Bang the Drum Slowly

Bang the Drum Slowly

"The story of a New York pro baseball team and two of its players. Henry Wiggen is the star pitcher and Bruce Pearson is the normal, everyday catcher who is far from the star player on the team and friend to all of his teammates. During the off-season, Bruce learns that he is terminally ill, and Henry, his only true friend, is determined to be the one person there for him during his last season with the club. Throughout the course of the season, Henry and his teammates attempt to deal with Bruce's impending illness, all the while attempting to make his last year a memorable one."


3.5 stars

I may sound like a spoiled little brat here, but it seems like movies didn’t have to be as good 30 years ago to be considered Oscar worthy. There was still a period where an idea could be really fresh because the movie medium itself was still relatively new. In addition, society still didn’t talk about certain things that were taboo, so a movie coming out and dealing with that issue very bluntly was considered a break through. And back then it probably was. But we’re really getting to the point where almost everything has been done, and we’ve seen it all before. That’s why I wasn’t blown away by this movie, but I guess I have to put it in perspective.

The story covers the final season of a dim-witted, Hodgkin’s diagnosed catcher for the ficticous NY Mammoths (basically they’re the Yankees in almost every way; I guess they just didn’t want to or couldn’t get the naming rights). His roommate is the Ace pitcher and all-American pretty boy Author Wiggin (Michael Moriarty). After being diagnosed, Author does everything he can to make sure Bruce (DeNiro) doesn’t get sent down to the minors, even giving up a substantial salary in the process.
I think the movie does a good job of capturing the feel of a major league club house in the 70s. It’s one of camaraderie and mutual respect that is usually left unsaid and mostly manifests itself through good humored ragging. But the movie is very sad. Bruce is ragged on pretty hard in the beginning and only do his fellow teammates start to give him respect when they find out about his illness, so we really don’t know if the care is genuine.

The comic relief comes in the form of the fiery manager who spends half of the movie conducting his own “investigation” to find out where Author and Bruce went during their trip to the Mayo Clinic. Author does a pretty good job of changing the story as he goes to keep the illness a secret as long as possible. As might be expected, the team finally comes together in the end to win the pennant, but a visually ailing Bruce is unable to travel with the team to the World Series. The movie ends pretty abruptly with Bruce dying and then jumping to the cemetery where Author is the only teammate to show up, which may answer the question about how genuine the teammates’ concern was.

All in all though, the movie delivers. We really do end up caring about Bruce and see the true devotion that Author has for him. And DeNiro’s acting is amazing. For those of us that have seen him in Goodfellas, the Godfather, and Analyze That you almost wouldn’t recognize him. He completely transforms himself into a dim witted southerner and he is completely believable. It is almost MORE impressive to me to see him this role after his more famous ones because it shows you just how big his range really is.

If nothing else watch the movie for the titular scene in which a silenced clubhouse listens to Piney Woods (the only teammate unaware of Bruce’s fatal condition) sing the stirring ballad of a cowboy: “Bang the drum slowly, play the pipe lowly / To dust be returning, from dust we begin / Bang the drum slowly, I'll speak of things holy / Above and below me world without end.”