BULL DURHAM: Blu-ray reissue (Orion, 1988) Criterion Collection
Sports movies
are perennial popular. I think it has something to do with our vague and
unquantifiable affinity for sweat-smelling locker rooms and jocks or, in
tandem, our primal urge for competition among – primarily – among men. Yes,
there have been women’s sports movies too. But their proliferation has not been
as great or as distinguished. Kind’a like women’s sports in general. Certainly,
when it comes to America’s beloved favorite pastime – I mean baseball – the
field – both figuratively and literally – has embraced the manlier ilk (with
notable exception paid to Penny Marshall’s exquisite, A League of Their Own, 1992). All the more fascinating, then, to
unearth Ron Shelton’s Bull Durham
(1988); a sports movie whose subtext is all about getting in touch with one’s ‘feminine side’. The procurer of this
seismic intrusion into man country is Annie Savoy (played with sultry aplomb by
Susan Sarandon) – a baseball groupie whose racked up enough innings in the
bedroom to be considered an MVP in her own right. Although, perhaps, Annie’s
prowess has been sincerely overplayed. In fact, her modus operandi is not so
much about banging the latest buck to hit the minors, but hand-selecting the
player with the greatest potential to go on to become a contender in the
majors.
Bull Durham is a decidedly unusual picture. For starters, it is
Annie who does the pursuing, landing the hapless male into her den of iniquity,
only to be taught a life lesson about women in general, and certain social
etiquettes that equate batting average with notches on the bedpost. What she
gives these enterprising young men will last a lifetime. What they give her in
return barely lasts 142 games. But Annie does not consider this a ‘bad trade-off’.
A good ‘ball player’ is one who knows how to swing his bat – literally,
and…well…you know. So, with all due respect, labeling Annie as an oversexed
cougar is a bit much. She has ulterior motives, I suppose – having been ditched
in the dirt by the fella she really loved; just a guy with a passion…for
baseball, that is. Annie’s training methods may have little to do with keeping one’s
eye on the ball. Even so, she has knocked more than one good home run out of
the proverbial park in the past. Batter up and who’s next? Well, Durham Bulls’ rookie,
Ebby Calvin Nuke Laloosh (Tim Robbins) certainly has the potential to be great.
If only he could more strictly hone his modest fame as a minor leaguer into a
springboard for professional gains, rather than to land an ever-increasing
succession of cheap thrills into the sack. Groupies are a dime a dozen. Fellas
who play with their balls too!
Decidedly, Annie
Savoy is not into either of these. Nor is she ready to give up on Nuke’s
adolescent fancies; just an overgrown ‘boy’ who has yet to realize he is already
inhabiting a man body. Time for the mind to catch up to his testicles…maybe. Director
Shelton throws us a few curves in this pleasantly slick and occasionally gritty
comedic gem, devoted to exposing the low shots and high curves in minor league
baseball that develop into something much more telling on the road to the Hall
of Fame. Bull Durham is far more
concerned with the backstory of life on the road than it is with the love of
the game, although there are decidedly moments devoted to this pursuit as well.
Shelton, once a player for the Carolina league, came well-versed to this
project. On the surface at least, Bull
Durham is a rather minor movie, though it steadily reveals itself to be a
far more engrossing commentary about men lacking substance, and the women who
either accept this shortcoming or work like hell to give their menfolk’s heads
a significant shake, thereupon forever changing the chemistry in their win/win
relationship.
Ebby is a
sideline for Annie – a real ‘fixer-upper’. Actually, Annie is desperate to
suppress her true feelings for over-the-hill minor-leaguer, Crash Davis (Kevin
Costner). He might have been a winner in his early days. But Crash did not have
an Annie Savoy in his corner. An injury sidelined his career. Now, all his
cache as baseball’s one-time golden boy is worth is as a mentor to the younger
brood of up and comers. Nurse/maid is the way Crash would put it, his Triple A
contract bought out to hold another player by the Johnson. What the heck? As
the Durham Bull’s coach, Skip (Trey Wilson) puts it, “You can keep working the ball park. Beats the hell out of Sears!”
