The Bad News Bears | | Cast : | Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal | | Director : | Michael Ritchie | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | April 07, 1976 | | DVD Released Date : | June 24, 2003 | | Language : | French (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 07, 2005 | | Summary | too bad they had to remake this mini classic | Content
 | the new movie is so raunchy and sexy it makes me sick, i am so glad we did not take our kids to watch it...but, this was a fun dvd making me recall childhood feelings of fun at the park...Tatum was adorable, and buttermaker was a cult classic |
| Rating | | | Date | August 01, 2005 | | Summary | Walter Matthau=awesome actor | Content
| I have always like walter matthau in grumpy old men and grumpier old men.But this is probably my favorite movie with him in it.The bears seem to be the losing team and shouldn't be on the field with the rest of the teams.
This movie had me laughing all thrroughout.It was a typical sports movie theme though.Team bad then becomes good.All in all though it was still a great movie |
| Rating | | | Date | July 26, 2005 | | Summary | One of a Kind | Content
| This is the most honest kids film I have ever seen, plays like a documentary about little league baseball. Antisentimental,anarchist,politically incorrect,brave and actually shows real kids. This film has 10 year olds talking like rusty sailors but it shows the raw emotion of working together against all odds. Matthau shines as the baseball coach and O Neal doesn't even seem to be acting as a heartbroken girl finding a father figure. All of the kids are wonderful and this film will never be duplicated as the remake and all the sequels are all pretty lame in comparision. Long Live the Bears>g |
| Rating | | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | Riskiest Kids Movie Ever Made. And I love it! | Content
| No where now will you find a drunken coach walking on the field with a
beer during a game. Tanners racist temper. Kids getting verbally
abused. Dad whacking his kid on the field. To end it all, the team
walks on the field after defeat with a beer! I am really shocked that
this flick hasn't been banned.
This is the best kid baseball movie ever. I just watched it again and I
love it. How many beers does Buttermaker drink a day? Oh yeah, in the
championship game, I love how Engelberg flicks off the Pitcher. So
politically incorrect. That's why you gotta see it. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 15, 2005 | | Summary | The American Pastime Amusingly Coerced on Kids... | Content
| Baseball has been dubbed The American Pastime, however, the word pastime suggests that it is something someone does because it is pleasurable. The Bad News Bears offers an amusing study in regards to what many Americans call pastime through a Little League baseball team that goes by the name Bears. Instead of delivering a pleasurable time through baseball it becomes evident that winning is much more important, which the adults impose on their children. In addition, the director Michael Ritchie depicts the opposite of working hard towards winning, which is doing nothing through Coach Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau).
Coach Buttermaker is a former minor league baseball player that now supports himself by cleaning pools. He has somehow gained the job as a Little League baseball coach, which he does with his cigar in one hand while the other holds his cool beer. In other words, he does not care for much other than drinking himself into stupor and gaining nicotine induced relaxation. However, the kids that he has been assigned to coach begin to look up to him, as he brags about his ancient baseball stories while they help him clean pools.
When the first game comes around, it is evident that he has not coached or taught them anything. The game becomes a lesson in humiliation, as they also realize that Coach Buttermaker is a phony. Nonetheless, Buttermaker learns a valuable lesson from it himself, as he decides to change his approach and really help the kids. He teaches them how to field a ball and how to bat, but also how to get along. It becomes a roller coaster that slowly ascends before the big pay off.
The first thing that some might react to on watching The Bad News Bears is the explicit language presented in the film. This could probably make some viewers somewhat upset, but it carries a message. The message is that the children are products of society, which in turn is governed by adults. Ritchie pushes this same message onto the baseball field where the lesson of winning and having fun are lesson's taught by adults.
The film has the feel of a documentary, or something by Robert Altman where the audience does not get to know the audience in detail, but an emphasis is built on the environment where the characters coexist. Yet, it is intended as a comedy, which could be a disastrous mix. However, Michael Ritchie pulls it off by presenting a baseball film that meets somewhere on middle ground where the audience will learn that winning and having fun must meet on mutual ground for a pastime to exist. |
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