Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) on Netflix
Henry Wiggen, star pitcher for the New York Mammoths, learns that his catcher and friend Bruce Pearson is terminally ill. Only Henry knows, and he works to keep Bruce on the team.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.7/106,884 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
The New York Mammoths are a major league baseball club with a star pitcher, Henry Wiggen, whom his teammates call Author after the book he wrote, and a catcher, Bruce Pearson, a simple man from Georgia with a thick drawl and modest skill. The two are friends and roommates on road trips. Off the field Henry sells insurance. A clinic in Minnesota tells Bruce he has Hodgkin's disease, and the two drive to Bruce's Georgia hometown, where Bruce burns his baseball memorabilia. Back at spring training the manager, Dutch Schnell, plans to release Bruce in favor of a young prospect, Piney Woods. Henry, who is holding out for a bigger contract, ends the holdout and agrees to a new one on the condition that he and Bruce stay together.
Cast
- Maurice Rosenfieldas Team Owner
- Andy Jarrellas Ugly
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bang the Drum Slowly (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film's game footage is genuine Major League Baseball archive material: the Opening Day and band clips were recorded before game four of the 1969 World Series, and MLB films supplied footage of Tony Pérez hitting in the 1970 World Series and Brooks Robinson hitting.
- The rain-delay scene was not shot for the film: the footage of a grounds crew covering the infield with a tarp came from the 1969 All-Star Game at Washington's RFK Stadium, a game postponed by rain and played the next day, and the audio over it was the voice of longtime Yankees announcer Bob Sheppard.
- The Mammoths wore real 1971 Yankees uniforms, with the "NY" on their pinstriped shirts altered; the production also got uniforms from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox.
