Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)

The story of the friendship between a star pitcher, wise to the world, and a half-wit catcher, as they cope with the catcher's terminal illness through a baseball season.

Director:

John D. Hancock

Writers:

Mark Harris (novel), Mark Harris (screenplay)

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Michael Moriarty, Vincent Gardenia

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert De Niro	...	Bruce Pearson
Michael Moriarty	...	Henry 'Author' Wiggen
Vincent Gardenia	...	Dutch Schnell
Phil Foster	...	Joe Jaros
Ann Wedgeworth	...	Katie
Patrick McVey	...	Bruce's Father
Heather MacRae	...	Holly Wiggen
Selma Diamond	...	Tootsie, Hotel switchboard operator
Barbara Babcock	...	Team Owner
Maurice Rosenfield	...	Team Owner
Tom Ligon	...	Piney Woods
Andy Jarrell	...	Ugly
Marshall Efron	...	Bradley
Danny Burks	...	Perry
Tom Signorelli	...	Goose Williams

Storyline

Henry Wiggen (Author to his friends) and Bruce Pearson are members of the New York Mammoths major league baseball team - Author the star pitcher, Bruce the catcher who never quite lived up to his potential - friends, and roommates when they're on the road. During the off season, Bruce is diagnosed with a terminal case of Hodgkin's disease. Author is the only person on the team who knows of Bruce's illness, with neither planning on telling anyone. Author takes extraordinary measures to ensure that he is playing ball with Bruce during what will probably be Bruce's final season before he can no longer play. Author looks after Bruce in part because Bruce is mentally a simple man who can easily be taken advantage of, especially by his opportunistic girlfriend Katie. As the season progresses, the team isn't quite gelling, despite being the best team on paper. But as information comes to light, the dynamic on the team changes to make it a memorable end of the season especially for Bruce, who...

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Plot Keywords:

baseball | teammate | roommate | friendship | terminal illness | 

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Genres:

Drama | Sport

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

12 May 1978 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Das letzte Spiel

Filming Locations:

Clearwater, Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

ANJS, Dibs Partnership, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

To prepare for his role, Robert De Niro went to Florida to watch baseball teams in spring training, then traveled to Georgia and tape recorded conversations to study their accents.

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Goofs

All game action was shot at Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium, but the Mammoths wore their home white and road gray jerseys at both fields.

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Quotes

Joe Jaros: Can you beat a Coney Island Tatey?
Bruce Pearson: What about this Double Ace Deucer?
Joe Jaros: I wish ya a lot of luck with it.

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Connections

Featured in Sports on the Silver Screen (1997)

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Soundtracks

"Home On The Range"
Arr, by Nick Manolff

User Reviews

A Story About Real Friendship

There was nothing hokey overly melodramatic about this story, and usually you get that with a sports story or about a good person dying. In this case, we have a combination of the two.

This is simply a mellow, sweet-natured human interest story well-acted by the two main stars: Michael Moriarity and Robert De Niro. Both are nice to watch, playing very easy-going non-offensive characters.

Moriarty plays a pitcher on a pennant-contending team who lovingly looks after his not-so-smart-but-dying teammate and friend (De Niro). By today's standards, it's slow-moving but I never got bored with it in several viewings. As nice a film as it is, there is one warning: a lot profanity by the manager (Vincent Gardenia) but it's not a kids' movie anyway.

I watched it years ago and then again recently when it came out on DVD. It's hard to get excited about it, yet it's a memorable story that I could never get out of my head. We all wish we had friends like the one Moriarty portrays here.