The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings

Buy This Item The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings by Universal Studios  Available from Amazon  $9.98  on 11-28-2008     This enjoyable 1976 film by John Badham (<I>Saturday Night Fever</I>) concerns the efforts of a barnstorming baseball team of African American players to work around the dominance of the Negro National League. Set in 1939, the swift, impressive, and entertaining troupe of personality-rich athletes easily make the viewer wistful for this level of spiritedness on a green field. While the story is a bit halting, the script intelligently reflects some of the difficulties and requirements of black players at that time to find success in the game. The excellent cast includes Billy Dee Williams, whose character is based on Satchel Paige, and James Earl Jones, whose part is suggestive of the tragic Josh Gibson, as well as Richard Pryor, Ted Ross, DeWayne Jessie, and Stan Shaw. Produced by Motown's old film division, the musical score, not surprisingly, is highly memorable. <I>--Tom Keogh</I> Reader Reviews This is a funny, well acted look at the Negro Leagues and barnstorming before the integration of Major League Baseball. Many of the details in the movie are based on historical facts. There really was a woman owner in the Negro Leagues, for example. More to the point, the movie correctly illustrates some of the greed and corruption within the league, as well as some of the issues the players faced. It also captures the experience of a barnstorming club and the often clownish antics players sometimes had to engage in to attract attention. It also is a pretty funny movie starring Billy Dee Williams as a Satchel Paige-esque pitcher who's supremely self-confident, so much so that he throws his world famous "Invite Pitch" to hitters without players manning the field. James Earl Jones is a treat as Leo Carter, a hard-hitting, no nonsense catcher. Look for Richard Pryor in a smaller, but funny role as Charile Snow, who's convinced he can break into the Majors by pretending to be Cuban as Carlos Nevada. This is a great movie no baseball fan should miss.

The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings Available from Amazon Price: $9.98 Updated on 11-28-2008.

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