The Crash Davis experience returns to the big screen this weekend

Bull Durham plays at Galleria 6 Cinemas tonight, Friday, and Sunday.

When it comes to baseball movies, it’s hard to top or at least not mention Bull Durham. In the tower of Kevin Costner gems, it’s in the highest tier, even above the one where he plowed through a whole field of corn to plant a baseball field. That’s because it gave the cinema world an introduction to the brilliant poet who happened to be a baseball player: Crash Davis.

Crash was candidly vulgar, but he knew how to make a speech and had a way with women. He preferred the noble but underpaid khakis and open-buttoned white shirt look, infusing it with a haircut that looked like the best kind of hair to find underneath a catcher’s mask. He was classy, yet seasoned and weary. More importantly, he carried a “who gives a shit” swagger to his walk and talk, the look of a guy who had chased his dream around a block too many times.

More poetic and intuitively sincere than most players, Crash could straighten out a garter on his pitcher and tell him to handle a baseball like an egg. He wasn’t afraid to stoop to drastic measures to get a reaction from or a lesson drilled home to his young pitcher, even if that meant telling the hitter what was coming. He also didn’t mind calling an umpire a cocksucker for making a cocksucker call.

Crash was different, and that’s why he and the movie stand above most, if not all, baseball and sports films for me. Director Ron Shelton captured the minor league grind and added a bevy of edgy humor to the proceedings, starting with Costner’s aging pro constantly chirping and roasting Tim Robbins’ talented yet clueless young ace pitcher destined for the Majors. Susan Sarandon’s Durham loyal gets between the two, and we have ourselves a lovely movie.

The late Trey Wilson and Robert Wuhl are the perfect young La Russa/Duncan combo, even if I could never see the real life Dave Duncan suggest candles for a wedding gift during a pitching mound discussion. The comedy and story still play exceptionally well these days, which is good for St. Louis movie fans.

Following The Shawshank Redemption, Shelton’s Bull Durham plays three days this week at Richmond Heights’ Galleria 6 Cinemas, an independently owned theater. Tonight’s show starts at 7pm if you’re needing something to do, but there’s also a Friday morning show at 10:30 and a Sunday matinee at 1:30. Come down, support a local cinema, and see a classic.

Maybe, just maybe, you’ll hit the fucking bull and get a free steak. At the very least, you will remember that one more hit every 25 at-bats helps you gain a respectable batting average, even if it’s a dying quail or groundball with eyes. It’s the little things, like sandals without toe fungus, that make a movie insurmountable against the rigors of Father Time.

Bull Durham has so many of them. Don’t pass a chance to see a sweet, unbridled old fashioned movie. Do it for Sarandon, who could make a caveman chisel on a wall after watching this 80s gem. Who got the girl in the movie, and who got the movie in real life?

Just please, get the lyrics of the song right that you are singing. Crash Davis is coming to town, and he’s a better bet than the St. Louis Cardinals. Heck, they could use him and Duncan right about now. Cut the shit, hit the ball, and don’t be a lollygagger!