classicalsteve
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.
jaywensley2004
Most of the best-loved movies centered on sports are about the sport as an icon. They are tributes to the sport; love stories about something we idealize. "The Bad News Bears" is one of a handful of movies that evoke what it was like to play a sport. It may be the best of such movies, although I would place it in a tie with the brilliant "Personal Best."For any one who played an organized sport when they were young, "...Bears" should ring true. We didn't just know these kids, we were these kids. Trying to balance a developing sense of pride with the gratification that comes from being an appreciated part of a group. Trying to learn how to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. And trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with the adults who were supposed to be guiding us.For most of us, we figured it out. We may not have realized it, but we did. For some, "The Bad News Bears" may have been an important part of that. Anyone who hasn't had a moment like Tanner's when he realizes that he may not like Timmy, but Timmy is "TEAM!" probably never played a team sport. And I especially liked the way the film took advantage of the (at the time, new) inclusion of girls on Little League teams. I had aged out of Little League by then but "The Bad News Bears" reminded me that I had often wondered when I was playing LL if there weren't girls who could stay on the field with us boys. (As an aside does anybody remember the "Silver Bullets?" I firmly believe there are women capable of playing MLB caliber baseball, especially at 2B or SS.)As "film," "The Bad News Bears" is a great piece of work. Watched today, almost 40 years after its release, it seems classic, undated. The script has moments of brilliance (the aforementioned scene where Tanner discovers he's a team player and Tatum O'Neal's line about "up there" are favorites), the cinematography preserves the reality of suburban Little League settings, the direction is crisp but unobtrusive and the story is so well-crafted that it stings like an 11 year-old's fastball to the ribs. And the acting, especially among the players seems less like performance than candid documentary. These kids look, talk and act like pre-adolescents. They are old enough to be hearing "act your age" from the adults around them but present without affectation the confusion that is inherent from hearing themselves answer "But...I'm 11!" This more than anything else is what makes "...Bears" such a realistic film about playing a sport. These youngsters are being taught to compete, taught to win, but what they are doing is trying to have fun. It is confusing.
TOMASBBloodhound
The Bad News Bears still stands as an impressive film. In a world where some little league teams apparently don't even keep score anymore, this film provides some valuable nostalgia. It isn't hard to forgive the ancient "sports movie" clichés about a bad team somehow learning to win against their more privileged competition when you take the entire film into account. The laughs generally keep coming as Walter Matthau stars as an alcoholic ex-ballplayer hired to coach a pack of misfit kids. Apparently these kids have won some type of lawsuit to be able to participate in an exclusive tween baseball league. Not a lot is said of this legal aspect, and once the games start, its basically forgotten. Matthau's Bears are made up of mostly "Jews, Sp*cs, and N-words", as the foul-mouthed kid named Tanner points out. Its frankly kind of jaw-dropping to hear little kids use that kind of language, but by the end you're used to it. This is one of those PG movies from back in the day that are more harsh than some of today's PG-13 movies.The story progresses as you might expect it to. The team stinks, they get made fun of, it looks like they're going to have to quit, etc... Then Matthau pulls an ace out of his sleeve. Tatum O'Neal plays the daughter of a woman he used to date. She has a hell of a pitching arm and after he bribes her into playing, the Bears are suddenly contenders. A local juvenile delinquent also helps out, if only to annoy off the arrogant coach of the rival Yankees. Naturally the league championship comes down to the Bears against the Yankees, and the outcome was at least not so much clichéd.The Bad News Bears succeeds because it can do so many things at once. Not only is it funny, but it has some arresting moments involving over-aggressive parents and stunning bad behavior from some of the kids. There are also some touching moments. One has O'Neal try to suggest Matthau and her mother reconcile, or at least maybe they could do something together after the season like a father and daughter. Matthau angrily rebukes this olive branch and admits he's just using the girl for her fastball. She walks away heartbroken, and as a viewer you're kind of stunned. You sort of presumed there will be a happy ending with the little girl melting the old drunk's heart, but it doesn't happen. The cast is good enough. Matthau is perfect as Buttermaker. Vic Morrow is memorable as the slimy coach of the Yankees. His career of course would be cut short in a horrific accident on the set of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Tatum O'Neal had definite charisma, and you really wish she could have had better guidance growing up. She ended up too much like her dad, unfortunately. Most of the kids are pretty funny. The Tanner kid steals plenty of scenes. You have to listen close in many cases to hear some of the hilarious things these kids say in various situations. In one scene for example, a kid is hit in the groin by the ball. He collapses in agony and you hear one of the adults call for a stretcher. Listen close, and one of the kids says, "a stretcher? For his balls?". Lots of funny moments like that! The film also makes great use of classical music throughout. Definitely take another look at this film. But not the sequels, and the remake was likely also a dud. 8 of 10 stars.The Hound.
