''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American
romantic comedy
Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...
sports film
A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme. It is a production in which a sport, sporting event, athlete (and their sport), or follower of sport (and the s ...
. It is partly based upon the
minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director
Ron Shelton
Ronald Wayne Shelton (born September 15, 1945) is an American film director and screenwriter and former minor league baseball infielder. Shelton is known for the many films he has made about sports. His 1988 film ''Bull Durham'', based in part ...
and depicts the players and fans of the
Durham Bulls
The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...
, a
minor-league baseball team in
Durham, North Carolina.
The film stars
Kevin Costner
Kevin Michael Costner (born January 18, 1955) is an American actor, producer, film director and musician. He has received various accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and two Screen Actor ...
as
"Crash" Davis, a veteran catcher from the
AAA
AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to:
Airports
* Anaa Airport in French Polynesia (IATA airport code AAA)
* Logan County Airport (Illinois) (FAA airport code AAA)
Arts, entertainment, and me ...
Richmond Braves, brought in to teach rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh (
Tim Robbins
Timothy Francis Robbins (born October 16, 1958) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for portraying Andy Dufresne in the film '' The Shawshank Redemption ''(1994), and has won an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards for his rol ...
) about the game in preparation for reaching the major leagues. Baseball
groupie
The term groupie is a slang word that refers to a fan of a particular musical group who follows the band around while they are on tour or who attends as many of their public appearances as possible, with the hope of meeting them. The term is us ...
Annie Savoy (
Susan Sarandon
Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...
) romances Nuke but finds herself increasingly attracted to Crash. Also featured are
Robert Wuhl
Robert Wuhl (born October 9, 1951) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He is best known as the creator and star of the television comedy series '' Arliss'' (1996–2002) and for his portrayal of newspaper reporter Alexander Knox in Tim Bu ...
and
Trey Wilson
Donald Yearnsley "Trey" Wilson III (January 21, 1948 – January 16, 1989) was an American character actor known for playing rural, authoritarian-type characters, most notably in comedies such as '' Raising Arizona'' and ''Bull Durham''.
Career
...
, as well as popular baseball "clown"
Max Patkin
Max Patkin (January 10, 1920 – October 30, 1999) was an American baseball player and clown, best known as the Clown Prince of Baseball (a play on "Crown Prince").
Patkin was the third "officially" crowned Clown Prince of Baseball, after Al Scha ...
.
''Bull Durham'' was a commercial success, grossing over $50 million in North America, well above its estimated budget, and was a critical success as well. ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
'' ranked it the #1 Greatest Sports Movie of all time. ''
The Moving Arts Film Journal
''The Moving Arts Film Journal'' is an online film magazine. It is based in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is edited and published by Eric M. Armstrong, member of the Online Film Critics Society
The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) is ...
'' ranked it #3 on its list of the 25 Greatest Sports Movies of All-Time. In addition, the film is ranked #55 on
Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies." It is also ranked #97 on the
American Film Institute's "
100 Years...100 Laughs" list, and #1 on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
' list of the 53 best-reviewed sports movies.
Plot
Minor League baseball single-A team the
Durham Bulls
The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened ...
are dealing with another sparsely attended losing season, with one thing working for them; Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, a hotshot rookie
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
known for having a "million dollar arm, but a five cent head," who has potential to become a
major league talent. "Crash" Davis, a 12-year veteran in
minor league baseball, is sent down as the team's
catcher
Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...
to educate LaLoosh and control his haphazard pitching. Crash immediately begins calling Ebby by the degrading nickname of "Meat", and they get off to a rocky start.
Thrown into the mix is Annie, a "baseball groupie" and lifelong spiritual seeker who has latched onto the "Church of Baseball" and has, every year, chosen one player on the Bulls to be her lover and student. Annie flirts with both Crash and Ebby and invites them to her house, but Crash walks out, saying he's too much of a veteran to "try out" for anything. Before he leaves, Crash further sparks Annie's interest with a memorable speech listing the things he "believes in", ending with, "I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days... Good night". Despite some animosity between them, Annie and Crash work, in their own ways, to shape Ebby into a big-league pitcher. Annie plays mild
bondage games, reads poetry to him, and gets him to think in different ways (and gives him the nickname "Nuke").