Crash cannot believe his misfortune – a real head-scratcher. Especially since
he harbors a genuine contempt for Ebby who is clueless and sure to squander his
lead, becoming the sadder but wiser type too late – just like him…maybe. Or
worse. Maybe the kid, as misguided as he
is, actually has what it takes to go all the way. Jealous, jealous, jealous. So,
Crash, for all intent and purposes, is a bitter man. He knows how to play ball
and proves it. But his zest for life in general has grown jaded; the appeal of
women like Annie, more cynical still. Observing his potential ‘competition’
(a.k.a. man in training) Crash cannot abide Ebby’s chutzpah. He’s all fizz and
no cola and proves as much when Crash challenges Ebby to pitch a baseball
square in his chest.
“Go ahead, meat” Crash tells him, “Let’s see that million-dollar arm, cuz I
got a good idea about that five-cent head of yours.” Indeed, when provoked
Ebby is incapable of performing up to snuff. Although he possesses the speed,
he lacks the control to carry it off. Crash quickly lands Ebby on his
celebrated ass in a back alley in front of a gaggle of his fair-weather
friends. It is embarrassing. But even Ebby realizes he has a lot to learn. And
Crash will be the one to teach him – partly. Meanwhile, Annie has her own ideas
about how to improve Ebby’s average. “Sweetheart,”
she tells him in the comfort of her bedroom, “When you know how to make love you’ll know how to play ball.” Ebby
still does not get it. But he is in for a very rude awakening when Annie, after
watching him undress, gingerly binds his wrists to her bedposts, then denies
him the implied reason for his visit.
Instead, she breaks out a copy of Walt Whitman’s The Body Electric, and sultrily coos its erotic verses into his
ear.
The next day,
Ebby arrives to practice looking like eight miles of bad road. Coach Larry
(Robert Wuhl) wants the inside scoop on Annie’s technique. But Ebby confesses,
his exhaustion stems from Annie’s all-night recitation of poetry. Annie has
also given him a nickname, ‘Nuke’. Listening in on their conversation, Crash is
thoroughly unimpressed. Ebby has fungus on his shower shoes. Until he wins
twenty in the show this means he is a slob, not an eccentric edition to their
roster. Next, Crash takes on Annie at the batting cages, confronting her
reputation as a loose gal who collects baseball studs as though they were paper
clips. She corrects him on this misconception after he proposes they make a
pitstop at her place for a little badinage. During baseball season, Annie is
nothing if not monogamous. Her pupil for this season is Ebby – not Crash. He is
unimpressed. “I know women like you,”
Crash suggests with a sly grin. He labels her the patron saint of lost causes,
stray cats or six-foot three-inch homeless studs – too scared to invest her
time or energies on a ‘real man’, lest she quickly discover they cannot be so
easily bossed around. That evening, while making love to Ebby, Annie calls out
Crash’s name. Ebby is unsettled. After all, and despite her protestations to
the contrary, he knows exactly where her mind is – Freudian slip and all.
During a pivotal
moment in the next game, Ebby tries to shake off Crash’s advice about throwing
a fast ball. Crash wants Ebby to pitch a curve instead. Between Crash’s advice
and Annie’s tutelage, Ebby just wants to have a bit of his own back. So, Crash
informs the batter of Ebby’s intensions. The rival knocks Ebby’s pitch out of
the park. Ebby is momentarily stricken with a bout of insecurity until Crash
informs him he told the batter what to expect. As the Durham Bulls prepare to
go on the road, Annie makes Ebby a present of kinky black underwear, telling
him it will definitely improve his game. Alas, the team is besieged by one bout
of bad luck after the next. At one point, Crash promises the boys a rain-out to
spare them the indignation of another lousy match. As no rain is forecast and
there is barely a cloud in the sky, the night before the game, Crash and a
select few of the fellas stage a break-in at the ballpark and deliberately set
off the sprinklers, thereby flooding the field and making it virtually
impossible to play the next afternoon. At the end of their road trip, Ebby has
a nightmare about pitching from the mound practically naked, and Crash quietly
informs him it is quite common and nothing to be feared.
