I saw this when it was released in 1973. I did not know anything about DeNiro, Moriarty, or Mark Harris but I am a lifetime baseball lover and fan as is my wife. We were accompanied by a couple who also loved this production and none of had ever heard a word about it. It captures the feeling of baseball from the opening jogging scene throughout despite the fact that is not really about baseball as much as it's about dying. I also played baseball from age 12 to 18 and went to numerous games. I agree with all the favorable reviews and many of the disparaging ones as technical points are often well taken. Mark Harris wrote four books about baseball and Henry Wiggens; The Southpaw, this one, A Ticket for a Seamstitch, It Looked Like Forever as well as a collection of essays one of which I may have read as it is about his life long love of baseball and the making of the movie. Each of his books tells a story about humanity with baseball as an underlying theme. The essay on the movie mentions that it was partially financed by a reader who loved the story, none of the stars were baseball experienced but worked very hard to be convincing and I believe they captured the essence of the book preserving the humor and the Ring Lardner flavor.

From the eye-catching novel by Mark Harris, the narrator and protagonist Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty) often used that repeated quote, "Lay it on thin boys." He takes a great caring for his ailing teammate Bruce Pearson (Robert DeNiro)with the insecure belief that his teammates of the fictional team, the New York Mammoths might overdo their sympathy after mistreating the poor man for so many years. "Bang the Drum Slowly" truly defies the "Diamond in the Rough" film that was seen by so few, but respected by those honorable few. Though more of a drama than a baseball movie, we seldom view the chronicle pain of DeNiro's Pearson. Films centered around a dying protagonist often throw it high on the melancholy. Why should we go through such excruciating pain as to sit back and weep ourselves to death during this hour and forty minute film? There's no point to it at all. We don't have to watch our dying victim suffer for the film to carry on, this film is a breath of fresh air as Pearson, though dying, decides to keep his illness as low-key as possible. That could make this tear-jerker a little less tearful.The performances were overall above average. The young DeNiro gives poise and charisma as the simple, but kindred spirited farm boy. Moriarty so talented and so underrated throughout his career is wonderful in his role as a star pitcher, wheeler and dealer and acting brother to his dying friend and teammate. Vincent Gardenia is remarkable as the straight man manager of the Mammoths who are poised with talent, though their personalities are quirky and inner problems.Bruce's intention was to keep his illness secretive, but the secret unfortunately leaks out to the club an in the end, though a bit predictable, manages to pull the team together.The glue that held this movie together is the power of friendship between Wiggen and Pearson which also usurps the illness that's victimizing poor Bruce. It's not all serious though, so tissue papers are not a necessity. In fact, there's plenty of humor to go along on the ride. And the dramatic scenes compliment which makes this film all the more memorable. And when the narrator says the final lines in to finish the movie, you'll remember it for a long time to come.

"Bang the Drum Slowly" is among the best baseball movies. For my money, it might be the very best. Its story is simple - Henry Wiggen, the intelligent and savvy ace pitcher of the New York Mammoths, learns that his best friend on the team, simpleminded, kindhearted catcher Bruce Pearson, has terminal cancer and a year to live. A baseball season to live.This is a story about friendship and about being a decent human being. It's about how, as Bruce laments, there's just no sense to his death. The movie is built around a baseball season, and it's certainly a baseball movie, but it's a rare sports movie where the human drama isn't clichéd and predictable but actually makes the film. The baseball elements are well-done, to be sure, the teammate's show a realistic mix of cockiness and genuine concern for a teammate, and the plot involving the manager's spirited investigation of Bruce's off-season activities, not yet knowing he was at a cancer hospital, is funny and realistic at the same time. However, the reason to watch this is the simple but powerful human drama - the baseball season can't help but take a back seat to that.Aside from the stellar story, this movie is memorable for the acting. Of course, Robert Deniro gives an excellent performance in a role that's quite different than what he'd become known for. But Deniro as the kindhearted, simpleminded Pearson really shows off his range. As overlooked as the film itself is Michael Moriarty's top-shelf performance as Wiggen. While Moriarty evidently has less range (he plays Wiggen much as he would play Ben Stone in Law & Order two decades later, right down to calling everyone "sir") Moriarty's intelligent, noble and soul-searching demeanor is naturally perfect for the role. And I can't forget to mention Vincent Gardenia as manager Dutch Schnell. Playing any other character, Gardenia's work here would have been absurd, but his zany acting is totally appropriate for a famous baseball manager, a line of work where flamboyant, over-the-top behavior is essentially a job requirement, regardless of what era of baseball you're talking about.While I don't know if we could ever definitively determine a "best" baseball movie, because a lot of it comes down to personal taste. But for me, "Bang the Drum Slowly" is everything I want in a baseball movie. I think any fan of the game owes it to themselves to check this film out if they have the chance.

This movie,"Bang The Drum Slowly", is about much more than a baseball season. Similar stories have been set in other locations, among other groups of men. The field hands in a bunkhouse in "Of Mice And Men", or the military barracks in "The Hasty Heart". These are all stories about friendships among men, at a time when those men need those friendships.When Michael Moriarty learns his friend Robert De Niro is incurably sick and will soon die, he makes a decision to give his friend a final season of friendship and support. These men talk half-bright teenager among themselves, and then try to sound like sports-interview aces in formal situations. Note Moriarty's awkwardness in refusing to have an unwritten clause about not trading De Niro away from the team: "No verbal words. Must be wrote." He is equally awkward, and must move cautiously, in persuading the other players to help, and to keep mum when symptoms of the illness appear. Eventually, everybody is in on the effort to help. De Niro is welcomed into the TEGWAR games, and into the glee club. The team doctor is in the dugout at every game. The patient is able to hold up his end as catcher when the rotation brings him up to catch a game. At bat, it seems his best play all year is to hit a good solid triple and come into third standing up. In what turns out to be his last game, his team-mates see the trouble coming. The first baseman dashes in and snags a pop fly that De Niro can no longer handle himself.In his final monologue, walking away from De Niro's graveside, Moriarty gives what could be considered a strong contender for the best curtain line ever: "From here on in, I rag nobody."