Bang the Drum Slowly movie 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 finishes on his own terms.
Bang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 American sports drama film directed by John D. Hancock, about a baseball player of limited intellect who has a terminal illness, and his brainier, more skilled teammate. It is a film adaptation of the 1956 baseball novel of the same name by American author Mark Harris. It was previously dramatized in 1956 on the U.S. Steel Hour with Paul Newman, Albert Salmi and George Peppard.
This version stars Michael Moriarty and a then little known Robert De Niro as baseball teammates. De Niro’s performance in this film and in Mean Streets, released two months later, brought him widespread acclaim. The film was released on August 26, 1973 by Paramount Pictures.
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
Directed by: John Hancock
Starring: Robert De Niro, Michael Moriarty, Vincent Gardenia, Phil Foster, Ann Wedgeworth, Heather MacRae, Selma Diamond, Barbara Babcock, Maurice Rosenfield, Tom Ligon, Hector Elias
Screenplay by: Mark Harris
Production Design by: Robert Gundlach
Cinematography by: Richard Shore
Film Editing by: Richard Marks
Costume Design by: Domingo A. Rodriguez
Set Decoration by: Frederic C. Weiler
Music by: Stephen Lawrence
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: August 26, 1973
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