THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS [1976 / 2021] [Blu-ray] [Limited Edition] [UK Release] Based on the best-selling “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings” 1973 novel!
In 1939, to laugh, you listened to the radio, to cry, you went to the movies, for excitement, you went to the ballgame. But if you wanted all three, But if you wanted all three, there was only Bingo Long.
Produced by Motown Productions and based on the best-selling 1973 novel of the same name by William Brashler – considered to be one of the greatest sporting books ever written – 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ is set amid the segregated African American baseball league of the 1930’s, and follows one enterprising team’s journey from humble beginnings to championship-winning success. Directed with flair by John Badham [‘Saturday Night Fever’ and ‘Dracula’], this classic feel-good comedy features a stellar cast including a pre-Star Wars pairing of Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones, and comedy legend Richard Pryor [‘Blue Collar’]. World Premiere on Blu-ray and Limited Edition of 3,000 copies.
FILM FACT: With the film 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS,’ some characters and situations are loosely based upon real-life people and incidents. Director John Badham grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, and was familiar with the Birmingham Black Barons, who shared Rickwood Field, America's oldest ballpark, with the white Birmingham Barons who are a Minor League Baseball team based in Birmingham, Alabama. Bingo Long is based on former Black Baron Leroy “Satchel” Paige. Early in his career, Black Baron Leroy “Satchel” Paige would call in his outfield while leading in the ninth inning against an amateur or semi-pro team and strike out the side. Bingo Long did a similar stunt in this movie. Leon Carter is a Josh Gibson-like power hitter, even playing the same position as catcher. “Esquire” Joe Calloway is an amalgam of another Black Baron, Willie Mays (in personality, talent, and fielding position) and Jackie Robinson as being signed by a white team at the film's end. ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS,’ were loosely based on the Indianapolis Clowns and other barnstorming Negro baseball teams, who likewise engaged in Harlem Globetrotters-like clowning routines.
Cast: Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, Richard Pryor, Rico Dawson, Sam “Birmingham” Brison, Jophery C. Brown, Leon Wagner, Tony Burton, John McCurry, Stan Shaw, Otis Day, Ted Ross, Mabel King, Sam Laws, Alvin Childress, Ken Foree, Carl Gordon, Ahna Capri, Joel Fluellen, Sarina C. Grant, Jester Hairston, Emmett Ashford, Theodore Lehmann, Fred Covington, Greg Oliver, John McKee, Brooks Clift, Morgan Roberts, Marcia McBroom, Lidia Kristen, Steve Anderson, Dero Austin, Larinda Carnes and Ben Jones (uncredited)
Director: John Badham
Producers: Bennett Tramer, Berry Gordy, Janet Hubbard, Michael Chinich and Rob Cohen
Screenplay: William Brashler (Based on The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings 1973 novel), Hal Barwood (screenplay) and Matthew Robbins (screenplay)
Composer: William Goldstein
Costume Design: Bernard Johnson
Cinematography: Wilmer C. "Bill" Butler, A.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White and Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio: 1.37:1 and 1.85:1
Audio: English: 1.0 LPCM Mono Audio
English: 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 110 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Universal Pictures / Motown Production / Pan Arts Enterprise / Powerhouse Films
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: Once again Powerhouse Films does a brilliant release of 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ [1976] that has an amazing cast starring in a film that some of them I have never heard of before and I am so glad I have been introduced to this Universal Pictures film and it now has a superb Blu-ray release for you to enjoy. And, if like me, if this is a completely new film to you, allow me to give you a little insight into what it is all about.
Based on the best-selling “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings” 1973 novel of the same name by William Brashler, the narrative plays out around the segregated African American baseball league of the 1930’s, following the titular teams travels across America as it tries to stay financially viable playing local teams across the country after the players have walked out on their respective former teams being unsatisfied with their conditions.
