Ron Shelton on the Making of BULL DURHAM

An excerpt from an interview moderated by critic Michael Sragow, available on our release of the film.

[@markelijio6012]

That's the cool and outstanding Ron Shelton on the making of "Bull Durham." The 1988 sleeper hit which earned him an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay in 1989. This is his only nomination to date.

[@prizm2807]

Just bought this as my first Criterion Collection Blu-Ray Edition movie. My all time favorite baseball movie next to League of their Own and Sandlot

[@dnasty312]

My #1 too! I've *The Sandlot* #5 and *A League of their Own* #7

[@alexblock3091]

White Men Can't Jump is flawless at comedy and sport. This film was great too! Can't wait to get it

[@thevoid99]

i hope that comes to the criterion collection with some insight about why the film is so loved by many including filmmakers such as stanley kubrick and terrence malick who both cite it as one of their all-time favorite films.

[@alexblock3091]

thevoid99 Yes it is a masterpiece, Kubrick loved it, Malick didn't love that film....but he did love Zoolander which is also good

[@bensimpson9175]

“I’m takin’ him dooowntown.”

[@1997residente]

I have one question...why is kevin costner so related to Baseball?

[@MrGageHarrison]

1997residente just like he said baseball is hard to make look good on film. Any baseball player will be able to pick out 100 different wrong motions with a swing or the way he throws. Costner grew up around baseball and is a great actor.

[@michaelmilsom9518]

Costner played through High School in through Southern California which is a definite hot bed for baseball. Even the high school stadiums are something and the games are well attended by the community. He was good enough to try as a walk on when he went to College in his first year but didn't make the team. In his defence, to earn a spot on the roster at CSUF is a rare accomplishment. I am quite sure that just as any Canadian boy is comfy on an ice pad, or a Mexican boy is comfy on a soccer field.. Costner is at home on the ball diamond. Bull Durham is an incredibly authentic film that very accurately depicts the brutal realities of making 'it' to the majors. Essentially, in the first office scene, when Crash, rants "..while my Triple A contract gets bought out so I can hold the hand of the flavour of the month!" While they are all pros, at Triple A, he is at a tier of play that is just a breathe below the majors. These 15 guys are considered easily swappable should someone on the 40 team roster get hurt. At the time of the movie (1987), The Durham Bulls were a single A club in the Carolina League. Still excellent baseball, but the players are considered to have issues to work out before they are ready for the big stage. So, essentially, Crash got sold from his Triple A team to a Team that sent him to Single A to mature a kid with "a million dollar arm and a 5 cent head". As soon as this task was done, they didn't promote him within their organization or keep him. They didn't even try to sell his contract to another team. They just released him as they deemed he was no longer of value as a player to them in favour of a young catcher hitting 300 that they wanted to bring up. The fact that Crash still found a way to to close out his career as a player and hold on to the glimmer of hope that 'perhaps' there might be a minor league coaching job all the way out on the west coast next year is a true testimony of his strength of character and the love he has for the game.