80's Month Day 20: Bull Durham

"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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Today's Movie: Tin Cup

Tin Cup is a 1996 sports/romantic-comedy movie starring Kevin Costner and Rene Russo. Costner has been in quite a few sports films over the years starting in the late 80's and while Tin Cup isn't a bad movie, I don't think it's as good as Field of Dreams or Bull Durham but it's better than say For the Love of the Game.

The plot centers around a former star college golfer named Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy (played by Costner) who never made it in pro golf because his stubbornness, arrogance, and lack of motivation always got in his way. McAvoy now owns a Texas driving range where he works with his friend Romeo (played by Cheech Marin). One day Roy is asked to caddy for golf pro David Simms (played by Don Johnson), but it isn't long before he starts pestering Simms to go for the big shot instead of playing it safe and he gets fired as a result. However, Roy decides he gonna get even, qualify for the upcoming U.S. Open, and beat Simms.

So, then you get the typical ups and downs you kind of expect: Roy seeks the help of a psychologist named Molly (played by Rene Russo) who happens to be Simms' girlfriend and, of course, they fall for each other. He also acts like a jerk to his buddy Romeo who then quits caddying for him, but they make up like nothing happened. The plot is pretty bland throughout a good chuck of the movie until the last 20-25mins. The U.S. open is underway, Roy is battling for 1st place, and everything comes down to the last hole. There is a water hazard near the green and all Roy has to do is play it safe, shoot for par, and go to a playoff. In most films, he would've have learned his lesson over the course of the film and finally play it safe, but not in this case. He goes for the big shot and the ball lands in the water. Stubbornly, he goes for it again, and again, and again, repeatedly hitting it into the water, until he's down to his last ball and he finally hits it onto the green and into the hole. He blew a shot at winning the U.S. Open because of pride and arrogance, but knowing he could make the shot and being determined to do so kind of makes it feel like a win.

Is it a great movie? No, but some of the comedy works and if you like the cast and/or you're a fan of sports movies then you'll probably be entertained.

I give this one a 2.5 out of 5.

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A Look Back At: The Untouchables

"You can get further with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word."

The Untouchables is a 1987 crime film Directed by Brian De Palma, and featuring a strong cast consisting of Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia, Charles Martian Smith, and Sean Connery. Speaking of Connery, he nabbed a Oscar for 'Best Supporting Actor' for his role in the film, and in a movie with solid acting, a really good score, and top-notch cinematography, he still manages to steal every scene he's in.

The film takes place during Prohibition with Al Capone (played by Robert De Niro) running nearly the entire city of Chicago and, opposite him is a Treasury agent named Eliot Ness (played by Kevin Costner) who has sent to stop him. Ness soon builds a team consisting of a beat cop named Jimmy Malone (played by Connery), a rookie fresh out of the Police Academy named George Stone (played by Andy Garcia), and an accountant named Oscar Wallace (played by Charles Martian Smith).
 Early on they successfully raid a Post office warehouse full liquor owned by Capone, who later kills the henchman in charge of the warehouse with a baseball bat as a warning to the other top men working for him. After that initial raid, Wallace discovers that Capone has not filed an income tax return for several years and suggests that Ness try to build a tax evasion case against him, as they likely won't be able to directly tie him to any other crimes. It isn't long before Malone learns of an incoming liquor shipment and, seeing an opportunity to hurt Capone again, the team heads to the U.S.- Canadian border to intercept it. After a shootout with some of Capone's men, they convince a bookkeeper to testify against Capone. But, once they arrive back in Chicago, one of Capone's henchmen kills the informant, as well as, Wallace.

 After realizing that it was the police chief who tipped of Capone, Malone forces him to reveal the whereabouts of Capone's top bookkeeper, Walter Payne. The stakes are further raised that night, when Malone is shot by the same guy who killed Wallace. Luckily, before he dies Malone is able to tell Ness which train Payne will take out of town. Later, at the train station, Ness and Stone find Payne being escorted by several gangsters. Then, a gunfight breaks out resulting in arguably the best scene in the entire film and when all is said and done all of the henchmen have been killed and Payne is taken alive. 
  Payne then testifies at Capone's trial, Ness kills the guy who killed Malone, and Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison. The film ends with a reporter asking Ness what he'll do if Prohibition is repealed, and he replies, "I think I'll have a drink."

Overall, this one is really entertaining from the opening scene to the very end. For me, everything in this movie just clicks, it's up there with some of my favorite movies about organized crime and I highly recommend it. I give it a 5 out of 5.


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...and don't forget to check out my '10 Sean Connery Movies Everyone Should See' list by clicking here.

A Look Back At ‘Field of Dreams’ (1989)

Well, we’re coming up on the World Series, so why not look back at one of my favorite baseball movies?

If you’ve seen this one, then you probably don’t need a detailed recap. However if you haven’t seen this film then I won’t spoil it, because it really is an enjoyable journey. I’ll just offer the setup and some overall thoughts.

Released in 1989, the film stars Kevin Costner as an Iowa corn farmer named Ray Kinsella. One Evening while walking through his cornfield, he hears a voice whisper "If you build it, he will come." After eventually seeing a vision of a baseball diamond in the field, he decides that he has plow down his crops and build a baseball field. Finally one night, after a couple of months pass without anything happening, a mysterious man in a Baseball uniform appears. It turns out that the man is deceased baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson (played by Ray Liotta). He asks Ray if it’s ok to bring others to the field to play, and returns the next night with other deceased players. 

As the film moves along Ray receives other cryptic clues like “ease his pain”, “go the distance” and even the statistics for a player named Archibald Graham, who played one game for the Giants in 1922, on a scoreboard. This takes him from Iowa to Massachusetts to Minnesota and back to Iowa in search for the ultimate meaning to it all. As stated earlier, it’s all about the journey. There’s some good drama, a few surprises, and a really satisfying ending.

It’s a solid, enjoyable movie and I give it a 4.5 out of 5.

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