Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty star in this superbly crafted film about the unlikely friendship between two baseball players. Michael Moriarty plays the team's ace pitcher and social charmer; De Niro is the farm boy from Georgia who lacks all of Moriarty's sophistication - he is also dying. During their last season on a team fraught with bickering and infighting, the two men grow in manhood and respect for themselves and each other. BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY is moving without being sentimental, and laden with tenderness, humor, honesty, and brilliance in both action and direction.