UHD Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) 4K UHD Vinegar Syndrome (1 Viewer)

[compson]

Robert De Niro (then 29) plays a major league catcher who’s dying. Michael Moriarty is his roommate and a star pitcher. Vincent Gardenia plays their manager and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. When the movie was released in 1973, Richard Schickel called it “very possibly the best movie about sport ever made in this country.” I’ve seen it several times over the years, and it still works for a softie like me.

The movie has recently been released by Vinegar Syndrome’s Cinématographe label in a set with both a UHD and BD, the product of “a new 4K restoration of its original 35mm camera negative, supervised by director John Hancock.” Except for one instance of briefly visible damage, the 4K looks great to my untrained eye. The discs are housed in a clothbound media book in a slipcase of heavy cardboard. A 1956 television production based on the source novel, with Paul Newman in the Moriarty role, would have been a nice extra but is not included.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Robert De Niro (then 29) plays a major league catcher who’s dying. Michael Moriarty is his roommate and a star pitcher. Vincent Gardenia plays their manager and was nominated for an Oscar for his performance. When the movie was released in 1973, Richard Schickel called it “very possibly the best movie about sport ever made in this country.” I’ve seen it several times over the years, and it still works for a softie like me.

The movie has recently been released by Vinegar Syndrome’s Cinématographe label in a set with both a UHD and BD, the product of “a new 4K restoration of its original 35mm camera negative, supervised by director John Hancock.” Except for one instance of briefly visible damage, the 4K looks great to my untrained eye. The discs are housed in a clothbound media book in a slipcase of heavy cardboard. A 1956 television production based on the source novel, with Paul Newman in the Moriarty role, would have been a nice extra but is not included.

I just ordered it along with Who Killed Teddy Bear?

 

[cinefan]

A 1956 television production based on the source novel, with Paul Newman in the Moriarty role, would have been a nice extra but is not included.

Criterion released that TV production as part of their The Golden Age of Television box back in 2009. It's still available. It's DVD only. A number of the other live 1950s TV productions included in it also have film counterparts (e.g. The Days of Wine and Roses, Marty, Requiem for a Heavyweight, No Time for Sergeants, etc.), so they make fascinating supplements to the movies.

These are rather old transfers of kinescopes but I enjoy them nonetheless, making allowances for what they are. I'm not sure if anything has been done since using newer tools to make them available in improved quality. They were originally put together for a PBS series back in the early 80s and this set includes the intros from that series, many with input from folks involved who are now gone but were still around then. Several have commentaries too, including one for Bang by its director Dan Petrie.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Criterion released that TV production as part of their The Golden Age of Television box back in 2009. It's still available. It's DVD only. A number of the other live 1950s TV productions included in it also have film counterparts (e.g. The Days of Wine and Roses, Marty, Requiem for a Heavyweight, No Time for Sergeants, etc.), so they make fascinating supplements to the movies.

These are rather old transfers of kinescopes but I enjoy them nonetheless, making allowances for what they are. I'm not sure if anything has been done since using newer tools to make them available in improved quality. They were originally put together for a PBS series back in the early 80s and this set includes the intros from that series, many with input from folks involved who are now gone but were still around then. Several have commentaries too, including one for Bang by its director Dan Petrie.