The film actually starts with a real black-and-white Universal Newsreels, one announcing Hitler’s take-over of Czechoslovakia, and of course Bingo Long is set in the late 1930’s, at the peak of the leagues’ success and then in true absurdist style, we meet a man who chews up razor blades, lays on a bed of nails and then stubs his cigarette out on his tongue and they call this “That’s Entertainment.” Just before the film starts, we get a newsreel outlining the lower status of black players and the Negro leagues, but to the newsreel’s credit, there is implied criticism of the unspoken rule. This is probably because the commentary has been rewritten to include the fictitious characters of Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings and company together with their real life counterparts.
The main character Bingo Long [Billy Dee Williams] is based on a real-life player who is a famous pitcher who gets fed up with the ill-treatment of the Ebony Aces team owner ​​ Sallison “Sallie” Potter [Ted Ross]. The last straw comes when Sallison “Sallie” Potter docks the whole team’s wages in order to send injured player Rainbow All-Star (bat boy) [Otis Day] home, and not to receive any support, and simply getting sacked from the team.
The other team owners aren’t happy about this player-controlled team snatching their best names and making money all across the USA though. Sallison “Sallie” Potter is particularly enraged, so sends his two goons out to sabotage Bingo Long’s games.
When black players were eventually introduced into the white major leagues, the Negro leagues soon dissolved. Whilst the removal of this segregation is obviously a good thing, many saw the disappearance of the leagues as a shame. Often run by black promoters and managers too, they were something the black community owned and were proud of.
Most notably, the way it handles racism could have been more powerful. There’s a shocking sequence when Bingo Long’s team first play a white one and are taunted, verbally abused and become the subjects of cruel pranks. This is swiftly negated though when Bingo Long starts to make light of the ill-treatment and uses clownish japes to win over the largely white crowd.
Billy Dee Williams is particularly good as a showman with the heart of a unionist who believes workers should seize the means of production and share profits. James Earl Jones as Leon Carter All-Star is also rock-solid as the group's moral conscience, and Richard Pryor as Charlie Snow All-Star is hilarious as a black man masquerading as a “Cuban” and later a Native American so he can make it into the white leagues and eventually his ultimate goal to go with white women.
Of course, a story about the Negro National League must confront the issue of race. The movie uses a light touch. For example, there are vast differences in the pre-game festivities of a black crowd and the more formal good-time efforts of the white folks. The film also captures the changing face of baseball. Bingo Long knows that the Negro National League and his career in baseball is coming to an end. Though change is bittersweet, Bingo Long and Leon Carter All-Star manage to find humour in it.
Directed with style by John Badham, and each character is given enough onscreen time to shine through. Which includes Billy Dee Williams as the ever upbeat leader of the group Bingo Long, James Earl Jones as the big home run hitting Leon Carter, Richard Pryor as the aptly names Charlie Snow (a double entendre relating to cocaine) and is a man who is desperate to get into the Major Leagues by any means necessary, Stan Shaw as Esquire Joe Callaway All-Star as a young baseball protégé under the wing of Bingo Long, and many more, including Ken Foree as Honey a really bad guy, who is a Goon for Sallison “Sallie” Potter who is the Owner of Ebony Aces. Most notably, the way it handles racism could have been more powerful. There’s a shocking sequence when Bingo Long’s team first play a white one and are taunted, verbally abused and become the subjects of cruel pranks. This is swiftly negated though when Bingo Long starts to make light of the ill-treatment and uses clownish japes to win over the largely white crowd. You don’t need to mo anything about baseball to enjoy!
'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS,’ though it is a slight advantage when knowing what is happening mid-game. There are laughs, thrills, action, and even a bit of dancing to keep everyone in the family entertained as you sit back and see if ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ and his talented team can overcome the odds and carve out a successful career for themselves.
THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS MUSIC TRACK LIST
THE BINGO LONG SONG (Steal On Home) (Written by Berry Gordy and Ronald Miller) [Performed by Thelma Houston]
RAZZLE DAZZLE (Music by William Goldstein) (Lyrics by Ronald Miller) [Performed by Thelma Houston]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Universal Pictures and Powerhouse Films presents the film ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ with a truly wonderful 1080p High Definition Remastered Image and looks really great and of course it is shown in the standard 1.85:1 aspect ratio. ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ is of the period of the 1970’s cinema has a real 1970’s look and I love it. The print shows now and again some standard damage, mostly dust and other negligible scratches but none deters you from the enjoyment of the viewing experience. As is often the case due to the optically printed 2nd generation footage – a necessity for mixes and title overlays – more dirt and damage lurks in these shots through extra handling. But unlike so many other older masters that have emerged from the major's vaults this master is free of any problematic digital adjustments, but despite this, the image is still good for a film released in 1976. But there were a few small blemishes can be spotted, but there are no cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Universal Pictures and Powerhouse Films brings us the film ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ with one standard 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio experience. The audio is clear and stable. However, there are a couple of places that reveal traces of ageing anomalies. The most obvious one is early into the film, during the discussion in the locker room where Sallie Potter addresses the players, but I must admit I found some of the dialogue a little difficult to make out. This is likely down to the occasionally certain American accents and frequent use of old-time American slang that I couldn’t always get my head around. On top of all that, there is some sort of a minor but noticeable distortion in the upper register that should be on the master as well, but the rest is fine. The dynamic audio balance and intensity are very good. So all in all, well done Powerhouse Films.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Audio Commentary with Director John Badham: Here we are welcomed to this 2007 DVD release audio commentary from John Badham, who informs us that he is the director of the film ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ and he hoped to have the writers and the producers with him in the recording session, but informs us that we are just stuck with him. John Badham will try to give some insight into the history of the African American baseball league as we go along. John Badham talks about the Universal Newsreel at the start of the film and were actual newsreels that were took from the Universal vaults that were shown to the cinema audiences at the time in America and put the audience in the state of mind what was happening in the world at the time at the end of the 1030’s when the story took place and with these newsreels would mix up the important news with ridiculous things, and of course there was no television at the time and to get any news it would have to be via the newspaper or see these Universal Newsreels at their local cinema. But with the newsreel footage we get to see the actual real life black baseball players in action. As we see the start of the film, John Badham informs us that most of the film was shot in Georgia and we see the shot of the ball park, which is just outside the centre of the town in Macon and the ball park we see and John Baham informs us that it was falling apart when they arrived to check it out for filming and they had to get the Mayor to stop giving it a coat of paint to make it look good, but John Bagham wanted it to look rundown. Now John Badham talks about the old guy who we see juggling some balls outside the stadium, and he is Jester Hairston as Furry Taylor who was 70 years of age at the time of filming and he learned to juggle before filming and practiced rigorously in his room for hours to get it right and as we see he is really good at it. John Badham talks about all the wonderful automobiles you see in the film and the people that deal with these type of antique automobiles in Georgia did a very good job and thinks the automobiles were fabulous and could have as many automobiles as they wanted and especially the great old red convertible that Billy Dee Williams used well into the start of the film, which was actually a 1935 Ford Deluxe Four Door Convertible Sedan, which are not made anymore. Another part of Georgia they filmed in was Savannah that is a coastal Georgia city, is separated from South Carolina by the Savannah River and feels it is one of the most beautiful cities in the United States and it has some wonderful antique houses and many ears ago they had gotten horribly rundown and the City council passed a measure, that if you bought one of these rundown old house and fixed it up like the when they were first built, they would give you enormous tax breaks, so that was the project to get these houses looking glorious and John Badham certainly felt they did a wonderful job. When we see Bingo Long and Leon Carter finally ditching their black boss and talking about running and getting their own All-Star team together and talking about travelling to Cuba and Puerto Rico and play baseball there in the winter time where the weather is really nice and the guys can make a good living playing baseball all year round and that is what they had to do, because