The Bad News Bears (1976) User Reviews

Should be required viewing for anyone who coaches

[bmsopata · 8/10 · 10 May 2003]

"Bad News for the Athletics!" This movie should be required viewing for parents and coaches of any sport at any level. It reminds me of what is wrong about youth sports, but at the same time what makes youth sports great. There are many lessons to be learned from this movie. It is sad, but many parents and coaches continue to make the game about themselves and not about the children playing. Bad News Bears shows just how ridiculous that type of attitude regarding youth sports is.

Bad News Bears is the original kids/sports movie without the Disney cliches. There isn't a clear cut bad guy, each coach (Buttermaker and Turner) have there faults and motivation. It is also refreshing that the movie does not have the typical Hollywood ending, but instead one that is fitting for the team sponsored by Chico's Bail Bonds.

Bad News Bears is also a great reminder of life in the late 1970s, the uniforms, clothes, cars, etc. Finally, it is an entertaining movie, especially for anyone who has played little league baseball (or any youth sport). It makes me laughs every time I watch it.

Cutthroat Little League--in all its sprinkler-system, sun-&-Schlitz-drenched glory

[moonspinner55 · 8/10 · 22 June 2005]

Scrappy pool-cleaner (and former ballplayer) in Southern California gets talked into coaching Little League to a bunch of no-talent boys. I don't think I've ever seen another movie that captured this bit of Americana so vividly: you can almost smell the freshly-cut grass and the cigar smoke in the air! One of Walter Matthau's many triumphs, and Tatum O'Neal as the pitching ace is also terrific (especially in the dug-out scene where she tries involving Matthau in her life and he cracks, sending her away in tears: "You don't wanna go, fine, no big deal."). The young boys are mostly all wonderful: Alfred Lutter, from "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", as the nerdy brain; Jackie Earle Haley as the cool kid with shades and motorcycle; Brandon Cruz, from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", as the pitcher for the enemy-team. The film has some overacting and is occasionally sloppy (with the boom-mike showing, as well as O'Neal's stand-in in a wig), but is otherwise extremely well-written and designed and directed. In 1976, this had kids and adults lining up to see it, so I wouldn't consider the picture a 'sleeper' or an underrated film. It was a big commercial box-office hit and there is an audience for it wherever there's a DVD player and a screen. ***1/2 from ****

Different, and all the more for it

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 22 February 2011]

I have to admit I am not a huge sports fan, but several sports movies have sparked my interest, such as Hoosiers, Breaking Away and Remember the Titans. I saw The Bad News Bears mostly for Walter Matthau and I really enjoyed it. While it could have been a tad longer perhaps, and one or two scenes could have been tighter in the pace, it is a very good movie. For a sports movie, it is quite different, taking on the underdogs taking on the big boys scenario for example, and it works wonderfully.

The production values are very nice, and Jerry Fielding's score compliments each scene beautifully. The film's script is quite gritty, but it is also funny and thoughtful, while the story is always engaging and well-thought out with the relationship between Morris and his team particularly pulling you in. The direction is solid, while the acting is excellent. Walter Matthau is simply brilliant as the boozy coach Morris, while Joyce Van Patten gives great support and the child stars are more than a match for Matthau. Especially Tatum O'Neal, who is quite charming yet very spunky and likable, and I personally think she has better screen presence than her dad.

All in all, a very enjoyable movie, and whether you are a fan of sports movies or not, this movie is recommended. 8/10 Bethany Cox

My Childhood!

[jbr1039 · 20 July 2005]

"The Bad News Bears" came out in 1976, the summer that I started playing little league. I know I am not breaking any new ground when I say that this film is a classic, but hopefully I can educate some of the younger viewers and posters as to how realistic this film is, in some ways.

First of all, I believe that anyone who has ever played organized youth sports has had a Tanner Boyle, Timmy Lupus and a Kelly Leek on their teams. This is just how it is, and for better or worse, it is one of the galvanizing factors that make youth leagues etch themselves indelibly into the memories of all those who have participated in them.

Second of all, kids curse. I don't know who the "nay-sayers" out there are, but they should look back into their own memories and try to figure out just when they learned to use the F-word. If you didn't learn it from your parents, you learned it from other kids. Granted, not all of us knew exactly what the words meant at that age, but we still used them. It was a small measure of rebellion at the age of seven.

When Tanner Boyle makes the comment that the team is filled with "niggers, spics, Jews and now a broad," it would be a crass, hateful comment if it had come from an adult. Yet, as a youth, Tanner gets a laugh because we all know that he doesn't really mean it, he is just repeating what he has heard at home -- not to condone what might have been said over the Boyle dinner table. The proof of this is obvious when Tanner "takes on the seventh grade," and makes a valiant attempt to preserve Timmy Lupus' honor before he gets thrown into a garbage can. Regardless of Tanner's racist remarks about the team, and his shunning of Lupus, "Lupus, why don't you sit over there? (abbr.)" he is willing to fight for those same people.

