Bang the Drum Slowly, written by Mark Harris, based on his novel - Nine out of 10

Bang the Drum Slowly, written by Mark Harris, based on his novel

Nine out of 10

This is a note on the film with the script written by Mark Harris based on his own novel

Although you can find this splendid motion picture on The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list - https://www.listchallenges.com/new-york-times-best-1000-movies-ever-made/list/2 - and it has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting role for Vincent Gardenia in the complex role of the coach of the baseball team The New York Mammoths, the film seems to have been largely ignored, or not acclaimed to the extent it deserves anyway.

Michael Moriarty is outstanding in the leading role of Henry Wiggen aka Author, the star pitcher of the New York team – something of an issue for European and other viewers, except for the fans of the game, would be the fact that the feature does cover and refers frequently to aspects of an activity that we largely ignore in most parts of the world, though America is not the only fan base and they watch it in Cuba, Japan and quite a few other places.

The friend of the pitcher is Bruce Pearson, none other than Robert de Niro, the artist that needs no introduction anywhere in the world for anyone with just a shadow of knowledge about the Screen Trade, and this other member of the Mammoths team is a catcher with talent, though he has not managed for some reason to rise to the expectations so far and due to his condition that we learn about right near the start, he would not have the chance to improve and become a celebrated star.

The young man was diagnosed with the Hodgkin’s disease and this means that he will soon die, making this a tragedy without the bothersome treatment that movies generally get today in Hollywood, and his dedicated, loyal, exemplary friend will not cease throughout the film to try and offer support, help the man who had been challenged even before the terminal illness by the fact that he is not bright, to say the least and remain polite.

Bruce looks like he is eating all the time – again, what he does is unfamiliar outside the Bible belt, the south of America, Trump territory alas, the place where they used to chew tobacco and they are so stuck in the middle ages (not all, but those who vote with the dimwit anyway) that they seem to love a monarch, in the person who keeps boasting about the amendment of the constitution that ‘gives him the right to do anything he wants’…in his silly, troubled and unstable, in spite of his other favorite leitmotif, ‘a stable genius’, which is now the title of an interesting book, in which one of the revelations is that the man went to the most sacred place in the Pentagon, only to insult the generals there, stating that they are a bunch of babies and he would not go to war with them…

Early on, Author talks to the owners and managers of the baseball team about his future with the Mammoths and his extension of the contract and they mention the fact that some players have peculiar, outré demands and it turns out that this one has an even more bizarre request in that he wants an extension that would connect him with Bruce in an unprecedented manner, asking that if he stays, the same goes for Bruce and if one of them is sold to another team, that must include the other.

Those in charge refuse this outrageous provision outright, but then they call Dutch aka wondrous Vincent Gardenia, nominated for his brilliant take on this part, and the coach is tormented by the prospect of losing the pitcher, the catcher or both, considering his options are limited – indeed, he tries to think of other players he would like to have, but comes to the conclusion that he would not have them – and in the end, he says that they should agree to the bizarre demand.

However, they want to know what is going on here, why is Henry so attached to the rather slow and thick catcher and they wonder if they are ‘queer’, in a rather, if not absolutely demeaning way – though we must consider the fact that the film is about fifty years old and the events depicted in it could be even older and the attitude towards those of sexual orientation others than the only accepted heterosexual variety was not just hostile, in cases it could be hurtful both physically and psychologically.

Both Author and Bruce want to keep the terminal illness a secret, but the former tells Horse aka Danny Aiello and instructs him to keep it a secret, only to find that the ‘secret’ would be shared with his roommate and ultimately, more people would know about the dark, horrible future that awaits the catcher and they become sentimental…

In one scene, Dutch is about to lose his temper and composure and seems to find a clever exit from the potentially embarrassing and maybe painful development, by sliding away and maybe pretending that his pity and sympathy, that is about to bring tears to his eyes and make him lose control and who knows, maybe have a breakdown in front of the team of athletes waiting for a game, is in fact destined for himself and not for the soon to die, simple, yet so friendly and easy to take even insults Bruce.

This apparently little known gem appears to have most, if not all the elements of positivity, as identified by Barbara Fredrickson in her classic Positivity – awe, inspiration, amusement, interest, hope, pride, serenity, joy, gratitude and love, though it is a compelling tragedy