Regular Price $9.98

Starring: Michael Moriarty,  Robert De Niro,  Vincent Gardenia,  Phil Foster,  Ann Wedgeworth, 
Directed By: John D. Hancock, 
Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Release Date: 1973
Studio: Paramount
Format: Anamorphic,  Closed-captioned,  Color,  DVD-Video,  Widescreen,  NTSC, 

Editorial Reviews and DVD Information about Bang The Drum Slowly

Product Description
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.

Amazon.com
Only those with ice water in their veins won't get misty-eyed watching this moving film about the friendship of two professional baseball players, one of whom--in every sense--is playing his last season. A pre-stardom Robert De Niro portrays a rather simple-minded rookie catcher who comes under the wing of a veteran pitcher (Michael Moriarty). When De Niro's character is diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease, Moriarty tries to help him get through one more season. Directed by John Hancock and based on the novel by Mark Harris (who also wrote the screenplay), the film builds on baseball's ability to foster its own lore of courage, nobility, loyalty, and--sadly--tragedy. Watching the youthful De Niro and Moriarty, with all that promise in their bones, adds to the overall romance of the film today. Also appearing are Vincent Gardenia and Danny Aiello. A perennial favorite for many. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews for Bang The Drum Slowly

lost gem
bang the drum slowly is one of the few movies that lives up to the book. deniro/moriarty. wow! this is a slice of the majors before a backup catcher was a millionaire. and a 20 game winner sells insurance on the side. the concept of "TEGWOR," (the eternal game without rules) is machiavellian by way of jocks playing cards and playing the fans. it's true to a wince. this movie is the equal of bull durham and almost matches field of dreams. a true comedy in the classic sense.

bob auler,
author of KEEP AND BEAR ARMSBang The Drum Slowly

Bittersweet Baseball
To say the book and this movie is not really about baseball is not quite right. Yes, it is about more than just baseball, but baseball provides the rhythms, the spring, summer and ultimately the winter for us all. Baseball is the only major sport where time is not a factor, it can be played into infinity. That said, the cut aways from the actors to the real ballplayers was pretty well done. I did think it was strange for the Yankees to be playing the Reds and the Pirates. I wish DeNiro had spent as much time on baseball as he did on the accent. Also, Harris wrote four books with Henry Wiggins as the main character, from rookie to veteran on his way out. I highly recommend his books. "From now on I rag nobody." Good words to live by.Bang The Drum Slowly

Great
I Bought this as a present for my father and he was thrilled to get it for Christmas. It was on-time and packaged well.Bang The Drum Slowly

Di Niro comes to bat
Bang the drum slowly is a great movie. Robert Di niro was unknown at the time, dominates the movie, the rest of the cast do a great job. Barbara Babcock is beautiful. This film is a sad film, except the Baseball part wich includes highlights from real games fans will remember the players. There are people who hate Baseball that love Bang the drum slowly.i agree with the comparison to Brians Song. i like Bang the Drum slowly better,because of Di Niro.Bang The Drum Slowly

More About Real Friendship Than Baseball
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.Bang The Drum Slowly

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