Crash forces Nuke to learn "not to think" by letting the catcher make the pitching calls (memorably at two points telling the batters what pitch is coming after Nuke shakes off his signs), and lectures him about the pressure of facing major league hitters who can hit his "heat" (
fastball
The fastball is the most common type of pitch thrown by pitchers in baseball and softball. " Power pitchers," such as former American major leaguers Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens, rely on speed to prevent the ball from being hit, and have thr ...
s). Crash also talks about the pleasure of life in major league, which he briefly lived for "the 21 greatest days of my life" and to which he has tried for years to return. Meanwhile, as Nuke matures, the relationship between Annie and Crash grows, until it becomes obvious that the two of them are a more appropriate match, except for the fact that Annie and Nuke are currently a couple.
After a rough start, Nuke becomes a dominant pitcher by mid-season, adding to the Bulls' good fortunes and, in the end, he is called up to the major leagues. This incites jealous anger in Crash, who is frustrated by Nuke's failure to recognize all the talent he was blessed with. Nuke leaves, Annie ends their relationship, and Crash overcomes his jealousy to leave Nuke with some final words of advice. The Bulls, now having no use for Nuke's mentor, release Crash. Crash then presents himself at Annie's house and the two consummate their attraction with a weekend-long lovemaking session. Crash then leaves Annie's house to seek a further minor-league position.
Crash joins another team, the
Asheville Tourists
The Asheville Tourists are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. They are located in Asheville, North Carolina.
Asheville teams have played under the Tourists moniker in differe ...
, and breaks the minor-league record for career
home run
In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...
s. Nuke is seen one last time, being interviewed by the press as a major leaguer, reciting the clichéd answers that Crash had taught him earlier. Crash then retires as a player and returns to Durham, where Annie tells him she's ready to give up her annual affairs with "boys." Crash tells her that he is thinking about becoming a manager for
a minor-league team in Visalia. The film ends with Annie and Crash dancing in Annie's candle-lit living room.
Cast
Background
The film's name is based on the nickname for
Durham, North Carolina, since 1874, when
W. T. Blackwell and Company
W.T. Blackwell & Co. Tobacco was a tobacco manufacturer in Durham, North Carolina. It was best known as the original producer of Bull Durham Tobacco, the first nationally marketed brand of tobacco products in the United States. The Blackwell to ...
named its product "Bull" Durham tobacco, which soon became a well-known trademark. In 1898,
James B. Duke purchased the company and renamed it the
American Tobacco Company
The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...
. By this time, the nickname "Bull City" had already stuck.
The film's writer and director, Ron Shelton, played
minor league baseball for five years after graduating from
Westmont College
Westmont College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Montecito, California. It was founded in 1937.
History
Ruth Kerr, owner and CEO of the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company, established the school as the Bible Missionary Institute in ...
in
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Co ...
. Initially playing second base for the
Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
' farm system, he moved from the Appalachian League to California and then Texas before finally playing
AAA baseball
Triple-A (officially Class AAA) has been the highest level of play in Minor League Baseball in the United States since 1946. Currently, two leagues operate at the Triple-A level, the International League (IL) and the Pacific Coast League (PCL). ...
for the
Rochester Red Wings in the
International League. Shelton quit when he realized he would never become a major league player. "I was 25. In baseball, you feel 60 if you're not in the big leagues. I didn't want to become a Crash Davis", he said.
He returned to school and earned a
Master of Fine Arts in sculpture at the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
before moving to Los Angeles to join the city's art scene. However, he felt more kinship in telling stories than in creating performance art. His break into filmmaking came with scriptwriting credits on the films ''
Under Fire'' and ''
The Best of Times''.
According to
Justin Turner
Justin Matthew Turner (born November 23, 1984) is an American professional baseball third baseman for the Boston Red Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dod ...
, the bull in right field that was hit for a home run in the movie is actually in left field at
Durham Bulls Athletic Park
Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP, pronounced "d-bap") is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue ...
.