they couldn’t make enough money to afford to sit around idle for six months waiting for a baseball game to come knocking, as modern baseball players can do nowadays, but those original black baseball players were barely scrapping by. When you get to chapter three at around 23 minutes, when you see the two convertible automobiles and the motorbike turn up at the neighbourhood of Georgia they found before filming started and John Badham thought there were some very picturesque old houses, but John Badham says that in reality they are not very picturesque living inside these old sad houses. Also in these rural communities they have some wonderful colourful characters and these extras really enjoyed being in the film. When you see the All-Star baseball players coming into town showing off, was not far from where they filmed the picturesque old houses and some of the residents. When we see Bingo Long and his All-Star baseball players at their first baseball game at the Huskers Field, well this was an actual baseball park that also had their own little grandstand, which takes a capacity of a few hundred spectators and always bring along their picnics to watch the game. John Badham informs us that all the actors had to go to dancing school to learn how to do that “Cake Walk” entering the any town they played baseball in, but also had to go to a baseball school so they could learn how to like professional baseball players. Joh Badham really loved working with the actor Richard Pryor because he was so talented at doing great comedic improvisation and he just let him adlib and say whatever he wanted, because he was even funnier than what was written in the script for his lines, which the scriptwriters had spent long hours working out and especially Richard Pryor’s comedic lines. When you see the Black All-Stars baseball players waiting for the Stars and Stripes National Anthem to finish by a local band that John Badham could not remember their name to finish and you see the young lady cheer leader twirling her baton, and was really thrilled to participate and perform in front of the camera, but unfortunately with the wide shot of her performing, you see her drop her baton on the grass and was probably totally embarrassed by the incident in being filmed and John Badham decided to keep that shot in the film, because he thought it was too good to keep and was very funny. John Bagham also comments about all the right wing red necks sitting in the stands watching the game and chewing their disgusting tobacco. When you see all the black gangsters in the steam room, John Badham informs us that he stole the idea from the Orson Wells film ‘Othello.’ Next we are back at the baseball game, and one of the actors is in the Gorilla suit and John Badham says that on the day of the shoot it was 100 deg. Fahrenheit and eventually the actor fainted and passed out and they had to have a stunt guy take over so John Bagham could finish the shoot. When you see Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones talking in the room with the piano player and everyone is dancing, well all the women were local and were keen to be included in the shoot dancing with the men and again the temperature in that room was 100 deg. Fahrenheit and over time everyone and mainly the women was not very keen eventually to be filmed in that room because of the oppressive heat and especially by the end of the shoot, also when you see James Earl Jones dancing with the African American woman, well she happened to be their make-up artist. After the scene where the Black All-Star players try to sneak out of their hotel room without paying and they have one of their automobile towed away for auction, you then see them in the field picking up all the potatoes to earn some money so that they can buy back the car that was towed away, well again that film shoot in the field was again 100 deg. Fahrenheit and lasted from 7:00am until 8:00pm and was at the height of summer, and by the end of the days shoot they were all completely exhausted. When Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones arrive in their automobile at the Okefenokee Swamp, and is the swamp in North America, the Okefenokee Swamp covers roughly 700 square miles and is located in the south-eastern corner of Georgia, encompassing most of Charlton and Ware counties and parts of Brantley and Clinch counties. The swamp has a distinctive and fascinating natural history. John Badham informs us that he thought the location was really wonderful, but instead it turned out to be totally horrendous, because everyone was being eaten alive by mosquitoes the size of a house and realised in hindsight, t was in fact a really horrible location to film at, When you see the black All-Stars baseball players at a ball game, you get to see Dero Austin [Midget catcher] and John Badham informs us that he has played for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1964 and felt he was wonderful and was a very good little catcher, John Badham also mentions Steve Anderson [One-arm ballplayer] who before the shoot worked in a bank and was totally thrilled to be out of his day job and to participate in the film. We find out also that Dero Austin had an eye for every woman in Macon in central Georgia and john Badham could not believe it, especially because women were just in love with Dero Austin and really loved entertaining all these women who were so enamoured by this midget catcher, especially as he was only 2 feet and 6 inches in height, and had so many girlfriends by the time they all left Macon for another location. When we see the black All-Star baseball players at another ball park game, John Badham talks about the special routine we