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.

"Bang the Drum Slowly is the best type of film. It is engaging while you are watching it, and you still think about it days after you last saw it. Solid acting and a well-written, theme-laden story immediately snag the audience's attention.

The film is humble in the scale of its focus on baseball and friendship, but the snapshots of romance, family and business add an emotional element to the story that would not have been there if the two main themes were stuck to. DeNiro and Moriarty do a great job with the two main characters. DeNiro does a great job aside from occasionally lapsing from a Southern GA accent to his typical NY Drawl (really, this is only evident a few times). Moriarty gives his character many facets as an all-star pitcher and an estute business man, but his facial expressions seem to be to stoic to me to really convey his emotions- the character is still very effective.

In addition, I enjoyed the little things about this film. The music, use of slow motion, and well-placed comic relief were all used masterfully in this film. To close, a great baseball movie, and a great movie overall."

"A masterpiece of Americana. Bang the Drum Slowly is quite possibly the best baseball film ever. It rivals Sayles' 8 Men Out and Field Of Dreams and stands alone as a very complex and emotional portrayal of a sick man playing out his dream.

Robert DeNiro plays a somewhat reserved character in comparison to his Scorsese roles, and succeeds alongside Michael Moriarity in relaying the deft emotion constructed between the two baseball players. Sports films are always either horrible or excellent (Celtic Pride and Bad News Bears respectively) and this film is far beyond any rote definition of excellency."

"This film about life behind-the-scenes in professional baseball is really quite good even though all baseball fans know the story and the team are fictitious. Here we all get to see the career of Robert DeNiro as it was just beginning to bloom. But what about the career of Michael Moriarty? What ever happened to him?"

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Bang The Drum Slowly

Format: VHS.
Rating:
Starring: Robert De Niro, Michael Moriarty.
Director: John D. Hancock.
Year of Release: 1973.