Bull Durham (1988): A baseball classic that boasts of one of the best movie love triangles

By Sreejith Kamalanayanan

Bull Durham is a 1988 movie that I first watched in 2018. This Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins movie has aged beautifully. 

The movie begins with the voice of Annie Savoy, the lead character played by Susan Sarandon. She is kind of a spiritual person who considers baseball as her religion. " I believe in the church of baseball," she says.

Savoy picks a baseball guy every year as her lover. Savoy says she makes these boys feel confident and they make her feel safe. She chose baseball as her religion as there's no guilt in it, unlike Christianity. Thus she doesn't feel guilty for sleeping with the baseball boys.

Ebby Cavin Laloosh is the guy Savoy has chosen as her lover the current baseball season. 

Tim Robbibns as Ebby

But there's another guy who she is attracted to as well: "Crash" Davis played by Kevin Costner. Savoy would have chosen Crash had not he walked out on her after delivering a great speech about the things he believes in.

Crash regrets his decision of walking out on her and asks Savoy to make love with him. But she says she had already chosen her 'annual lover.' Savoy makes love with Ebby and also flirts with "Crash."

What ties together all the three characters is the minor league baseball team Durham Bulls. Ebby is a pitcher in the team hoping to make it to the major league. Everyone says he has got a 'million dollar arm' but lacks the discipline and control.

Durham recruits "Crash" Davis to mentor the rookie Ebby and make him fit to qualify for the majors. Crash and Savoy shape Ebby into a better baseball player in their own separate ways.

Bull Durham's love triangle is one of the most complex triangles in movie history. In one way we can say Crash and Savoy are parental figures to Ebby. 

In another interpretation, Ebby can be seen as an object of desire for both Savoy and Crash. There are many scenes that builds the homo-erotic tension between Crash and Ebby.

Bull Durham is a well directed sports movie which clearly know about its characters and the game of baseball. The baseball sequence are filled with realism and an energy that make the movie enjoyable even to someone who don't know the game. I'm not a sucker of baseball but I loved the movie.