Production
According to Shelton, "I wrote a very early script about minor league baseball; the only thing it had in common with ''Bull Durham'' was that it was about a pitcher and a catcher."
That script was titled ''The Player To Be Named Later''; a single anecdote from that script made it into ''Bull Durham''.
For ''Bull Durham'', Shelton "decided to see if a woman could tell the story" and "dictated that opening monologue on a little micro-recorder while I was driving around North Carolina."
Crash was named after
Lawrence "Crash" Davis but was modeled after Pike Bishop, the lead character
William Holden
William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...
played in ''
The Wild Bunch
''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on th ...
'': a guy who "loved something more than it loved him."
Annie Savoy's name was a combination of the nickname ("Annies") that baseball players gave their groupies and the name of a bar; she was a "High Priestess
hocould lead us into a man's world, and shine a light on it. And she would be very sensual, and sexual, yet she'd live by her own rigorous moral code. It seemed like a character we hadn't seen before."
After Shelton returned to Los Angeles from his road trip, he wrote the script for ''Bull Durham'' in "about twelve weeks."
Filming began on October 5, 1987, and wrapped on November 30, 1987, after 56 days of filming. When Shelton pitched ''Bull Durham'', he had a hard time convincing a studio to give him the opportunity to direct.
Baseball movies were not considered a viable commercial prospect at the time and every studio passed except for
Orion Pictures who gave him a $9 million budget (with many cast members accepting lower-than-usual salaries because of the material), an eight-week shooting schedule, and creative freedom.
Shelton scouted locations throughout the southern United States before settling on Durham in North Carolina because of
its old ballpark and its location, "among abandoned tobacco warehouses and on the edge of an abandoned downtown and in the middle of a residential neighborhood where people could walk".
The Imperial Tobacco Warehouse, which is currently owned and has been renovated by
Measurement Incorporated
Measurement Incorporated is an educational testing company based in Durham, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1980 by Dr. Henry Scherich. Measurement Incorporated currently administers state-wide standardized tests for Arizona, Californi ...
, was used as a filming location.
Shelton cast Costner because of the actor's natural athleticism. Costner was a former high school baseball player and was able to hit two home runs while the cameras were rolling and, according to Shelton, insisted "on throwing runners out even when they (the cameras) weren't rolling".
He cast Robbins over the strong objections of the studio, who wanted
Anthony Michael Hall
Michael Anthony Hall (born April 14, 1968), known professionally as Anthony Michael Hall, is an American actor best known for his leading role as Johnny Smith in '' The Dead Zone'' from 2002 to 2007. He also rose to fame starring in films with ...
instead. Shelton had to threaten to quit before the studio backed off.
Producer
Thom Mount
Thomas Henderson Mount (born 26 May 1948) is a former President of Universal Pictures.
Born in Durham, North Carolina, he studied art at Bard College where he received a BA. He received an MFA in Film and Video at the California Institute of ...
(who is part-owner of the real Durham Bulls) hired Pete Bock, a former semi-pro baseball player, as a consultant on the film. Bock recruited more than a dozen minor-league players, ran a tryout camp to recruit an additional 40 to 50 players from lesser ranks, hired several minor-league umpires, and conducted two-a-day workouts and practice games with Tim Robbins pitching and Kevin Costner catching.
Bock made sure the actors looked and acted like ballplayers and that the real players acted convincingly in front of the cameras. He said, "The director would say, 'This is the shot we want. What we need is the left fielder throwing a one-hopper to the plate. Then we need a good collision at the plate.' I would select the players I know could do the job, and then we would go out and get it done."
Reception
Box office
''Bull Durham'' debuted on June 15, 1988, and grossed $5 million in 1,238 theaters on its opening weekend. It went on to gross a total of $50.8 million in North America, well above its estimated $9 million budget.
Critical response
The film was well-received critically. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 97%, based on 71 reviews, with an average rating of 8.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "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." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
According to a ''Los Angeles Times'' poll of 100 film critics, ''Bull Durham'' was the second most acclaimed film of 1988, second to only to the documentary ''
The Thin Blue Line''.
