Bull Durham

It is the 20th anniversary of one of my favorite movies of all time, Bull Durham. A fantastic movie about struggling to make it, watching others get what you want, and not being where you thought you would be. Some of the greatest movie characters ever. Some of the greatest movie quotes ever. 

Crash: "Well, I believe in the soul, the c*ck, the p*ssy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days."

I'm a believer.

As I wrote in a previous post, I always wanted to play baseball. I wanted to play in the Majors. I wish I had been good enough to try. This movie gave me a view into the life of baseball players struggling their way up, or down, the ladder. Small town life. Women's stockings.

This is the best of the baseball movies, in my humble opinion. Better than Field of Dreams, although that one was more personal for me; better than Bang the Drum Slowly or The Natural; better than It Happens Every Spring or Major League. It is true and honest and charming, like many of my other favorite movies. 

It also brought together three of my favorite actors: Costner, Sarandon and Robbins. Costner may not have made many great movies, but Bull Durham and Dances With Wolves are two of the best. Thelma and Louise is one of my all-time favorites, and Susan was steaming hot in The Hunger. She also gets many brownie points for being in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And Robbins, besides being Sarandon's companion for many years since Bull Durham, made my all-time favorite: The Shawshank Redemption.