A well-done if depressing film, BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY is a sort of baseball version of "Brian's Song," the TV movie that told the story of the extraordinary friendship between the Chicago Bears' Gale Sayers and Brian Piccolo, who died of cancer. In this film, De Niro is the dying athlete,
a journeyman big-league catcher who has contracted Hodgkin's disease. Moriarty, the team's star pitcher, becomes dedicated to his batterymate when he learns of De Niro's fatal illness and prevents him from being sent to the minors. When their teammates find out, they too belatedly make De Niro
feel like one of the boys, and, surprisingly, his playing even improves. Alas, it's all a little too late.
One of De Niro's earliest roles--the quintessential bumpkin who wears a smiley-face T-shirt under his sports jacket--it's poles apart from the enigmatic loners that later became his specialty. To prepare for the part, De Niro not only practiced with the Cincinnati Reds, but also traveled to
Georgia to perfect his accent. His hard work resulted in a wholly believable performance. Moriarty is also very effective as Henry Wiggen, the central character in a number of baseball novels by Harris, who adapted one of them for this film. Previously done on TV with Paul Newman and Albert Salmi,
this version, under Hancock's fine direction, became one of the best baseball movies ever. Vincent Gardenia received an Academy Award nomination for his supporting work as the team's manager, and Foster is wonderful as a coach. leave a comment