In
David Ansen
David Ansen is an American film critic. He was a senior editor for ''Newsweek'', where he served as film critic from 1977 to 2008 and subsequently contribute to the magazined in a freelance capacity. Prior to writing for ''Newsweek'', he served a ...
's review for ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'', he wrote that the film "works equally as a love story, a baseball fable and a comedy, while ignoring the clichés of each genre".
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
praised Shelton's direction in his review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'': "He demonstrates the sort of expert comic timing and control that allow him to get in and out of situations so quickly that they're over before one has time to question them. Part of the fun in watching ''Bull Durham'' is in the awareness that a clearly seen vision is being realized. This is one first-rate debut".
Roger Ebert praised Sarandon's performance in his review for the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...
'': "I don't know who else they could have hired to play Annie Savoy, the Sarandon character who pledges her heart and her body to one player a season, but I doubt if the character would have worked without Sarandon's wonderful performance".
In his review for ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
'', Steve Wulf wrote, "It's a good movie and a damn good baseball movie".
Hal Hinson, in his review for ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', wrote, "The people associated with ''Bull Durham'' know the game ... and the firsthand experience shows in their easy command of the ballplayer's vernacular, in their feel for what goes through a batter's head when he digs in at the plate and in their knowledge of the secret ceremonies that take place on the mound".
Richard Corliss, in his review for ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'', wrote, "Costner's surly sexiness finally pays off here; abrading against Sarandon's earth-mama geniality and Robbins' rube egocentricity, Costner strikes sparks".
Legacy
''Bull Durham'' was named
Best Screenplay of 1988 by
New York Film Critics' Circle. The film became a minor hit when released, and is now considered one of the best sports movies of all time. In 2003, ''
Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twi ...
'' ranked ''Bull Durham'' as the "Greatest Sports Movie".
In addition, the film is ranked number 55 on
Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies."
It is also ranked #97 on the
American Film Institute's "
100 Years...100 Laughs" list, and #1 on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
' Top Sports Movies
list of the 53 best reviewed sports movies of all time. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' ranked ''Bull Durham'' as the fifth best DVD of their Top 30 Sports Movies on DVD.
The magazine also ranked the film as the fifth best sports film since 1983 in their "Sports 25: The Best Thrill-of-Victory, Agony-of-Defeat Films Since 1983" poll
and #5 on their "50 Sexiest Movies Ever" poll.
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. ''Bull Durham'' was acknowledged as the fifth best film in the sports genre.
In 2003, a 15th anniversary celebration of ''Bull Durham'' at the
National Baseball Hall of Fame was canceled by Hall of Fame president
Dale Petroskey
Dale A. Petroskey (born August 17, 1955) is the current President and CEO of the Dallas Regional Chamber. He is the former Executive Vice President of Marketing for the Texas Rangers baseball club, a former executive of the National Baseball Hall ...
. Petroskey, who was on the White House staff during the
Reagan administration
Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following a landslide victory over ...
, told Robbins that the actor's public opposition to the US-led war in Iraq helped to "undermine the U.S. position, which could put our troops in even more danger."
Costner, a self-described
libertarian, defended Robbins and Sarandon, saying, "I think Tim and Susan's courage is the type of courage that makes our democracy work. Pulling back this invite is against the whole principle about what we fight for and profess to be about."
For years, Ron Shelton has contemplated making a sequel and remarked, "I couldn't figure out in the few years right after it came out, what do you do? Nuke's in the big leagues, Crash is managing in Visalia. Is Annie going to go to Visalia? I've been to Visalia. That will test a relationship ... It was not a simple fable to continue with – not that we don't talk about continuing it, now that everyone's in their 60s".
Actor
Trey Wilson
Donald Yearnsley "Trey" Wilson III (January 21, 1948 – January 16, 1989) was an American character actor known for playing rural, authoritarian-type characters, most notably in comedies such as '' Raising Arizona'' and ''Bull Durham''.
Career
...
, who played Durham manager Joe Riggins, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at age 40, seven months after this film's release.
