summary
- Ron Shelton's career transition from baseball player to screenwriter and director was fueled by some early struggles but ultimately led to success.
- Bull Durham was a turning point for Shelton, showing his talent for character-focused sports comedies that were well received by audiences.
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White men can't jump.
Shelton's reputation for revolutionizing sports films was cemented with his unique take on basketball and street culture.
Ron SheltonS's film career began much like his professional baseball career – with a bang. As a second baseman in the Baltimore Orioles farm system, the Montecito, California native found himself in the company of some of the nation's greatest young baseball talent. However, after five years of struggling in minor league baseball, Shelton was unable to achieve stardom and decided to move into a career in screenwriting.As a writer, Shelton suffered from some fits and fits, but eventually found his words being spoken by the main actors when his script was Under pressure at bay It was released on the big screen in 1983.
Despite the lead roles played by Nick Nolte and Gene Hackman, Under pressure at bay to failHis text follows best times He impressed again, this time with Shelton staying put with Sports The film was a comedy. Unfortunately, despite the casting of Kurt Russell and Robin Williams, it was another financial failure. Shelton was beginning to gain the kind of reputation that no one in Hollywood wanted, but he felt that if he could direct his own work, he might have a better chance of finding success as a screenwriter. It was his directorial debut, Paul DurhamShelton's instincts proved correct.
Paul Durham was a huge success and led to Shelton's breakthrough.
A combination of fortuitous events led to Ron Shelton's stunning success in 1988, when he managed to get Kevin Costner attached to his script for the film. Paul Durhama comedy based on Shelton's minor league baseball career. Costner, like Shelton, grew up in California and aspired to play professional baseball but committed to acting after a chance meeting with Richard Burton. He fell in love with Shelton's script, but after the film's success, Costner decided to join the cast. Intangible, Costner's agent at William Morris initially wanted to steer the actor away from Paul Durham.
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At the moment the doors slid open, Costner was about to be cast. All AmericansExcept for a last-minute offer from Shelton to William Morris that secured Costner the role of Crash Davis, a veteran minor league player who finds himself in a love triangle with a teammate. Costner made the right choice, as All Americans I failed and Paul Durham achieved great successShelton took a fresh approach to the sports film with Paul DurhamWhich makes it character-driven and full of sex and romance. Add to that the authenticity that Shelton brings as a director and former football player, Shelton has carved out a niche for himself in the film world as the new face of sports movies..
“White Men Can't Jump” Motivates Shelton's Vision
It just so happened that Ron Shelton had another sport that he was passionate about from an early age: basketball. While Shelton signed a minor league baseball contract to keep the door open for the possibility of playing basketball as well, he never got a professional contract on the court. He had to pursue basketball elsewhere, eventually finding his outlet on the minor league basketball courts of Los Angeles after his baseball career. It was through these experiences that he conceived of a 1990s sports movie: White men can't jump..
Shelton felt there was something deeper in this sporting environment than the professional ranks, and he later expressed his opinion: Grantland“There’s democracy on the court. If you’re a player, nobody cares what you look like. Nobody knows where you’re from. There can be successful guys, homeless guys, unemployed guys, CEOs… On the court, everyone’s equal.” Shelton crafted another script around this idea, casting rising stars Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as two basketball players who frequent the sand courts of Venice Beach, California.
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Shelton effortlessly shifted his sports focus from the predominantly white baseball scene of Durham, North Carolina, to the sometimes violent basketball courts of basketball-mad Los Angeles. An unlikely friendship developed between Sidney Dean and Billy Howell over their mutual desire to make a living from basketball, and the comedic duo of Snipes and Harrelson became icons. Shelton created a new everyman appeal that completely revolutionized sports movies, with the influence that White men can't jump. It was a box office success and demonstrated Shelton's mastery of the sports comedy genre.
Tin Cup and Other Underrated Films by Ron Shelton
It's hard to pin Shelton down as a generational talent.Due to the fact that his films often do not do well at the box office. Such huge failures cup And play it to the bone These films were often the end of Shelton's best work. However, his lesser-known films became more mature. When he teamed up again with Costner in tin cupa story about a professional golfer whose career is over, and both men are on the same level again. tin cup It wasn't a huge success, but it was profitable and answered once again the most important question in sports movies: What is life like for these athletes?
By introducing the romantic comedy element back into sports movies (this time with Major League Shelton, who was a veteran player like Rene Russo, has succeeded in creating an interesting world out of the quiet world of professional golf. The film, like most of Shelton's films, has since become a cult classic..
Ron Shelton's Tough Hollywood Legacy
Ironically, his greatest financial success as a writer may have come when he played the studio game and wrote the screenplay for Bad Boys Part 2Given how his sports films have been copied in the intervening years, Shelton gets little credit for the emergence of this new style. When Kenya Barris rebooted White men can't jump.Shelton was hired to collaborate on the story—but without Shelton at the helm, the attempt at an update simply didn’t work. Shelton’s ability to spot talent and chemistry gave way to a commodified approach that paired rapper Jack Harlow with the largely unknown Sinkwa Wells. The original film’s genius dialogue couldn’t be recreated, and Shelton’s narrative charm gave way to a money-oriented film.
Shelton's inability to maintain financial successes such as Paul Durham And White men can't jump. It would likely cost him a more productive career as a director.However, when he stuck to his talents – merging romance and sports – he changed the history of sports movies, especially with his talent for screenwriting. Speaking of this talent in his review of the film, Shelton said: White men can't jump.Roger Ebert expressed his opinion, saying:[Shelton] “He knows all about adult sports for adult reasons; about how boys' appearances at play can obscure the reality of men at work. In White Men Can't Jump, he introduces both Harrelson and Snipes to women who want their men to be more responsible than they know how to be.” flow Paul Durham on Apple TV+.
