The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars & Motor Kings

After two disasters (Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany), Motown's affair with the cinema produced this over-glossy but attractive period comedy (the setting is 1939, with music to match) about a group of black baseball players trying to make the big time. Excellent performances, but the best thing about it is the sharp, sceptically witty script by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins (of The Sugarland Express) which teases one or two old sores (notably the black man's recipe for success in a white world: be a clown).