America's gooey love affair with it's national pastime is well documented, and nowhere more so than in the annals of cinema. Yet, despite a few home runs here and there (Field of Dreams is just perfect), Baseball movies all too often get caught out by their own rose-tinted nostalgia - the crack of the bat, the smell of the glove, the love of the game - that bares little resemblance to the reality of multi-million dollar contracts, steroid scandals, and twelve dollar beer, that are the harsh corporate reality of the modern sport. Potent it is then when a movie - albeit one from a different era - sets it's stall out with the intention of mining the other side; fading beauty, faded glory, broken dreams, and the little nuggets of disappointment that litter life's stretch somewhere between third base and home plate.
Writer/director Ron Shelton, who made a career out of crafting loglines that begin with "A washed-up, old...", duly received an Oscar nom for this pitch-perfect romantic comedy, loaded with pathos, and taken to yet another level by an arguably career best turn from Costner. Ol' Kev plays Crash Davis, a washed-up, old catcher brought down to Minor League also-rans The Durham Bulls to mentor their mercurial young pitcher 'Nuke' Laloosh (Tim Robbins), a kid possessing a "million-dollar arm and a five-cent head."
The key ingredient here that steers this away from the well-trodden path of seasoned-vet-teaches-life-lessons-to-talented-young-hothead is that they're both in love with the same woman, Annie (Susan Sarrandon), a southern belle cougar and unofficial team mascot who "worships at the church of Baseball," and who every season takes one player as her lover, thereby ensuring that player has his best season ever. Nuke and Crash, so they're informed matter-of-factly over her coffee table, are in try-outs. So the stage is set, with Crash needing Nuke to succeed on the field, but not so much that he loses out to him off the field.
Ever the amiable doofus, Tim Robbins excels in the role of Nuke, mumbling bollox to himself on the mound in a performance that's almost a prototype for the gangly, walnut-brained pillock Will Ferrell has since ground down into a cliché. Sarandon, too, is superb in a role that if handled differently could have thrown the whole movie out of whack, turning a potential tramp into an endearing talisman for her beloved team. But it's Costner who gets all the best scenes as the slightly embittered has-been inching his way to the Minor League home run record, a dubious honor that only really serves to signify that he never really made it in the Majors, or "The Show" as it's known amongst the players. "You've been to 'The Show,' Crash?" the young hopefuls enquire with wide-eyed wonderment. "Yeah, I've been to 'The Show,'" Crash melancholically replies. "I was in 'The Show' for twenty-one days once. Best twenty-one days of my life" he sighs.
But every bit as memorable as the sadness, as Costner's great monologue about the game - "Outlaw Astroturf and the Designated Hitter!" - is the comedy, and the affectionate sending-up of the rituals, litanies, and superstitions. Really, Annie's traditional offering of herself is just as out-there as the Hispanic infielder rubbing rosary beads up and down his bat. When the assistant coach runs out during a time-out to attend a worried looking huddle on the field, he charges up to the news that they need a live rooster to take the curse off of one guy's glove, and that they're worried that they can't come up with a wedding gift for a teammate who is getting married next month. Instead of lambasting them for being ridiculous he looks worried, stands pensive for a moment, and then steadies the ship by declaring: "Alright, we'll see if we can find a registry, or maybe look at a silverware set, or something." A true American classic.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Decent extra features include a DVD copy of the feature, as well as two separate commentary tracks, one from writer/director Ron Shelton and one from Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins. Also included is a making-of featurette and a couple of neat retrospectives.
"Bull Durham" is on sale August 3, 2010 and is rated R. Comedy, Romance, Sports. Written and directed by Ron Shelton. Starring Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, William OLeary, Robert Wuhl, Kevin Costner.
