"Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring. Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls, it's more democratic" - 'Crash' Davis
80's Month continues with one of my favorite sports movies, the 1988 film Bull Durham starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins.
Costner plays Crash Davis a veteran minor league catcher that has been brought to Durham to help groom the Bulls' young hotshot pitcher Ebby LaLoosh (played by Tim Robbins) into a major-league caliber player. The two get off to a rough start and Ebby initiolly doesn't see the value of the lessons Crash is trying to teach him. Crash tries to get Ebby to stop thinking so much, and to trust the catcher and just throw the pitches he calls for. When Ebby ignores this, Crash tells the opposing player at-bat which pitch is coming next to prove his point. While this learning process is going on, a baseball groupie named Annie (played by Susan Sarandon) who every year chooses one player on the Bulls to be her lover and student, is also thrown into the mix. She ends up choosing Ebby for this year and the combination of her and Crash starts to payoff and by midseason. While Ebby, now nicknamed "Nuke", is turning into a dominant pitcher the relationship between Annie and Crash grows, and it soon becomes obvious that the two of them are a more appropriate match. Ebby "Nuke" Laloosh is eventually called up to the majors, opening up the opportunity for Crash and Annie to get together.
Overall, this one is a really enjoyable movie. It's well written with some good comedic moments sprinkled throughout, and 'Crash' Davis is up there with Rocky and Reggie Dunlop as one of my favorite fictional sports characters.
I give this one a 4.5 out of 5.
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