see them do before a game and it is called “Shadow Ball” and is a game of pantomiming baseball and going through well-timed and believable motions that give the illusion of actually playing a baseball game and the original black baseball players were never filmed and John Badham had to really fight to keep this scene in the film, because the executives wanted to have a shorter running time, and of course this historic routine enactment would be lost forever. John Badham now wants to talk about the use of music throughout the film and the music is based on Boogie Woogie music of that period and a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920’s, and developed in African-American communities in the 1870’s, and was a really popular form of music in that period and especially with the original black All-Star baseball players, and is also very appropriate at the time, and the various composers of Motown and especially one particulate producer of the film and several others, were all competing to who was going to compose the film score, and eventually the job went to William Goldstein, who came up with the best kind of Boogie Woogie music and especially for the tone for the film, and when they went to do the recording for this score, especially at the big recording stage at Universal, and had a full orchestra and were regular studio musicians and William Goldstein wanted professional jazz players, who could play the music of that period and so William Goldstein brought in a lot of musicians who have played for various Motown artists, and when John Badham arrived at the recording session that morning, and the female contractor was horrified, because she said, “do you know he has brought in a dozen musicians here who cannot read music,” and John Badham guessed it was true, and he realised that in fact they could actually play their instruments, even though they could not read the music and was wondering how in the world was they supposed to play the specific score, because sometimes the composed score only lasted for 15 seconds and sometimes only 12 seconds and had to play it exactly spot on and they had only so many hours to record the composed film score, and eventually that stupid female was proved wrong, as the professional studio musicians did everything professionally and what the conductor William Goldstein wanted from these musicians the first take and again even though they could not read a note of the music, well all you have to do is listen to the film score and the way it is played and of course John Badham was really pleased with the result, because the musicians sensed what William Goldstein wanted, and of course these musicians felt the music in their bones and their DNA because they could play it, and again especially not knowing what had been written down note for note, and their music was totally fabulous, that it would of made the actual Universal studio musicians seem like plastic musicians, and especially these Motown musicians brought a great deal of vitality to this composed film score, and the fun part was often when the composer would end the cue and give that cut off sign where everybody dutifully goes quiet and they stop playing, but a couple of the trumpet players they did not stop and kept on going and were not going to stop for anyone, and of course they eventually got some of the best recorded music ever and they never closed down the microphone. Once again John Badham talk about Steve Anderson [One-arm ballplayer] and was totally amazing what he could do with one arm and did not hider his baseball batting skills and was very skilled with one arm and was even better compared to baseball players with two arms. At around one hour and forty six minutes we see Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones celebrating winning the baseball game, and John Badham comments that this last scene was really beautifully written and the two actors were totally professional in their delivery of their lines, and John Badham wanted it done in one take, as well as smoothly, and just as perfectly as they could, and to the end of the movie wrap, it was again 100 deg. Fahrenheit at midday and especially when Billy Dee Williams had to be made out he was cool in his beautiful yellow suit, but unfortunately they had to do more re-shoots than any other scene in the whole of the film and it took 15 re-shoots to get it exactly right on how John Badham wanted it, and of course the two poor actors were really suffering with the terrible oppressive heat, and as the end of the film happens and you get a short freeze frame that then turns into a wonderful sketch done by a famous sketch artist at Universal Studios who did so many great sketches for the Gallery series and that exact point the John Badham audio commentary ends. This is a hugely satisfying and fascinating audio commentary mostly because of all the questions answered when watching the film and are also answered in turn as we get to the relevant scenes. The historical detail is both desperately depressing and deeply fascinating. John Badham’s memories of the shoot are all superbly researched or remembered with great fondness. John Badham alsong the way brings up the business of product placement and how, which was invented in 1975 and they were hoping to have had endless supplies of Jack Daniels and Baby Ruth chocolate bars into so much trouble, he couldn’t sit down for a week. But on the whole and overall this is a totally brilliant and very professional audio commentary by a man still profoundly passionate about his subject and I would give director John Badham a definite five star rating for a really first rate fascinating amd interesting John Badham audio commentary.
