Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)

Actors: Vincent Gardenia (actor), Michael Moriarty (actor), Robert De Niro (actor), Danny Aiello (actor), Patrick McVey (actor), Barton Heyman (actor), Marshall Efron (actor), Ann Wedgeworth (actress), Tom Signorelli (actor), Richard Marks (editor), Barbara Babcock (actress), Hector Elias (actor), Phil Foster (actor), Nicolas Surovy (actor), Alan Manson (actor),

Plot: 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.

Keywords: athlete, baseball, baseball-movie, based-on-novel, contract-negotiation, friendship, hodgkin's-disease, hospital, insurance-salesman, keeping-a-secret
Genres: Drama, Sport,

Quotes:

Bruce Pearson: Everybody'd be nice to you if they knew you were dying.::Henry Wiggen: Everybody knows everybody is dying; that's why people are as good as they are.

Dutch Schnell: Skip the facts, just gimme the details.

Henry Wiggen: Oh Katie, honey, why don't you get yourself married and raise yourself some exemptions.

Henry Wiggen: See, it was no double birdie.::Mr. Pearson: Double Birdie?::Bruce Pearson: Whereas for, it coulda been a spread eagle.::Henry Wiggen: Probably you've been playing Southeastern Tegwar all your life, but in the Majors the boys all play Western Canadian style. Which, for my money, is much faster. That leaves you free for a Butchered Hog most any time, whereas, uh.::Bruce Pearson: Whereas uh.::Mr. Pearson: Wh, Whereas what?::Bruce Pearson: Whereas, it, uh, keeps you from dropping dead on the board.

Henry Wiggen: These are Fifth and Two. Fifth and Queen.::Joe Jaros: Red Rooster. [long pause, then Tegawar Player lays a 3. Joe slams down his cards] BANJO! Ha-HAAAA! That's the first natural Banjo since the days of Joe Dimaggio in St. Petersburg.::Henry Wiggen: Hey, wait a minute. Fifteen and Fifteen's Thirty-One.::Tegwar Player: Hey, what's the name of this game?::Joe Jaros: Fifteen and Fifteen is Thirty-TWO!::Henry Wiggen: Thirry-T... oh, that's right. [to Tegwar player] That's a Double Honeybees.::Tegwar Player: I'm not too sure if I'm clear on some of these new rules.::Joe Jaros: What new rules? There hasn't been any rules changes since the Black Sox Scandal, 1919. Big League Tegwar's Big League Tegwar known to every big-time ballplayer from Boston to California.

Joe Jaros: Can you beat a Coney Island Tatey?::Bruce Pearson: What about this Double Ace Deucer?::Joe Jaros: I wish ya a lot of luck with it.

Dutch Schnell: [taking Piney's revolver in the locker room] Hand it over. I'm in no mood to see anybody get killed by a buller wound. Piney, I hear you have bullets with it too.::Piney Woods: Yes, sir. They're in the gun.::Dutch Schnell: Why the hell didn't you tell me?::Piney Woods: I didn't think it'd go off. I'm always very careful.::Dutch Schnell: That's what everybody says. That's why the hospital's full of babies.

[last lines]::Henry Wiggen: From here on in, I rag nobody.