FREE ON CINEGEEK.DE The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars

 The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings presents all the black superstars of the 70s, is entertaining, funny, poignant and nostalgic!  A film that surpasses itself! A team from the so-called "Negro National Baseball League" goes into business for itself, leaves its "owners".  What must it have been like back then to be excluded from the big league as a black athlete? Here it is solved with courage and humor. And the horror of sports apartheid becomes tangible. Back then - in 1976 - the film worked as a "crossover". A film with only black stars, but designed for the whole big audience. And whoever watches the film almost feels as if he himself was one of the very first whites to watch a game of the "Negro National Baseball League" - but only sees the funny antics, but doesn't feel the pain behind them. Really? The movie takes place in 1939, back when the "Negro Leagues" existed, which today are simply swept under the table. With stars like Sachel Paige or Bingo Long and Josh Gibson or Leon Carter (Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones). They were good enough to play in the big league. But they were so much more than that! However: There was an unwritten colour ban. Therefore Bingo is sentenced to a penalty as a "rebel". He persuades Leon to form his own team. To finally play in the minor league! And the white audience comes to see the black show. But the film wants to make less a statement about racism than to entertain. At least there is no explicit statement. But if you look into the face of James Earl Jones, you can clearly feel the pain and anger. And the most fun is, as always, Richard Pryor as Charlie Snow, who learns Spanish with his dictionary to make it into the big league as a "Cuban"...