Third, (sorry for the digression), that's what parents are like. It is a truth that goes down through the ages: when it comes to their children, all adults are a-holes. When it comes time to see their children strive to excel at something, they become the obnoxious, bullying, chest-beating sh**s they have warned their children not to be. For the most part it is an extension to the children for what the parents' couldn't be in the first place, e.g. a good shortstop.

And Fourth: Losing. There is something about those pinstripes and even the moniker "Yankees" that make some of us want to do violent things to a couch. Mind you, I am not a native southerner, nor am I a Red Sox fan. I am just a man who can see the fact that pinstripes and the word "Yankees" symbolizes a corporate juggernaut that tries to annihilate the concept of fair play. For the Bears to ultilmately lose to the "Yankees" is just. They got beat. Perhaps it is an irony that this movie came out one year after the last choppers left Saigon, that defeat was in the air, so to speak.

There was still a message to this movie. A message that I have carried throughout my adult life. A message that Churchill had during the Blitz, and Giuliani had in the post 9/11 rubble. Once again, a line from Tanner Boyle: "Hey Yankees, you can take your trophy and shove it up your ass. Just wait until next year!"

Still Holds Up

[johnny-burgundy · 7/10 · 19 November 2017]

The Bad News Bears (1976) This is a classic sports comedy about an aging, down-on-his-luck ex- minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league. It stars Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal. This is one of my favorite movies from my childhood. Considered crass and crude in its day, it's now received cult status. The film garnered two sequels, a television series, and a 2005 remake. It also received multiple award nominations. The remake wasn't necessary, as I believe the original still holds up, despite the critics' problem with the drinking, smoking, and profanity. This a great representation of comedy from the era.

Unsentimentally endearing

[JW-27 · 10/10 · 16 July 1999]

This is a superb movie. I don't think it will ever become dated--not as long as little league baseball is in existence. I remember first seeing it at a drive-in when I was ten, shortly after my own little league season had finished. Walter Matthau is excellent as Buttermaker, the beer-soaked coach who takes on the unwanted task of coaching a team of misfit kids who were allowed to play in the league only after a civil action law suit was won in their favor. Tatum O'Neal shines as the team's recruited pitcher Amanda, whose mother once dated Buttermaker. A touching subplot involves the relationship between Amanda and Buttermaker which turns from distant to warm as the final game approaches. Vic Morrow gives a frighteningly good performance as the out-to-win-no-matter-what coach of the opposing team who was never happy with the fact that the Bears were allowed to play in the first place. Joyce Van Patten is also good as the butch, outspoken league supervisor.

It's the kid players that really give this movie the edge. All performances are top-notch, and director Michael Ritchie splendidly keeps the focus mostly on them and their feelings about the whole ordeal. Stand-outs include Jackie Earl Haley as the heroic Kelly Leak and Chris Barnes as shortstop Tanner Boyle. This film should be a warning to relentless adults who try to achieve stardom on the backs of their children, be it on the baseball field or on the ballet floor.

A kids' movie you may not want your kids to watch

[Groverdox · 7/10 · 25 November 2018]

I had some reservations about watching "The Bad News Bears". I didn't grow up with the movie, and baseball isn't exactly a big deal in Australia.

I was surprised by what I saw.

I think this one may have been made before "child stars" became such a massive part of pop culture, with the two Coreys in the '80s and Macaulay Culkin in the '90s.

It's also before Hollywood began churning out kids' movies like paint-by-numbers.

Sure, there are still many of the cliches we know and many of us will probably never tire of: the cynical, down-and-out coach, either a has-been or a never-was, gets stuck with a ragtag children's team, none of whom show any promise, and yet many of whom capture our hearts with their quirky individuality: there's the nerd, the misunderstood delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks, the fat kid, the ethnic minorities, and eventually... the girl (ta da).

But what's interesting about the "Bad News Bears" is that it comes to you rough around the edges - edges that Disney would completely remove with their "Mighty Ducks" flicks, among many others. For one thing, the language is quite harsh. I never thought I would see a so-called "Family" movie from America that you wouldn't be able to show in a school classroom, but here we are. Not only is there near-constant swearing, but one of the kids lets loose with some appalling racial epithets not once but twice, and the movie treats it more as funny than shocking.

Plus, the team doesn't really seem to proceed that much, and nor does the Matthau character - as who else but the crusty coach - really soften THAT much over the course of the movie. Emilio Estevez in "Champions" and John Candy in "Cool Runnings" both had shame in their past that they had to recover from by, er, helping their team win (?). "The Bad News Bears" doesn't take pains to underline its cliches the way that movie did.

