Man, the Bull Durham story sure has legs. There will be a 15th anniversary screening after all, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, on Wednesday, April 30. You folks in Brooklyn ought to check it out if you can. As would have been the case with the original celebration at the Hall of Fame, before the un-American coward Dale Petroskey put the preemptive kibosh on it, this event will be nonpolitical in nature:
Brooklyn won out because aside from having a more than respectable baseball history, the borough is well connected. Mr. Robbins's publicist, Dan Klores, a board member at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, suggested it as a place to screen the film. Tickets, which cost $10, will go on sale today. Mr. Robbins, Ms. Sarandon and the director, Ron Shelton, plan to attend. Karen Brooks Hopkins, president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, said the event was not meant to be political. "I don't think that people in Brooklyn will mix politics and arts," she said. "I think the film stands on its own merits."The details of the anniversary celebration are in the works, but Mr. Robbins said he did not want a question-and-answer session after the movie. The most political part of the evening may just be that some of the revenue will be donated to the Cooperstown Food Bank.
Mr. Robbins had responded to the Hall of Fame president in a letter that he did not think "baseball was a Republican sport." But asked about the controversy yesterday, he seemed to take inspiration from the film's suggested clichés for ballplayers giving interviews ("I'm just happy to be here; hope I can help the ball club,"), saying he was just looking forward to a night of baseball and film in Brooklyn. "This has nothing to do with politics," he said. "We're just going to screen the movie and enjoy the movie."