Rating: 
Summary: A gem
Review: My friends and I all saw this when we were 12-13 and we were very impressed with the fact that the kids cursed like we did. Such verisimiltude would fall to political correctness nowadays. Brilliant script that uses character development to make the film. Both Buttermaker and the Bears grow, but in a gradual way. This patience is evinced in the Bears' new winning ways, which comes slowly and thus gains believablity. A funny and poingnant classic that was the precursor to all those "Mighty Duck" films as well as that "Hardball" flick.
By the way, skip the sequels. They stink.
Rating:
Summary: For All of Who Had Splinters in Our Butts as Little Leaguers
Review: Not only is this Walter Mathau at his finest, and a great early performance by Tatus O'Neal, it is a highly underated film, and a monument to all of us that had to play second fiddle to a bunch of jocks. Tanner says it all at the end of the film when he tells the Yankees what to do with their apology and their trophy!
Rating:
Summary: 2, 4, 6, 8 ......
Review: Some 20 years ago, I left off coaching Little League baseball because of the same type of attitudes shown in this movie. Although billed as a comedy, to my mind The Bad News Bears is equally a cautionary tale - it should be required viewing for all Little League coaches and parents. Hey folks, see yourselves here? Oh well, a word to the wise (and enjoy this movie)!
Rating:
Summary: Could not get made today.
Review: Studios would never risk making such a hard edged kiddie flick! Here we have a posse of little cretins that act like real kids, obnoxious, bratty, foul mouthed, and selfish. These kids hurl racial epithets and get slapped down by their overly competitive or alcohol abusing coaches and fathers. Matthau drives the kids around while drinking whiskey laced beer. Do not let the PG rating fool you. In other words, it's a little too close to reality for modern white washed sensitivities and has nary a trace of the sentimentality that permeates other kiddie fare. So, if you want a non offensive boring piece of trash to watch with the family, I suggest you look at the list of lame imitators, such as Little Giants, Mighty Ducks, the Sandlot, or Little Big League.
The Bad News Bears is great! When kids are allowed to act like real kids, they can be pretty convincing. The humor is derived from watching the kids deal with each other or watching Matthau deal with their exasperating antics. And it has quite a number of actually touching moments, as when loud mouthed little Tanner sticks up for Lupus, or when Matthau coaxes Ahmad out of a tree after a particularly poor performance on the field, and of course, when both coaches lose their cool in the dugout during the final game. (Parents can learn lessons from this flick as well).
So, if you have not seen this since you were a kid, check it out, there was a lot more going on than you remember, and if you are an adult wondering if you should let your eight year old see it, go for it. I turned out alright!
Rating: 
Summary: The best movie about 70s kids
Review: The 70s are back in the movies. But I was a kid when Sir Elton sang about 'Philedelphia Freedom' and 'Jaws' warped all of us, so I can't relate to "Boogie Nights" or all those mafia pics that take place in the 70s. Might as well settle for the real thing. If you played league ball, TBNB is basically a mirror of your reality. The cast is incredible (Tatum especially) and the essential innocence of the sport still rings true. Sweet, funny and worthwhile - much like the 70s.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST!!!!
Review: The best baseball movie of all time. This movie is exactly the way little league is. The overly competitive coaches, the kids bad language, the rude parents in the stands. It's all true!!!!
Great performances by entire cast,especially Morrow. The greatest thing about this movie is the kids are really playing baseball. You could tell these kids have experience playing the game, not like all this other Hollywood garbage.(Eight men Out, Major League,Love of the Game) This is the real deal. Worth every penny for this classic film!!!
Rating:
Summary: A Matthau Gem... Shall We Say "Diamond?"
Review: The great Walter Matthau (all saggy jowls) plays Buttermaker, an ex-pitcher turned pool cleaner who tools around all day on his jobs in a chop-top station wagon with a cooler of beer in the backseat. A local businessman talks (with money) Buttermaker into coaching a youth-league team of castaways. Seems this is one community that takes its youth league baseball seriously. A little too seriously. What follows is the familiar plot of a bunch of underdog kids coming together as the "Team Nobody Believed In" and contending for the championship against a team that represents everything that's wrong when parents spoil simple pleasures for their children (the Yankees, coached by Vic Morrow, in a neatly-observed performance). Look, I don't know if "Bears" even did it first, but this movie certainly does it best, and without the labored sentimentality of its progeny. "Bears" never turns cartoonish. It captures just the right atmosphere- slanting, late afternoon sunlight during the games, the bikes parked behind the dugouts, the post-game chants. The kids, led by Tatum O'Neal and Jackie Earle Haley all perform well, and each has a sharply defined personality. Even Morrow, as Buttermaker's antagonist, isn't portrayed as bad or evil- just a guy with misplaced priorities that make him act like a jerk. But Matthau makes this movie, conning kids into making martinis for him and cleaning pools while he regales them with increasingly drunken stories of his baseball glory days... until he passes out on the mound in a litter of beer cans. Matthau plays Buttermaker as a modern day loser who discovers (eventually) he still has a better nature. Bright, smart and funny, "The Bad News Bears" is a joy to watch, full of quick-witted exchanges and even heartbreak. If you've seen one too many "Mighty Ducks" flicks, do yourself a favor and watch this one. It goes down as smooth as one of Buttermaker's ice cold ones on a hot afternoon. And look for that kid who played Eddie in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" as Morrow's son and the Yankees' star pitcher. He has a ballpark epiphany that's true and heartbreaking. Just another aspect of this marvelous little movie.
Rating:
Summary: Bad News Bears
Review: The whole cast was great, but Vic Morrow and Walter Matthau were the whole movie. Vic Morrow was the greatest actor of our time. He was also a very good looking man. He was born in the Bronx like I was (that made him very special to all of us
Bronxites) and we are proud of one of our own kind that did so well.
I give the movie a five star.
Rating:
Summary: The Most Popular Little League Team!
Review: This 1976 movie is a classic. This one and the sequel is by far the most entertaining baseball movies you'll ever see. Non stop laughter through out the movie. I recommend watching this movie!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good movie!
Review: This is a good movie, I liked all the actors but especially Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal and Jackie Earle Haley, I don't have this movie in my collection but I wouldn't mind adding it to my collection someday. I very highly recommend this movie to not only people who like movies about baseball but to anyone who likes a good movie that basically everyone n the family can enjoy!
|