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Theatrical Trailer [1976] [480i] [1.78:1] [2:46] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS.’ The voice over is reminding us of the uglier context of history, we are introduced to the three main stars and the pitch via this trailer which looks like it may have originated off a VHS tape, but despite this, and informs us that this is one promising fun with a little side plate of danger, thrills and spills.
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Special Feature: John Badham Trailer Audio Commentary [2013] [1080p / 489i] [1.78:1] [2:50] Director John Badham’s audio commentary is a lovely, personal reminder to the audience that this story and these people are very dear to John Badham’s heart and as a filmmaker this is a prime requisite. Kudos to the talent scouts who actually found talent and didn’t give a damn whether you were “black, white or purple.” John Badham’s audio commentary talks about how proud and honoured he was to direct this film. John Badham also comments while the trailer is playing, that in 1939, to laugh, you listen to the radio, to cry, you went to the movies, for excitement, you went to the ballgame. But if you wanted all three, there was only Bingo Long. 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ is the wonderfully, affectionate, funny, even sad tale of the last days of the Negro League Baseball. This was John Badham’s first movie, and he was thrilled to be able to tell the story of the ball players he had watched while growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, where The Birmingham Black Barons played and these were amazing players, and even though they had been victimised by segregation, they slept in broken down buses, ate out of the back of restaurants, earned five bucks a day for their troubles, and that was only if they played, but they always played great baseball. See up until 1947, African Americans were not allowed to play in a major league, and the crazy part, was the Negro team were filled with amazing players. Well Satchel Paige pitched nine innings with every game and they only had one pitcher. Josh Gibson was the only black player who hit home runs over the third tier of the Yankee Stadium. Then there was Jackie Robinson came along at a time when Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers saw a brilliant player and didn’t give a damn if he was black or white or purple. The Negro League Baseball were owned by rich African American Businessmen who also owned funeral homes, some Bail bondsman, bail bond agent or bond dealers and they were just tyrannical as the white owners. So the characters in this film that were played by Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones and Richard Pryor, formed their own team All-Stars and went barnstorming all over America playing white teams for money, but the black owners couldn’t beat the cleverness of these players like Richard Pryor, whose learning Spanish, so he can pose as a Cuban, because Cuban’s were allowed to play in the White Leagues. In this film we use players from the Indianapolis Clowns which is a team that did for baseball what the Harlem Globetrotters did for basketball. One thing that the black players did that was totally different from the white players, was to have fun on the Baseball field and sometimes you didn’t know if you was watching a ball game or a comedy show, but what you certainly was watching men making a life, where life was denied to them. If you see this film, you’ll never forget it and this is really lovely stuff we get to hear.
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Special Feature: Radio Spots: There are 10 of these Radio Spots, the first few starring Richard Pryor as a fake preacher doing his bit for the publicity of the film. The announcer seems on the verge of cracking up on a few of them. The 4th one plays with stereotypes a little too awkwardly. Prisoner, presumably black, talks about wanting to see this film when he gets out and it ends with Richard Pryor announcing he’s going to beat his wife, now that is slightly unfortunate. From the 7th approximately 30 second radio spot, we have a female announcer giving us a few choice press quotes. The only unfortunate aspect of these Radio Spots is you just get to see a blank screen, which is very strange, why couldn’t they have had one static image from the film? With the Radio Spots, you can either play them separately or Play All. Happy listening folks. Running Time: 4:39
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Special Feature: Image Gallery: Here we get to view 36 images of promotional and publicity material relating to the film 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS.’ This features 2 black-and-white production stills and 22 in colour. Then we have colour Front of House stills, 2 per screen, 8 in total. 4 examples of publicity illustrated artwork are next topped off with 3 cinema posters that complete the collection. To view all the images, you have to use skip function < > on your remote control to navigate the image gallery. Press MENU or TOP MENU to leave.
