembered at Oscar time. Sarandon has one of the juiciest female roles in years and she makes you think no one could play it better.
Shelton locates the tension and the humor between pitches, between ball games, between the sheets. It helps too that he has written the wittiest, busiest screenplay since Moonstruck, and that his three stars do their very best screen work.
Audience Reviews for Bull Durham
The grooming relationship between the classy, seasoned catcher, Crash, and the callow, rookie pitcher, Nuke, is funnier, more exciting, and more heartwarming than Annie's pseudo-intellectual, baseball is religion, poetry is foreplay, seduction wiles.
Super Reviewer
Bull Durham is a genius sports film and one of the greatest sports films ever made. Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon play three genius performances. The plot is great, I was never bored and it had so many different stories. I loved this movie.
Super Reviewer
A sexy romp in the baseball field, refreshing and crisp. It did stagnate a bit but the three leads are pretty darn incredible.
Super Reviewer
Bull Durham Quotes
| Millie: | Crash must have called the guy a Cocksucker. |
| Millie: | [Annie snaps off the radio] Crash must've called the guy a cocksucker. |
| Joe "Skip" Riggins: | What's our record, Larry? |
| Larry Hockett: | Eight and sixteen. |
| Joe "Skip" Riggins: | Eight... and sixteen. How'd we ever win eight? |
| Larry Hockett: | It's a miracle. |
| Joe "Skip" Riggins: | It's a miracle. This... is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball. |
| Crash Davis: | Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you'll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob. |
| Crash Davis: | ...I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. |
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