Bang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 American sports drama film directed by John D. Hancock based on Mark Harris's novel Bang the Drum Slowly, which follows the friendship between a star pitcher and his terminally ill catcher on a fictional Major League Baseball team.
At spring training, Dutch is preparing to release Bruce in favor of a hot young prospect, country boy Piney Woods.
Knowing that he is dying, Bruce wants Henry to change the beneficiary on his life insurance policy from his parents to his girlfriend Katie.
The team eventually wins the World Series, but Bruce returns home to spend his final days with his parents.
The filmmakers also used the walkway that connected the Mets clubhouse, dugout, and the TV studio that was the home of Kiner's Korner post-game show for the singing scene.
The Opening Day/band clips came from Major League Baseball (MLB); they were recorded before the fourth game of the 1969 World Series at Shea.
Wide crowd shots are from a regular season game, and MLB films also provided clips of Tony Pérez (from the 1970 World Series) and Brooks Robinson hitting.
Baseball-game action clips starting at 01:21 are from MLB films; they are from Yankees and Mets games in 1970 and 1971 – Danny Cater (10), shortstop Gene Michael (17), hitter Jerry Kenney, catcher Thurman Munson (15), and runner Bobby Murcer (1) can be seen.
"[4] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety said, "John Hancock's second feature directorial effort is very good in sustaining credible melodrama in the story of a dying baseball player and his pal.
"[5] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film three stars out of four and stated that it "does offer considerable entertainment, will provide at least a few sniffles, and does have a human center.
Its best moments are not the maudlin, heart-tugging passages of dialog laced with mournful piano, but the locker-room antics of the baseball team itself.
"[7] Conversely, Gary Arnold of The Washington Post declared that "I found it a disappointing picture, flat and banal and not nearly as effective as the television movie 'Brian's Song,' with which 'Bang the Drum Slowly' is bound to be compared.