Bull Durham (1988) on Netflix
Crash Davis, a veteran catcher, joins the Durham Bulls to groom rookie pitcher Ebby Calvin LaLoosh. Annie Savoy, who takes one player a season as her project, sets her sights on both.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb7.0/1063,602 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes97%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Durham Bulls, a single-A minor league club, are in the middle of another losing season with small crowds, but they have Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, a rookie pitcher with a strong arm and hardly any control. Crash Davis, a twelve-year veteran of the minors, is sent down from Triple-A to catch him and teach him the craft. Annie Savoy, a lifelong seeker who has attached herself to the Church of Baseball, chooses one Bulls player each season to be her student and lover. She invites both men to her house; Crash declines, saying he has been around too long to audition. Annie gives Ebby the nickname Nuke and works on his mind, while Crash insists the catcher call the pitches.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bull Durham (1988)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ron Shelton cast Tim Robbins as rookie pitcher Nuke LaLoosh over the studio's strong objections: it wanted Anthony Michael Hall instead, and Shelton had to threaten to quit before the studio backed off.
- In 2003, a 15th anniversary celebration of Bull Durham at the National Baseball Hall of Fame was canceled by its president, Dale Petroskey, who told Tim Robbins the actor's opposition to the Iraq war could put US troops in more danger; Kevin Costner defended Robbins and Susan Sarandon.
- Producer Thom Mount hired Pete Bock, a former semi-pro player, as a consultant; Bock recruited more than a dozen minor-league players, ran a tryout camp for 40 to 50 more, hired minor-league umpires, and held two-a-day workouts and practice games with Tim Robbins pitching and Kevin Costner catching.
- Ron Shelton cast Kevin Costner, a former high school baseball player, for his natural athleticism; Costner hit two home runs while the cameras were rolling and insisted on throwing runners out even when they weren't.
- Every studio passed on Bull Durham because baseball movies were not seen as commercially viable; Orion Pictures alone gave Ron Shelton $9 million, an eight-week shooting schedule and creative freedom, and many cast members accepted lower-than-usual salaries because of the material.
- Crash Davis was named after minor-leaguer Lawrence "Crash" Davis but modeled on Pike Bishop, the character William Holden played in The Wild Bunch, described by Shelton as a guy who "loved something more than it loved him."
