Stars:
Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Trey Wilson, Robert Wuhl, William
O’Leary, and David Neidorf
Writer:
Ron Shelton
Director:
Ron Shelton
Feature
length: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Extras:
New Audio Commentary With Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins, Brand-New Making-Of
Documentary, Kevin Costner Profile, Sports Wrap, Audio Commentary By Director
Ron Shelton, Photo Gallery, and Trailers
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 and French and Spanish Stereo and Portuguese Monaural
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French, Spanish, and Portuguese
Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case Within A Slipcase
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Stereo Sound, and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1988/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Orion Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Bull
Durham” is one of the best baseball comedies from the 1980s. It features an
Academy Award® nominated screenplay by Ron Shelton, who also directed, and
career making performances by Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon, and Tim Robbins.
The film has a very straightforward premise. Seasoned minor league catcher
“Crash” Davis (Costner) is hired to train young pitcher “Nuke” LaLoosh
(Robbins) and forms a shaky mentor relationship with “Nuke,” teaching him
skills that could increase his potentials and get him into the major leagues.
Then a sexy fan who sees baseball almost like a melding between religion and
quantum mechanics (Sarandon) enters both of the players’ lives creating a
situation that ultimately lead to decisions of commitment to both the game and
to a relationship.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Home Entertainment’s presents “Bull Durham” on DVD-Video with both an
anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) aspect ratio on the dual layered side of the DVD
and a full-framed (1.33:1) presentation on the single layered side of the DVD.
Both presentations are quite good with little to no grain whatsoever and solid
color saturation. Both versions
feature a dynamic new English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack coupled with
French and Spanish Language Stereo Soundtracks and English Captions and Closed
Captions as well as French and Spanish Language Subtitle options. The widescreen
version also has a Portuguese Language Monaural Soundtrack and optional
Portuguese Subtitles. All of the extra features are on the widescreen dual
layered side of the disc. The main menu on both sides feature full motion scenes
from the film, but the widescreen version features three-dimensional animated
transitions. The subsequent menus on both sides are standard interactive still
frames and all are easy navigate. There is an insert with liner notes within the
keep case and the case comes within a cardboard slipcase.
A
new feature length audio commentary track with Actors Kevin Costner and Tim
Robbins is included along with a separate feature length audio commentary on the
dual layered side with writer and director Ron Shelton. Costner and Robins have
a very down to earth conversation where they both share laughs as they speak
about their fondness for the film and mutually agree that the film was a very
important step in both their personal and professional lives. Robbins was a
relatively unknown at the time of the film and Costner was a rising movie star
too. Robbins and Sarandon became romantically linked after the feature and are
still together and all three have gone on to varied careers that has featured
Oscar gold for Costner’s directorial debut “Dances With Wolves” and
Robbins has since established himself as a respected writer and director with
films such as “Bob Roberts” and “Dead Man Walking,” which featured
Sarandon in an Academy Award® winning role. Ron Shelton describes the success
of “Bull Durham” as being a blessing and a curse because since then he has
been frequently asked to remake a film like “Bull Durham.” Even Costner and
Robbins joke about the idea of a sequel, but mutually agree that there are too
many sequels out there on their commentary track.
There
are three featurettes included on the DVD as well, which include “Between The
Lines: The Making Of Bull Durham.” This new documentary has a running time
just short of 30-minutes and features brand new videotaped interviews with Ron
Shelton, Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Robert Wuhl, and players
and former players involved in minor league baseball sharing recollections.
Interesting to note is that Ron Shelton’s inspiration for writing the
screenplay came from his own background as a minor league baseball player. There
are two short featurettes produced around the time of the film’s original
release too. The “Kevin Costner Profile” runs for approximately 2-minutes
while the “Sports Watch” featurette has a running time of approximately
3-minutes. There are four still
galleries as well that cover the “Director & Cast,” “Supporting
Cast,” “Behind-The-Scenes,” and “Posing For The Poster.” There is a
(1.85:1) theatrical teaser and trailer with Stereo Sound coupled with (1.33:1)
DVD trailers for MGM’s “Rocky: Special Edition,” “When Harry Met Sally:
Special Edition,” and “The Terminator: Special Edition.”
“Bull
Durham: Special Edition” will debut on DVD-Video from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home
Entertainment on Tuesday, April 2, 2002.
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.