Bull Durham - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Bull Durham or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Bull Durham

[michele]

The soundtrack song, "When a Woman Loves a Man", is regularly confused with the Percy Sledge song, "When A Man Loves A Woman", written by Charlie Midnight and Dan Hartman. The correct attribution (Bernie Hanighen, Gordon Jenkins and Johnny Mercer) is given in the film credits, but in online sources and on soundtrack and other CDs, the songwriters are incorrectly identified as Midnight and Hartman.

[albert]

When Nuke is giving his interview at the big league stadium after being called up to the majors, he's wearing a t-shirt for the ska-punk band Fishbone. Tim Robbins in real life is a huge fan of the band. Fishbone would also feature in the movie Tapeheads (1988), released later that same year, starring Robbins and John Cusack, who is also a big fan of Fishbone.

[clayton]

Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon first met during the filming of this movie.

[kenzi]

Kurt Russell helped Ron Shelton develop the script and was originally penciled in to play Crash, the part that went to Kevin Costner. After the film was made, Russell was so impressed, he actually wrote fan letters to Costner and Shelton.

[frederick]

As is the case with many baseball films, the actors are using bats that are the models used by actual major leaguers. The character Bobby uses a George Brett model and Jose uses a Chet Lemon model.

[kristina]

As the credits are rolling at the end of the film, there is a picture (which is made to be a shrine) of Yankee great Thurman Munson, who died in a plane crash.

[ava]

Kevin Costner's uniform number was "8", but his baseball helmet number was "20".

[sandra]

Kevin Costner's casting over Kurt Russell as Crash Davis led to several intersections and coincidences between the actors over the next two decades. Both starred as Wyatt Earp in competing projects, Russell in Tombstone (1993) and Costner in Wyatt Earp (1994). They co-starred in 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001). Russell replaced Costner as Ace Woody in Django Unchained (2012), but Russell left the project and the character was excised from the film. Finally, both actors played the father of a comic book character: Costner as Jonathan Kent, adopted father of Clark Kent/Superman in Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Russell as Ego, father of Peter Quill/Star-Lord, in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

[russell]

Real-life couple Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have stated that of all the films they have made during their respective careers, this remains their personal favorite.

[ruby]

Ron Shelton cast Tim Robbins over the strong objections of the studio, who wanted Anthony Michael Hall instead. Shelton had to threaten to quit before they backed off.

[alyssa]

Danny Gans, who had a small role as a third baseman, went on to great fame as a Las Vegas entertainer. Known as "The Man of Many Voices," he had a long-running show at the Mirage Hotel and it was voted top show in Las Vegas for ten consecutive years from 1998-2008. They even named the theater after him. He died on May 1, 2009.

[ray]

Early in the film Kevin Costner's character states that he thinks Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. A few years later he would star in JFK (1991), whose protagonist believes Oswald did not act alone and was possibly a fall guy for the Kennedy assassination.

[toni]

The "big club" is referenced several times during the movie, though it is never made completely clear what major league team the Bulls are affiliated with. At the time of the filming, the Durham Bulls were a Carolina League Single A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. As of 2013, the Durham Bulls are the Triple A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

[michele]

Crash Davis hits his 247th home run to set a minor league record. In 2015, Mike Hessman of the Toledo Mud Hens hit his 437th minor league home run to set a new record. At the time of the movie (1988), the minor league record was 433, set by Buzz Artlett in 1937. Crash would've been closer to the International League record of 257, which was set by Hessman.

[leo]

Grady Little, who was credited as "baseball trainer" in the film credits was actually the manager of the real Durham Bulls of the Carolina League at the time.

[sophie]

When Crash Davis first arrives to the Durham Bulls, he mentions Larry Hockett pitching for El Paso when Crash was batting for Shreveport in the Texas League five years prior. In 1983, there were Texas League teams in the mentioned cities, the El Paso Diablos and Shreveport Captains. Both teams still exist in the Texas League under new names. The Diablos became the Springfield Cardinals, and the Captains became the Frisco Roughriders.

[jeffrey]

When Nuke says, "Annie, I know you're in there, I can hear that crazy Mexican music," the song on the phonograph is 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien'. It is a famous recording by 'Edith Piaf', who is singing in French.

[manuel]

In the first few years after the film's release, Ron Shelton considered where the characters would be, specifically whether Annie would follow Crash to his managing job in Visalia. But now that the actors are over 25 years older, it's apparently no longer under consideration.

[stephanie]

Melanie Griffith was considered for the role of Annie Savoy, but she was busy with Working Girl (1988).