Awards and honors
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
*
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
– Ron Shelton (nominated)
Golden Globe Awards
*
Best Actress – Musical or Comedy – Susan Sarandon (nominated)
*
Best Original Song
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
– "
When a Woman Loves a Man" (nominated)
Writers Guild of America Award
*
Best Original Screenplay
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...
– Ron Shelton (won)
Boston Society of Film Critics
The Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) is an organization of film reviewers from Boston, Massachusetts in the United States.
History
The BSFC was formed in 1981 to make “Boston’s unique critical perspective heard on a national and internati ...
*
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
– (won)
*
Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
*
Best Screenplay- Ron Shelton (won)
National Society of Film Critics
The National Society of Film Critics (NSFC) is an American film critic organization. The organization is known for its highbrow tastes, and its annual awards are one of the most prestigious film critics awards in the United States. In January 2014, ...
*
Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
*
Best Supporting Actor – Tim Robbins (3rd Place)
1988 New York Film Critics Circle Awards
54th New York Film Critics Circle Awards
January 15, 1989
----
Best Film:
The Accidental Tourist
The 54th New York Film Critics Circle Awards honored the best filmmaking of 1988. The winners were announced on 15 December 1988 and the awards ...
*
Best Screenplay – Ron Shelton (won)
*
Best Supporting Actor – Tim Robbins (4th Place)
Other honors
In 2000, the
American Film Institute placed the film on its
100 Years...100 Laughs list, where it was ranked #97. And in 2008, AFI included ''Bull Durham'' on its
Top 10 Sports Films list as the #5 sports film.
Home media
''Bull Durham'' was originally released on DVD on October 27, 1998, and included an audio commentary by writer/director Ron Shelton.
A Special Edition DVD was released on April 2, 2002, and included the Shelton commentary track from the previous edition, a new commentary by Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins, a ''Between The Lines: The Making Of Bull Durham'' featurette, a ''Sports Wrap'' featurette, and a Costner profile.
A "Collector's Edition" DVD celebrating the film's 20th anniversary was released on March 18, 2008, and features the two commentaries from the previous edition, a ''Greatest Show on Dirt'' featurette, a ''Diamonds in the Rough'' featurette that explores minor league baseball, ''The Making of Bull Durham'' featurette, and Costner profile from the previous edition.
See also
*
Fayetteville Generals
The Fayetteville Generals were a minor league baseball team located in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The last minor league baseball team to play before the Generals were the Fayetteville Highlanders of the Carolina League, they ceased play aft ...
/
Cape Fear Crocs
The Cape Fear Crocs were a minor league baseball team in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
They were a low Class-A baseball team which played in the South Atlantic League, and were a farm team of the Montreal Expos for the franchise's entire tenu ...
/
Lakewood BlueClaws
The Jersey Shore BlueClaws (formerly Lakewood BlueClaws) are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Lakewood, New Jersey, and are named for their locat ...
franchise
*
Carolina League
The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
*
Buzz Arlett
Russell Loris Arlett (January 3, 1899 – May 16, 1964), also known as Buzz Arlett, was an American baseball player, sometimes called "the Babe Ruth of the minor leagues." Like Ruth, Arlett was a large man, and , who began his career as a pitch ...
(then all-time U.S. minor league home run king when this film was released, whose home run record was broken by
Mike Hessman
Michael Steven Hessman (born March 5, 1978) is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman. He is currently a hitting coach for the Toledo Mud Hens. He played in the MLB for the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, and N ...
in 2015)
* ''
Major League''
* ''
Odd Man Out: A Year on the Mound with a Minor League Misfit''
References
External links
*
*
*
*
''Bull Durham'' Turns 20''No, But I Saw the Game''an essay by
Roger Angell
Roger Angell (September 19, 1920 – May 20, 2022) was an American essayist known for his writing on sports, especially baseball. The only writer ever elected into both the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Baseball Writers' Associa ...
at the
Criterion Collection
{{Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film
1988 romantic comedy films
1988 films
1980s sports films
1980s sports comedy films
American baseball films
American romantic comedy films
1988 directorial debut films
Durham Bulls
Films directed by Ron Shelton
Films scored by Michael Convertino
Films set in North Carolina
Films shot in North Carolina
Orion Pictures films
American sports comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s American films