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Special Feature: There Was Always Sun Shining Someplace: Life in the Negro Baseball Leagues [1983] [1080p] [1.78:1] [59:10] Here we get to view a rare documentary by Craig Davidson chronicling the life and times in the segregated Negro Baseball Leagues, narrated by James Earl Jones and featuring archival footage and interviews with numerous baseball players. The documentary by Craig Davidson chronicling life in the segregated Negro Baseball Leagues, and narrated by James Earl Jones and featuring archival footage and interviews with numerous baseball players. This black-and-white documentary starts with a wonderful story of how talent exposes how racism actually was and it’s hysterically funny. It is appropriately narrated by All-Star Leon Carter himself, James Earl Jones. When a door opens on a subject one has very little knowledge of what it was all about, until we get to view this wonderful documentary. Although it has an undercurrent of the darker side of black history in America, this documentary is a fitting celebration of black baseball players. It was quite a surprise to find the black teams were monetarily lured to South America and Mexico and the connections to the game that numbers racketeers made. As black players found their way into the Major League eventually, the black leagues disbanded while the players themselves were finally inducted into the game’s Hall of Fame. This documentary is dedicated to the legacy of the men and women who participated in the Negro Baseball Leagues. This is absolutely fascinating stuff and definitely gets a five star rating from me.
Contributors: James Earl Jones [Narrator], Chet Brewer [1925 – 1948], Judy Johnson [1920 – 1937], Walter ‘Buck’ Leonard [1933 – 1950], Bob Feller [1936 – 1956], Ted Page [1925 – 1936], Dorothy Harris [Widow of Player/Manager Vic Harris], Jimmie Crutchfield [1936 – 1945], Leroy 'Satchel' Paige [1926 – 1968], The Pittsburgh Crawfords [1931 – 1934] and Rodolfo Fernandez [1935 – 1943]
Director: Craig Davidson (documentary director)
Producer: Craig Davidson
Screenplay: Craig Davidson and Donn Rogosin
Composer: Nicholas Hubbell
Cinematography: Keith Dobran (Director of Photography), Richard Dobbs (Director of Photography), Scott J.T. Frank (Director of Photography), Scott McPherson (Director of Photography) and Todd Gangle (Director of Photography)
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PLUS: FIRST PRESSING ONLY: A beautiful collector’s 40 page limited edition exclusive booklet featuring a 1978 retrospective article on the film by Michele Russell entitled SECOND LOOK: 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS.’ A two page spread entitled The All Stars and features all the main Bingo Long cast. We have another rare article entitled “The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings vs The Bad News Bears” which relates to a highly unusual sporting event that took place in southern California in 1976, as reported by the Berkeley Gazette. Another interesting article by Marilyn Beck entitled HOW WILLIAMS FOUND PEACE WITH THE WORLD and is a short profile on the star Billy Dee Williams. Tom Milne does an article entitled CRITICAL RESPONSE and was featured in the Monthly Film Bulletin and felt that 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ prioritised comedy over sincerity. It also has the usual ABOUT THE PRSENTATION. SPECIAL THANKS. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. INDICATOR CREDITS. But has a plethora of rare black-and-white promotional photographs of the cast and black-and-white photos of the original Bingo Long players.
Finally, ‘THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS,’ where you will find there are few films that take on the weight of an historical narrative while telling a joyous story and managing to pitch both just right. There is humour, slapstick, friendship, drama, car chases, and baseball exhibitionism and pure entertainment on and off the field. The absurdly titled – 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ is one such film, but one that grows on you. 'THE BINGO LONG TRAVELLING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS’ is a joyous celebration of a national sport seen through the lens of racial tension and bigotry in the southern states of the US at the end of the 1930’s. At its heart is the friendship between two men who saw futures for themselves and others with better eyes than many and for a brief while, were able to live their dream. I had a smile on my face almost all the way through this charming film, one with both heart and grit. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
