The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings (1976)

This enjoyable 1976 film by John Badham (Saturday Night Fever) 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. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com

Invite Pitch

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. February 19, 2008

Soul of the Game, Lite

Bingo Long is a fun movie, describing a bitter period in American History, and American Baseball History.

The story is based on the true story of Jackie Robinson, Sachel Paige, and Josh Gibson. Bingo Long is based on Sachel Paige, and Esquire Joe is loosely based on Jackie Robinson. The movie is fun, and it delves into the relationships of the black players and the Negro League owners. They only touch gently on the racial issues, and focus more on the greed of the Negro League owners. Billy Dee Willims (Sachel Paige) and James Earl Jones (Josh Gibson) are real and fun. But at the end of the day, they are both bitter about being excluded from the "White Only" major leagues. November 28, 2007

Baseball

This is the start of the nergo league baseball, most of the players were
slaves. Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor among lots more. November 18, 2007

A BASEBALL CLASSIC

The entire life and the atmosphere of The Negro League baseball era was brilliantly portrayed from the barnstorming perspective. The script was a bit of a stretch at times but the superb acting by Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones kept you waiting for each scene. The language used was authentic as were the town attitudes. It contained some athleticism in parts that was also very truthful. March 21, 2007

Good old time baseball movie

The movie is a classic. the service from the seller was excellent. Received the dvd withing a week of the order. March 9, 2006

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