What you end up with, I think, is a movie which is a whole lot more real than any of those. The cliches are there but you have to dig to find them. "The Bad News Bears" is a nostalgiac classic for anyone who grew up with it, but I find it unlikely parents or teachers would show this to their kids over "Champions". This one asks a little more of them, including maturity.

Reminder of a freer time...

[shneur · 10/10 · 5 May 2005]

I was really impressed with how well this movie has "aged." Walter Natthau plays that role of the alcoholic wash-out to perfection, and Tatum O'Neal portrays the struggle of a young girl trying to enter adolescence without losing her sense of "self" with delicacy and skill. It's a good story,with quite a bit serious to say about human nature and the understandings and misunderstandings between generations; it makes me mad that it never received the attention it deserved because it's "just" about kids. On a sadder note, I also couldn't help being impressed with how far this culture has regressed since 1976. The children's use of even mild profanity would never be permitted now in a "family film," and the wonderful scene at the end would certainly send the Thought Police running for their placards and boycotts. It's worth watching this film again just to remind ourselves that only 30 years ago children still enjoyed some autonomous space in which to grow, and the iron doors of the Nanny State had not yet completely swung closed upon them.

Foul-mouthed comedy with good sportsmanship values

[Movie_Muse_Reviews · 7/10 · 1 October 2009]

If any of the kids in "The Bad News Bears" were your child, or if you had any acquaintance with a youth sports coach even remotely like Morris Buttermaker, you'd be outraged and embarrassed. At the same time, the film delivers a message that all involved with youth sports probably couldn't hear enough of. In other words, do as "Bad News Bears" implies, not as it says or does and take the foul language and poor behavior at comedic face value only.

Walter Matthau stars as Buttermaker, an drunken former minor leaguer who coaches a little league team because his job as a pool cleaner isn't exactly lucrative. His job is to coach the Bears, a group of untalented misfits, most of whom have attitude problems. Basically from Buttermaker and the other adults involved in the league all the way down to the rebel kid, Kelly (Jackie Earle Haley), who tears up the field with his motorcycle, not a character has respect for another. Kids talk back to adults, adults yell at kids -- it's an ugly scene. How "Bears" redeems itself is something of a feat.

You can't deny "Bears" its heart. Every lesson there is to be learned from youth sports finds its way into this film. At the very beginning the Bears give up 20 runs in the first and forfeit. Quitting and adopting a counter attitude is present from then on. Then there's the balance between winning and playing the game, something many parents and coaches still lose sight of even today. Despite filling its cast with rotten blonde kids and insensitive adults, "Bears" sneaks this in naturally. The film nearly gets dramatic at times considering the extent to which the disrespect does become a serious part of the story.

So on one hand, you have a little blonde kid saying "Great, we have a team full of (insert racial slurs here) and now a girl!" and then you have examples of good sportsmanship winning out. It's tough to call "Bears" a family film or a kids film for that reason, but then again, some kids would really benefit from the values. Most of all parents of kids in youth sports need to see this movie as it really speaks at them.

As a comedy, a good chunk of that nastiness earns a good deal of laughs, especially when it involves the innocence of kids rather than the awfulness of the adults. If blurring the line between acceptable behavior in films and comedy is fine by you, "Bears" is as good a sports comedy as any. ~Steven C

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.blogspot.com

Lupus is Da Man.

[Cobbler · 10/10 · 5 November 1998]

Hilarious film with a darker side that sometimes pokes through, especially in its serious moments. This is classic Walter Matthau, and classic Jackie Earle Haley, too! (Love that air hockey scene!) It reminds me of my childhood, and not many movies do. I can watch this film a dozen times and never get tired of it.

Calling all soccer moms...

[manicgecko · 7/10 · 12 May 2006]

This movie is required viewing for all parents trying to relive their high school glory days through their kids. Only one adult looks good in this movie and it ain't Walter M. This movie is a classic example of how adults should not behave during their kids' sporting events.

This movie is probably rated higher than I normally would because it was one of my favorites growing up. I actually thought that music from "carmen" was original "the BNB's" song. Now watching it again after twenty-some years I see my tastes in movies has changed but it was still surprisingly good. It definitely made up my mind - I have absolutely no desire to see Billy Bob's version. The plot - stereotypical come-from-behind-feel-good-for-your-effort sports movie that I will admit this is one of the pioneers for that genre. The acting lukewarm - the dialog - forced, but it is still worth it to demonstrate what jerks we can all be trying to be supportive.

A great American film

[fuldamobil · 10/10 · 12 February 2002]

I'm surprised this film is not higher rated. This is a great film about America and certainly one of the great comedies. Walter Matthau was born for this role. The kids are impeccably cast. Hilarious, moving and inspirational.

