In Bang the Drum Slowly, directed by John Hancock and scripted by Mark Harris (based on his novel), the very young Robert De Niro plays Bruce Bearson, a dying athlete, a journeyman big-league catcher who has contracted the Hodgins’ disease.
Grade: B
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Theatrical release poster
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Vincent Gardenia received Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as Dutch Schnell, but did not win.
Arguably, the best performance is given by Michael Moriarty as Henry Wiggen, the team’s star pitcher, who becomes close with Bruce when he learns of his fatal illness and fights so that Bruce will not be sent to the minors.
This movie, which occasionally slips into sentimentality, celebrates male friendship, manifest here in the camaraderie among all of Bruce’s teammates, who continue to support him and make him feel good; for a while, Bruce’s playing even improves.
Spoiler Alert
The team eventually wins the World Series, but Bruce returns home to spend his final days with his parents. Parting ways at the airport, Bruce asks Henry to send him a scorecard from the Series, which Henry claims that he never did.
In the last, affecting sequence, Bruce dies, and Henry is the only member of the team to attend his funeral, serving as a pallbearer. While visiting Bruce’s grave, Henry vows, “From here on in, I rag nobody”.
The move offers a rare, highly infomred look at the imnner workings of baseball, and despite some updatng of the text and characters, it is still remarkably faithful to Harris’ novel which was published in 1955.
In the same year, De Niro appeared in Scorsese’s popwerful breakthrough movie, Mean Streets, A year later, De Niro would become a major star, after winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Coppola’s The Godfather, Part II (1974), in which he played the younger version of Brando’s character.
Bang the Drum Slowly was inevitably compared with Brian’s Song, a 1971 ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer, focusing on his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams).
My Oscar Book:
Oscar Nominations: 1
Supporting Actor: Vincent Gardenia
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
The winner of the 1973 Best Supporting Actor Oscar was John Houseman for The Paper Chase, in a contest that included Jack Gilford in “Save the Tiger,” Jason Miller in “The Exorcist,” and Randy Quaid in “The Last Detail.”
Gardenia would be nominated again for Best Supporting Actor in 1987, as Cher’s father in Norman Jewison’s Oscar-winning romantic dramedy, Moonstruck.
Cast
Robert De Niro as Bruce Pearson
Michael Moriarty as Henry Wiggen
Vincent Gardenia as Dutch Schnell
Phil Foster as Joe
Heather MacRae as Holly
Ann Wedgeworth as Katie
Tom Ligon as Piney Woods
Danny Aiello as Horse
Selma Diamond as Tootsie
Barbara Babcock as Team Owner
Patrick McVey as Bruce’s Father
Marshall Efron as Bradley
Credits:
Directed by John Hancock
Screenplay by Mark Harris, based on “Bang the Drum Slowly,” his 1956 novel
Produced by Maurice Rosenfield, Lois Rosenfield
Cinematography Richard Shore
Edited by Richard Marks
Music by Stephen Lawrence
Production companies: ANJA Films, BTDS Partnership
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date: August 26, 1973
Running time: 96 minutes
Budget $1 million
