Shea Stadium in Movies: “Bang the Drum Slowly”
“Bang the Drum Slowly” (not to be confused with “Bang Her Bum Slowly” which is a, uh, different kind of film) is a 1973 baseball movie about a dying dimwit catcher (Robert DeNiro) and the superstar pitcher (Michael Moriarity) who takes care of him.
They play for the fictional New York Mammoths in a mystery league that somehow includes both the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds. And their home field is Shea Stadium. All of the baseball scenes were shot there. Here are some screenshots:
Note the mistake here: A young fan in the stands is wearing a Mets hat, a team that doesn’t exist in the “Bang the Drum Slowly” world:
The unmistakable Shea message board:
The classic Rheingold and Coke ads on the bottom of the scoreboard as the Mammoths lead the Pirates.
They even used the “Kiner’s Korner” set for some kind of team singing routine:
See previous entries in this series here.
Great pics! I wonder if Reingold had to pay anything for that inclusion.
It’s possible, Rick. They were very careful not to show the scoreboard all throughout the movie except for that one shot. Maybe that’s all Reingold and the others would pay for. Or, they all refused to pay and the filmmakers didn’t want to give away free advertising, but they needed to do it on that shot. That’s a long way of saying “I don’t know.”