The First Honest Portrayal of Kids

[possumopossum · 7/10 · 4 December 2006]

What made this movie so groundbreaking when I first saw it in the summer of 1976 was that kids were portrayed as they really were instead of as the innocent, sometimes mischievous cherubs that most movies presented. These kids were real. Real brats, but real nevertheless. They cursed, they acted like little jerks and psychos, that's the way many boy athletes are. Now, this doesn't pack too much of a punch because every movie in the world does this now. But it's still fun to watch. It's a hoot watching the high-spirited Tanner in action. You have to admire that kid for having guts. That little side story between Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal could have been left out without hurting the story. He simply could have found her somewhere, or maybe he was her daughter, but without all the issues. That business just seemed to get in the way of the story. Also, I half expected her to walk away from him when he threw his beer at her during a game or practice. It would have served him right if she did. Favoite line: PITCHER: Well, well, if it isn't Englepuke again.

ENGLEBERT: How would you like me to stick this bat where the sun never shines? I still fall apart every time I hear that line. The kids' exploits, though I am certainly not an advocate of them has lost its punch over the years. Still fun to watch, though. 7 out of 10.

This is Simple

[damianphelps · 3/10 · 15 January 2021]

Just watch the trailer at the top of the page, it tells you the story and the jokes and then shows you the ending!

Just a note and I am not a fan of going too far with PC speech but there is a line a little kids uses in this movie, its in the trailer, (that did make me laugh to be honest and I was quite shocked) that if I typed it as part of the review, the review would not get published!

Times have changed for sure :)

Single Greatest Kids and Sports Movie EVER!

[enipuzgma · 23 September 2003]

I know that is an exaggeration, but I truly believe that this movie sets the standard by which all other "kids and sports" movies will be measured.

What it does that is unique is that it keeps the swearing and fighting where it belongs: on the field. This movie does not even try to make anyone look good, for the sake of making them look good. It just shows the kids at their very essence: booger-eating morons, just out to have a good time trying to play baseball.

Screen Riot Podcast - The Bad News Bears (1976) Review

[ScreenRiotPodcast · 7/10 · 6 July 2022]

Screen Riot Score - 6.7/10

With pristine bats, gloves, hats, and uniforms, the boys of the Southern California Youth Baseball League were ready to start another year playing America's favorite pastime. But, when newly elected city councilman, Bob Whitewood (Ben Piazza), sues the league for excluding the Bears, the team for which his son plays, the league gives in and allows the Bears to participate. However, unbeknownst to the league, Whitewood has a ringer, his pool cleaner Morris Buttermaker (played by none other than the great Walter Matthau).

Buttermaker, an aging, drunken, washed-up minor leaguer is hired by the councilman to coach the Bears. Armed with his trusty cooler full of beer, a fifth of whiskey, and two ringers of his own, he leads this ragtag team of misfits to the championship game.

What makes "The Bad News Bears" such a popular baseball movie?

The movie's popularity, rewatchability, and longevity stem from its heart. If you dig beneath the surface and search for a deeper meaning, you will find it. Buttermaker, like many of Matthau's characters, is not likable in the least. He's a drunk who uses his influence over a former girlfriend's daughter and an impressionable boy to have them be his star players on the Bears. This not only leads to those two kids hating him but also the rest of the team. By the end of the film, he has manipulated the team, given them beer, driven drunk with them in the car, and passed out on the field while they practiced.

But, after an argument with Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), his heart softens, and you start to have some empathy for the character. Once Coach Turner (Vic Morrow), the coach of the rival team the Yankees, slaps his son across the face for refusing to follow an order, Buttermaker turns himself around and realizes that the game is just a game and the kids want to have fun just as much as they want to win.

Most of us who saw the film as kids remember it fondly because of this message.

However, this film has not aged well in terms of questionable content. I doubt the film would be able to garner anything less than an R, perhaps even an NC-17, from the current MPAA standards.

So, at first glance "The Bad News Bears" would seem like a family-friendly film, but it's not. Written by Bill Lancaster and directed by Michael Ritchie, this film takes viewers into the gritty reality of youth sports in all of its unsettling glory. The saying "boys will be boys" is perfectly applicable when one player, frustrated with his performance, strips down to his undies and scales a tree. Similarly, another player, seemingly disappointed with the diversity of the team, lays down a slew of racial epithets that would wind up on the cutting room floor today.

Couple that with Buttermaker driving the team around in his convertible, top-down, no seatbelts on, and while he drinks a beer, and the movie would be given some very harsh criticism in today's climate. And let's not forget that heartwarming scene after the Bears lose the Championship when Buttermaker hands out a consolation prize, ice-cold bottles of beer for his players to enjoy.

Is "The Bad News Bears" a great film?

Yes, as long as viewers realize that it was made during a different time. Also, one cannot think of this film in "The Mighty Ducks" terms. This is not a movie made for kids. This is a movie made to teach adults how to act responsibly toward one another, their children, and those under their tutelage.

Currently, there are not many movies being made today that can do so much with their message. Movie-going audiences want action and adventure, superheroes and villains, and movies that make them escape reality, instead of facing it head-on. Perhaps, one day, we will again be mature enough to escape into reality instead of run away from it.

