classicsoncall Nominally a baseball movie, this is actually more of a human interest story focusing on the relationship of a couple of teammates who hang together through the thick and thin of catcher Bruce Pearson's (Robert DeNiro) bout with Hodgkin's disease. You never get a clear idea of why New York Mammoth's pitcher Henry Wiggen (Michael Moriarty) takes a shine to his buddy but their loyalty to each other is convincing. I'm not sure if a real life ball player could have pulled off the contract demand that Wiggen did by forcing the owner and manager to agree to his terms for keeping 'Bill' employed, but this was made over forty years ago when money hadn't yet become that big a deal.Now I'd never heard of Big League Tegwar before seeing this picture and I don't know if it was simply made up for the story, but it looks like it could be a lot of fun. With a little creativity you could almost convince a newcomer that the game was on the up and up as long as you didn't get too carried away. But getting too carried away is probably the whole point of it.For DeNiro, this was his last picture before really coming on as an actor with an appearance in "Mean Streets" as Johnny Boy in the same year. After that his career took off like a rocket and is still going as strong as could be. Michael Moriarty, well I never really cared that much for him, probably because I've seen him in too many roles like Hull Barret in Eastwood's "Pale Rider" where he's too much of a doormat. In this picture his character is a commendable sort to stand up for Bruce but his non-aggressive demeanor for some reason bothers me a bit.As for the baseball, there are a handful of scenes to give the picture it's flavor as a sports film, but if you're tuning in that's not the main reason to see it. It's the human drama that takes center stage here in a story that personifies the meaning of friendship and going the extra mile.

wmlopez DeNiro accent changes during his performance. Some scenes he's talking like trailer trash the next like a Italian from the Bronx. This a boring movie. Better to watch the worst MAJOR LEAGUE or BAD NEWS BEARS sequels. They should have used real star ball players from that time they would have improved the movie. They could have had Bench,Rose,Reggie,Seaver,Ryan. But instead we get Yankee uniforms that look like grandma stitched them together. This movie is in need of some pop songs and some sex scenes to give this movie some life. The movie doesn't have the heart of BRIAN'S SONG which also about a dying athlete and his friendship with his team mate.

edwagreen Usually in baseball every pitcher and catcher on a particular team develop some sort of relationship since they need team work to be successful. Such is the story here added with the complication that the catcher Bruce, shyly but beloved character played by Robert De Niro, is dying of Hodgkins Disease. As the dying catcher, De Niro captures a simplicity rarely seen in his acting. It's really a standout performance.Michael Moriarty is the faithful pitcher and Vincent Gardenia received a well deserved supporting nomination as the suspicious manager of the team who hires a detective to find out what's going on between these 2 guys.Inevitably, the team finds out and attempts to come to the rescue of the stricken catcher.This is certainly one of the best of the baseball pictures as in the case of Pride of the Yankees, it explores tragedy and the human relationship among team players than can develop during such adversity.Selma Diamond is on hand as is effective in her brief 2 scene appearance as the sly telephone operator who knows something is amiss.The one disappointment was that when the inevitable occurs during off season, other than the Moriarty character, no one else attended the funeral.

whpratt1 Robert DeNiro looked so young in this picture I hardly recognized him and the role he played is unbelievable. This is however, a good baseball film with many veteran actors giving great supporting roles. In this picture Bruce Pearson, (DeNiro) plays the role of a simple minded catcher who was made fun of by all of the team players except one guy, Henry Wiggen, (Michael Moriarty) who stood by Bruce and gave him all the moral support and good advice to deal with his situation. It seems when the players got off of Bruce's back, he was able to hit home runs and had more pep as a catcher. Henry brings Bruce to the Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis and there was bad news for poor Bruce. Henry agreed not to tell anyone about the findings at the clinic and this is when the story gets funny at times and it hits a rather sad note. Entertaining film and great to see DeNiro just starting a great career on the silver screen. Enjoy