Crash is envious
of Ebby, particularly when he watches from a distance as Ebby and Annie are
reunited. On the car ride home, Ebby confides in Annie. He was lousy. He is
also exhausted. Ebby cannot wait to go back to Annie’s home, make love and fall
asleep. Alas, Annie has other ideas, bringing in her friend, Millie (Jenny
Robertson) to chaperone her latest training session – equating Ebby’s pitching
with the placement of his right leg and left testicle, and vice versa.
Afterward, Ebby is encouraged and revitalized. He propositions Annie, who
instead suggests all his sexual energies should be rechanneled into the love of
the game. That evening, Ebby has an extraordinary run on the mound, demolishing
the opposing team with a string of no-hitters. His improved prowess is
immediately noticed by, Annie, his teammates and his coach. Despite his moment
of glory, Crash informs Ebby he has a long way to go to be a viable contender
for the majors. “Can’t you even let me
enjoy the moment?” Ebby suggests. “Moment’s
over!” Crash cruelly replies. Partly to quell his own jealousies, but
moreover to truly impart on Ebby what it means to play ball with the big boys,
Crash puts his money where his mouth is, hitting a home run. Ebby once again begins to fall hard on his own
beliefs. He sidesteps Crash’s pitching advice. It costs him a no-hitter. Ebby
is confused. Isn’t he good enough to pitch without Crash’s constant badgering?
Reaching something
of a détente in his own mind, Ebby concentrates on following Crash’s lead.
Pretty soon, the Durham Bulls are making a clean sweep of their season, decimating
the competition at Kinston, Winstom-Salem and Greensboro. Throughout their
miraculous turnaround, Ebby has abstained from sex with Annie and this, despite
her joy in watching the Bulls play like major-leaguers, has left her frustrated
and itching for a good time. Ebby confides in Crash he might sleep with Annie,
just to take the edge off. But Crash forewarns that taking the edge off of
Annie can also wreck his hot-wired streak on the pitching mound. Meanwhile, the
Bulls first baseman and part-time preacher, Jimmy (William O’Leary) becomes
infatuated with Millie. Back at Annie’s, her latest attempt at seducing Ebby
miserably fails. The boy has found himself, and not as a stud for hire either.
He promises to return to form in the bedroom, only when the Bulls start to lose
again. Ebby also informs Annie that part of his newly acquired acumen is thanks
to Crash, who has equated a woman’s genitalia with the Bermuda Triangle. “A man could go in there and never be heard
from again!”
Disgusted by the
insinuation she might be the catalyst to wreck Ebby’s career, Annie decides to
confront Crash. The two at last confess their mutual attraction to one another.
Even so, Crash still thinks Annie should leave. It’s the craziest season. The
Bulls cannot lose and Annie cannot win. But the tide is changing. During the
next game, Ebby begins to have second thoughts about his stalemate with Annie.
He is also self-conscious about his father (George Buck) watching him from the
stands. Second baseman, Jose (Rick Marzan) informs the team his ex-girlfriend
has put a curse on his catcher’s mitt. Only the beheading of a live rooster
will break the spell. Finally, the team is perplexed what to get Millie and
Jimmy as a wedding present; the two since engaged. The game is a fiasco, capped
off by Crash calling the umpire an explicative usually reserved for only the harshest
criticisms. Ejected, Crash spends the remainder in the showers – literally. The
Bulls suffer a staggering defeat and Annie gets her wish. Ebby is coming home.
One problem. Her affections have since transferred from Ebby to Crash. Arriving
at Annie’s with his father in tow, Ebby learns he has been drafted into the
majors. Annie and Ebby part as friends. It’s best that way.
But when Crash
learns of Ebby’s good fortune he is even more sullen and condescending. He
tells everyone Ebby is the real deal. While Crash may have brains, Ebby
actually has what it takes to turn his skillset into a career. The two get into
a fist fight. Only this time, Ebby has the upper hand, landing Crash on his
celebrated ass. The next afternoon, the boys reconcile and Crash finally – and
rather sincerely – wishes Ebby good luck. Jimmy and Millie are married on the
field as Annie, the team and the spectators look on. Afterward, she and Crash
hook up for their long-denied flagrante delicto. But Crash is right – the world
is tailor-made for people like Ebby who lack self-awareness. Leaving Annie for
a chance to finish out the season with a rival ball club in Asherville, Crash’s
247th home run – a minor league record-breaker – is barely covered
by the press. Meanwhile, Ebby has gone on to become baseball’s golden boy of the
moment; a superficial and fleeting victory at best, but one that decidedly
suits his temperament. Both sadder and wiser, Crash suddenly realizes that to
be Annie’s man is not such a bad trade-off for surrendering his own dreams of
ever staging a comeback.