Enjoyed this Review? Consider visiting our YouTube Channel by searching Screen Riot!

Bad News Bears..The MOST deliciously UN-PC movie in history!

[Jetset971 · 9/10 · 22 January 2008]

Watching this classic again now that I am well into my thirties reminds me just how bland and painfully sanitized movies of today are. Can you even Imagine a movie made today in Hollywood, with a PG or even PG-Thirteen rating, coming anywhere close to the wonderfully political incorectness that this film had? Just off the top of my head I have made a list of the PC no-no's that this film gleefully rips to shreds. 1. Coach Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau). Constantly smoking cigars and downing more beer than a super bowl party held at A sports bar; in front of and in plain sight of little leaguers. My god, he even has, in one scene, one of his players mix him a martini as he lounges back on a lawn chair. If thats not enough, at the end of the movie he breaks out a cooler of bottles of beer and starts passing them around to the kids to drink! Remember these are not 17 or 18 year old high school kids, these are 11 and 12 year olds grade school kids! Yet nobody in the movie makes a terrible stink about it. Don't get me wrong, I do not in anyway condone underage drinking, but this is just a movie and I got to admit the way it was done was funny to watch. My point is that there is no way in hell you could pull that off today in a PG, PG-13, or maybe even R rating film.

2. Tanner Boyle AKA The little Bigot. I have got to tell you, the character of Tanner Boyle was so UN-PC by todays standards that I am amazed that they got away with it 30 years ago. This kid is a hotheaded foul mouthed little punk that berates everyone and is always spoiling for a fight. Worst of all is his unabashed use of using several racial slurs to impune his fellow teammates. I will not repeat what he says but suffice to say that it strikes you with all the subtlety of a bucket of Ice water. However, just like the alcohol, they way the movie handles it is funny. I think the reason it works is that it doesn't pull any punches when it come to showing children in different lights. Kids are as diverse and complicated as adults. Some are kind, friendly, intelligent, caring, some are shy, troubled, frightened, introverted, and like it or not, some, just like this kid, are mean, nasty, foul-mouthed, and yes bigoted. You could NEVER get this kind of dialouge or this type of little racist in a PG or PG-13 movie today. Once again, I don't condone what the character is saying, But looking back on my childhood, I Knew a good number of "Tanner's" who acted just like this kid. Like it or not.

In Conclusion, Bad News Bears is a very funny movie. Some people may be put off by its Political Incorectness, for the reasons I have already given, but I urge you see the film as a brutally honest portrait of not just kids in sports, but kids in general. My whole point was to illustrate how movies of today have lost there edge when it comes to dealing with delegate subjects, exspecally when kids are involved. All you have to do is look at the remake of The bad News bears a few years ago. While it did have some residual elements of the original, It was horrificaly gutted and cleaned up for todays crowds. Is that a good thing? Are the Un-PC moments I have mentioned here not better to do without completely? Well....It boils down to a matter of opinion. In my opinion, as I have stated before, it depends on how it is handeld. To me, if its honest or trying to make a point, it should not be hidden just to spare our feelings. I think we go to the movies to be entertained, yes, but remember one persons idea of what is "Trash" can also be another persons "Tresure". The Bad News Bears While being rough around the edges is a unpolished gem.

Dr. Strangeglove and how I learned to love childhood.

[thejcowboy22 · 6/10 · 11 April 2017]

I think back to my early days of little league baseball in Elmont. I wore my first purple and white uniform with the sponsors name across the back "Talk Of the Town Grocery". There I was at 9 years old fumbling grounders, bobbling fly balls and whiffing at bad pitches killing potential rallies by my team mates. earning the nickname "Duchebag". A traumatic experience playing hardball for the first time for any child. Take an over the hill, cigar smoking, beer guzzling pool cleaner in search of extra cash. Add some bungle-some maladroit's, one Harley Davidson Juvenile delinquent and flame throwing lassie and you have The Bad News Bears sponsored by Chico's Bail Bonds. If your looking for a wholesome warm movie about a star player getting the game winning hit to win the championship with bits of sportsmanship thrown in you got off at the wrong stop. Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) inherited this ragtag bunch of little league pre-teen ballplayers. Let's describe this roster of misfits. At catcher you have the irritable hefty Engelberg who can barely close his shirt around his massive belly and always has a supply of chocolate bars on hand and a bucket of fried chicken.. Then you have the very intelligent timid, storky, bespectacled Ogilvie. On the mound as number 2 through 5 starter the clumsy Rudi Stein who has a penchant under the orders of the Manager to lean into one and get struck by a pitched ball. At Shortstop you have the boisterous, foul mouthed Tanner who has the boldness and bravery to take on the entire seventh grade. Our token Black player on the squad is Ahmad who when things go bad, and they usually do, takes off his uniform and climbs up a tree. Timmy Lupus is every person's underdog. Meek like a doe with his eyes in the headlights of an on coming truck. Teased and harassed by opposing ballplayers as Tanner comes to Timmy's defense but is physically deposited into a garbage can by Joey Turner (Brandon Cruz). You remember the adorable Brandon from the days of the TV show The Courtship Of Eddie's Father. In this film Brandon is anything but adorable as the opposing pitcher on the first place Yankees managed by His Philistine Father, Roy Turner (Vic Morrow). Morrow puts winning ahead of everything else in our story including his own family. Vic Morrow was Well cast as the foil against the deadpan Matthau. Ironically the two worked together in the Movie King Creole with the Iconic Elvis Presley years earlier. I love the banter between two opposing Managers Buttermaker and Turner. Buttermaker refers to Turner as PUSSHEAD. The final piece to this puzzle is our two talents. Map selling 12 year old Amanda Whurlitzer (Tatum O'Neal)who knows Buttermaker because he dated her Mom two years hence and the bond developed between Amanda and Buttermaker was there but not with the Mom. Tatum throughout the picture would want Buttermaker to date her Mom because deep down Amanda needed a Father figure in her life. Finally Cigarette smoking muscle shirted Harley bike riding Kelly Leak(Jackie Earle Haley)the natural power slugging outfielder who practically carries the whole team on his back right up to the championship game. Director Michael Ritchie captures the real childhood experience of Little league with all the foul language and pecking order. A team of dreadful' s being scoffed by the opponents and on the verge of quitting but a philosophic Buttermaker tells his troupe's that quitting is a hard habit to break. So get out your athletic supporters and when the season is over get acquainted with the Wife and kids. Hunt, fish or do whatever you do in the off season but be ready to be entertained by the Bad News Bears. Oh by the way check the baseballs for chocolate stains.

Who better to leave your children's care than in the hands of an alcoholic?

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 9/10 · 6 December 2006]

LOL, I know I stole that line from I love the 70's, but I just thought it was so true and that was my exact thought from the first minute I started watching The Bad News Bears. Now to the movie, The Bad News Bears is one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time, I almost died laughing throughout the whole movie. I obviously heard about this movie from the show I love the 70's on VH1, way before the remake with Billy Bob Thorton. It always slipped my mind though when I wanted to rent it, but finally I remembered and I am so glad that I got the chance to see it, because this is one of the best comedies to come out of the 70's.

Buttermaker is a has been baseball player and now an alcoholic, he is given the job of a little league coach for the Bears since no other fathers are taking the job. But he's definitely taken back when he finds out that the team he is coaching are kids who are, well, I guess you could say "lacking" in the department of knowing how to play baseball. But he just wants to get paid and get the job over with, but when their first game comes along, the kids get creamed 26-0, Buttermaker is pressured to drop the team out of the league, but instead teaches the kids how to play and recruits a couple of new kids, a girl who's mother he used to date, and a rebel without a cause. The kids get better in each game, but it's a matter of Buttermaker getting his priorities straight when he lets the game get the worst of him... and he's an alcoholic!

The Bad News Bears is just so funny, Walter Matthau was just too perfect for this role as Buttermaker, he was so believable. I think my favorite Bear was Tanner, because the role could have been over done, but the kid did it just right, not to mention his last line of the film is just classic and fit the movie just right. I loved how the film wasn't your traditional your favorite team is always going to be out of no where champions, this was an awesome comedy that anyone would just fall in love with.

9/10

Are These Little Leaguers the Students... or the Teachers?

[drqshadow-reviews · 7/10 · 9 March 2022]

Looking to get his son involved in a prestigious little league system that's already over capacity, a well-connected father greases a few palms, recruits his own team of misfits and hires a miserable ex-pitcher to show them the ropes. I'm not really sure what the dad's plan is here, as he quickly fades out of the picture while the team, predictably, plummets straight to the bottom of the standings. Did he expect them to fail and merge with an established club? Maybe he just needed to get that kid out of his hair? Either way, his methods are as strange as his paternal instincts are suspect.

Morris Buttermaker, the down-and-out former ace who's tasked with supervising the kids, is a hopeless drunk who alternately neglects his players and torments them. He's barely present to start the season, passing out at practice and slamming brews during games, but something about the team's fighting spirit pierces the fog and draws him out of his private slump. When that switch flips, he shifts from a ghost to a tyrant. No longer apathetic to more than the source of his next drink, he overworks his best players and berates the others for small mistakes. This puts the kids in a weird place: they admire his experience and appreciate his advice, but hate the way he makes them feel. They want to win, but they want to have fun, too, and as their record improves, the pressure to triumph supersedes love of the game. Buttermaker isn't the only coach to fall into this trap; he's just the first to realize it. It takes him long enough, right up to the championship game, but he does come around and the moment he realizes that he's being a toxic old jerk is powerful.