Bull Durham is about so much more than baseball’s quaint and
occasionally bizarre superstitions and rituals. With his insider’s wit, then
first-time director, Ron Shelton has thrown a formidable curve ball into this
deft dramedy with a soul, as vibrant and enriching as any of the truly great
sports movies gone by. There are big laughs here, but a lot of soul-searching
too with even the minor characters afforded their opportunities to truly shine
and contribute to the milieu. Think about it. What other sports movie of any
generation has introduced the likes of William Blake and Walt Whitman to an
otherwise seemingly straight-forward tale about a sex-starved groupie and the
two men of diametrically opposed intellectualism, destined to imprint her
life’s work – shaping ball players – with all the passionate fire, music,
poetry and meaning that, thus far has been lacking in her life? And it is to
Shelton’s testament as both Bull Durham’s
director and screenwriter, the script crackles with great dialogue, never
overwritten or re-purposed in clichés from other baseball movies, but finding its
own colophon as the ‘go-to’ for all sports-themed movies yet to follow it.
I am decidedly not loving Criterion’s Blu-ray reissue
of Bull Durham for the simple reason
the tired palette derived from the old MGM/Fox Blu-ray release from 2009 have
been replaced with a harsh-leaning teal bias that is decidedly not in keeping
with the original spectrum of colors. Sorry, but I remember Bull Durham rather clearly and never before
did the Bulls wear teal jackets, jerseys and baseball caps. Ugh! I sincerely
thought we were over this hump of controversy after a goodly array of vintage
Fox Cinemascope classics began turning up in hi-def two years ago, looking as
though some incorrigible graduate from film school, with tons of technical
savvy but virtually no concept of how these movies originally looked, had been
tinkering at the controls. But no – it’s 2018 and here is Bull Durham with a seismic shift in colors – tonality and density –
neither favoring the original theatrical experience. This reissue is advertised
as a restored 4K digital transfer, supervised and approved by Ron Shelton no
less. Either Shelton has selective memory, or he signed off on this new scan
before it was ported over to disc. Image
framing is another revelation – but in a good way, with decidedly a lot more
information on the left and right sides. Despite a maxed-out bit rate with
improved contrast and film grain appropriately placed, color variance is still
the worst transgressor. One need only take a glimpse of Tim Robbins Motley Crue
shirt to know something is decidedly amiss here; its original fire-engine red
background turned raspberry. This is just wrong – period!
As before, Criterion’s
reissue contains two alternate soundtracks: the original 2.0 or 5.1
reimagining, both in DTS. Naturally, the 5.1 sports more subtly nuanced
dialogue and SFX. But the 2.0 was good enough for the theater and frankly,
sounds pretty good here too. Criterion
has rectified at least one previous sin – finally, including extras on the
Blu-ray; two audio commentaries – the first, from 1998, featuring Shelton, the
second, from 2001 with stars, Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins. From 2008 we also
get ‘The
Greatest Show on Dirt’ – an appreciation featuring numerous sidebars
from players, broadcasters and sports/film aficionados. ‘Between the Lines’ is 30
minutes from 2001, another compendium of interviews with Shelton, his cast and
others from the sidelines waxing affectionately about the movie. Criterion has
also added 4 min. from a 1991 broadcast of ‘Today’ and a 1993 snippet
from NBC
Nightly News covering the final season of baseball in North Carolina’s
Durham Athletic Park, slated for demolition. This leaves ‘Going
to the Show’ as the only ‘new to
Blu’ extra, exclusively produced for Criterion this year; a 19-minute
love-in between Shelton and film critic, Michael Sragow. Bottom line: I
wouldn’t pitch your old MGM/Fox Blu of Bull
Durham just yet. While the Criterion improves ever so slightly in contrast
and framing, its colors are waaaaay off. Judge and buy accordingly.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
3
EXTRAS
3.5
Comments