Mostly a screwball comedy that delights in the shocking vulgarity of its young cast, there's also something heartier, something meaningful, churning beneath the surface.

Strangely Maybe the Best Fictional Sports Film of All-Time

[classicalsteve · 10/10 · 22 April 2015]

While "Rocky" was about an athlete overcoming obstacles to pursue a dream, "The Natural" centered on an older man's comeback in professional sports, and "Jerry McGuire" told a story of transcendence between a sports agent and his fiery unpredictable client, "The Bad News Bears" focused much more on organic down-to-earth issues. Aside from films derived from real-life true stories, such as "42", "Hoosiers", and "Rudy", "The Bad News Bears" may be the most poignant fictional sports film ever produced. "The Bears" deals with prejudice, inequality, injustice, racism, and obsession, on one hand, while simultaneously searching and finding acceptance, bridge-building, and determination. Yet, the characters and setting are so real, the dialog so true-to-life, you don't realize you're being offered these larger ideas. They just emerge from the plight of the characters. Who knows whether or not the filmmakers were setting out to make a social statement, but they did which is the mark of a truly great story.

The essential plot is pretty basic. A group of junior high school age baseball players are thrown together to play on a team called "The Bears". They only have one thing in common: they are, for the most part, terrible. They can't pitch, they can't bat, and they can't field. Walter Matthau, in one of his best performances since "The Odd Couple", plays Morris Buttermaker, a swimming pool cleaner who is asked by a City Councilman to coach this team of athletically challenged misfits. The Councilman had filed a lawsuit against the city because the Little League was excluding players with less ability, and the Bears team was the city's "restitution", allowing less-skilled kids a chance to play the game.

What makes the film as good as it is has to do with the characters of the players as much as Matthau as Buttermaker. These kids were literally ripped right out of reality, and seem so similar to the kids I played with when I was of junior high age that it's almost scary. I can't name them all, but I offer a few of the ones which stick in my mind. In no particular oder: Toby, son of the councilman, who's probably the most vocal of the kids, Ogilvie, the most intellectual of the boys but not the best player, Amanda, their best pitcher and the only female in the league, Kelly, the trouble-maker who smokes and rides a Harley but is an amazing outfielder and hitter, Tanner, my favorite character, the shortest but craziest of the team who would give Napoleon Bonaparte a run for his money when he takes on the entire 7th grade. He defends Lupus against some bullies at one point in the film. Lupus is perhaps the worst player on the team and shows little knowledge of social decorum. At first Tanner and the others are put-off by Lupus, but at one point the team appreciates him.

At first, there seems little hope for this group of unskilled oddballs when they're slaughtered during their first game. However, as the film progresses we learn more about the characters and how they start to pull for one another. Several of the Bears are either dismissed or harassed at various moments in the story, and the teammates begin to learn to stick up for one another, both on and off the field. As a result they slowly begin to play better. Even Buttermaker changes during the story. At first he's not the best coach, but he starts to see things in his players the other teams around the league don't see. We also witness the obsession and over-zealousness of the parents, whose attitude becomes more about the kids winning than simply experiencing the game. In the climactic final game, Buttermaker makes a realization which is as profound as any in sports films of this type.

This is just an incredible story which says much more about modern culture, particularly about young people, then it may have set out to do. The dialog seems like it was derived right out of a junior high school baseball diamond. While most child characters speak dialog which is unrelated to their age and experience, the script of the Bad News Bears must have come from the mouths of babes, literally. I imagine the screenwriters must have spent time at actual Little League games and written down the dialog. The ending is one of the best in all of sports films, and it is not only completely believable but it fits with the rhetoric of the entire film. An absolute breath of fresh air, especially if you're tired of those fictional sports films where you can guess the outcome.

Buttermakers's Bail Bond Backed Bears.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 26 March 2010]

Rewarding for both adults and children, this funny and astute movie revels in poking the ribs of Little League Baseball whilst casting a cautionary eye of the obsession some have with winning. An on form Walter Matthau stars as Morris Buttermaker, a now washed up ex minor league player who, prompted by a financial carrot, becomes manager of a multi-racial team of Little League misfits. It's originally a rough road as Buttermaker is more concerned with drinking beer, while the kids themselves don't know which end of the bat to hold. But things start to pick up when Morris enlists his talented daughter Manda (Tatum O'Neal) to pitch for them. Not only that but the town rebel, Kelly Leak (Jackie Earl Hayley), with points to prove, has also been prompted to join.

Directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster (yes, Burt's son), The Bad News Bears never sinks to being a preachy fable. It also delightfully doesn't resort to type for its finale. Making this a very clever and aware film from a genre of film so often troubled by safe playing and a too frothy approach. It would spawn two so so sequels in the next two years, inspire an imitation, get a TV series make over and was remade in 2005 with Billy Bob Thornton taking on the role of Buttermaker. 7.5/10

Surprisingly Profound

[joncheskin · 9/10 · 5 August 2014]

I remember watching the Bad News Bears as a teenager close to when it first came out, and thinking that yeah, this was a fun movie that kind of reminded me of real life. The movie was famous at the time, and I never remembered it being anything more than a fun entertainment. When I watched it again a few days ago (perhaps the first time in 30 years), I was really startled. This movie was not just funny but impressive, capturing something of the truth about the way adults and kids really interact with each other in our society. The kids are gritty--they swear, they fight, they are insolent and belligerent, they are cruel (sound familiar?). The adults are hyper-competitive, drunken, prone to selfish projection, lazy and insensitive (sound familiar again?). The movie becomes much more than a feel-good underdog story (although it would inspire many such imitations) but rather becomes a desperate struggle for dignity among all the participants in a situation that is full of snares. This is a really good movie, not particularly for kids to view.

Rebels/Misfits Are Always The Heroes In Hollywood

[ccthemovieman-1 · 6/10 · 22 June 2007]

This was a hit back in the mid '70s because of several things. Walter Matthau was funny in the lead role as a Little League manager. The kids were varied and interesting. Feminists liked the movie because the best pitcher on the team was a girl.

Tatum O'Neal, at 12, became an instant star because of her role as "Amanda," the great pitcher. She wound up living a tumultuous life as a child star and later as adult marrying another spoiled-brat rebel, tennis star John McEnroe.

The public seems to always love shows in which ragtag misfits somehow come together to beat the powerful "establishment" teams or groups or companies or governments. Liberal Hollywood has always loved that rebels-make-good theme, and always will, from "Rebel Without A Cause" to "Easy Rider" to "Revenge Of the Nerds" to "Dirty Harry," on and on. The worse you act, and the more you rebel against authority, the better they will portray you.

In this movie, the manager, "Coach Buttermaker," is a drunk, is profane and a misfit himself but, of course, he gets it all together, too, and winds up a hero along with these bratty kids. And just to make sure you get the point, the biggest rebel of them all - "Kelly Leak" (Jackie Earle-Haley), is some 12-year-old who thinks he's Marlon Brando on a motorcycle. He's the best hitter on the team and an indispensable member of the squad, if they are to win. He's so cool with that bike and a cigarette in his mouth....wow!

All of these movie clichés work, though, and the film was fun to watch and a big hit 30 years ago, spawning numerous lame sequels. It's another one of those '70s irreverent films that were new and "cool" back in their day, but a bit dated now

Not as much of a classic as I was hoping for

[noizyme · 5/10 · 29 December 2005]

Bad News Bears is about a little league team and their fighting determination to deal with an alcoholic coach and diverse, not-so-talented teammates. The coach, Mr. Buttermaker (played classically by Walter Matthau), agrees to more than he thinks he signs up for when he agrees to manage the Bears. With a distorted view of how the team should perform and hardly any practice put into the work of the team, he learns how much the meaning of sportsmanship has slipped through his fingers into his alcoholic gaze.

I liked the movie, but not enough to call this one a classic, in my opinion. I think there were a lot of slow, detached scenes when you wondered what was supposed to be going on. The little girl (his daughter?) who ends up pitching for the Bears seems like overkill with her "8 going on 30" acting mannerisms. The "bad boy" Kelly character was a nice touch but again very unbelievable with their casting choice for that kid. My guess is that he might've been chosen for actual baseball skill, I think. Matthau doesn't need to do a whole lot in this film; he gets to sit around and order kids to play ball better as he sips beer and loses focus of the team.

If the movie is trying to get the audience to feel badly for the players, the sympathy level rises, but not enough to make anything believable. You get to see the products of destroyed ethics in a few kids (like the kid quick to hurl racist terms around). The only significant time when something starting happening was when the rival coach goes on the field and confronts/hits his kid, causing the kid to stop participating in the play right after the incident. I don't know if this movie took place when a lot of alcoholic (or even obsessive) managers/parents would have their kids in little league/pop warner football/whatever. The message was clear from the beginning and seemed to stretch and get tired by the end, though.

The remake of the film (with Billy Bob Thorton) was a bit more lively and kept my attention longer possibly for the newness of the scenes in that version. This older one didn't have very active or attention-grabbing moments as much as that one. There was no music to spice up the playing time. But despite the lack of active scenes, Matthau does keep every movie he does a classic by providing his reluctant twist on an otherwise boring character.

I gave the film a 5/10. It didn't grab me as much as I was possibly expecting from a movie like this, called a "classic" even. I was hoping for more of a comedy as well, but not very many scenes held their own to be very memorable. Despite the average score, I'd suggest checking it out for the Matthau performance (and classic character of his) and an overall sense of what going out to movie back when this came out is all about (a lot of films were released into this cesspool of films which could've been a lot better).