BAD NEWS BEARS, THE (1976)

(April 1976, U.S.)

I don't know how well you remember this original film, but let me assure you that it's not exactly a family film. These asswipe kids are raw and racy, especially the character of little Tanner Boyle ("All we got on this team are a buncha Jews, spics, niggers, pansies, and a booger-eatin' moron!"). See what I'm talkin' about? By today's rating standards, this would have been rated PG-13 and not PG.

That aside, THE BAD NEWS BEARS is, without a doubt, the best sports film revolved around kids that I've ever seen. It's a film about change, too. The Bears get better at the game as the film progress, of course (they REALLY SUCK at the beginning!), but the changes in the film's characters is also interesting. Walter Matthau's Coach Buttermaker starts out indifferent to his entire position and gradually comes to care about the kids and the game (too much about the game at certain times). The kids change from trouble-making misfits to little ballplayers with the confidence to help them ALMOST win the championship (better luck in the sequel, boys!). The estranged relationship between Buttermaker and his old flame's daughter Amanda (Tatum O'Neal) grows close again as the Bears' game progresses. Anyway, I think you get the point - people change, the game of baseball changes and everybody and everything lives happily ever after at the end. Now THAT'S a family film!

One particular point about this film that often hits home in real life is how (apparantly) crazy and obssessed some parents and coaches can get when it comes to their kid's athletics. It's almost frightening to watch a guy like Vic Morrow's Coach Roy Turner treat his team like they were hard-hitting adult athletes (they're just grade school kids, for Christ sakes!). He runs a highly competetive program, for sure, but Mr. Turner surely needs a stiff drink to lighten up, too. Just my opinion.

Watching THE BAD NEWS BEARS is about the only memorable appreciation I have towards the game of baseball in the '70's as a kid. I didn't watch much baseball on TV and I didn't collect baseball cards for very long because I kept losing them to other kids in games of chance. When I was 13 years-old, my father forced me to give little league a try. For about 5 seconds, I was a big star when I swung at anything and smacked the ball a long out of the infield, causing my dad to lose his mind in excitement (unfortunately, a foul ball). My dad was a ball player in his youth and my 4 year-old son already shows signs of loving the game. I guess it skipped a generation with me.

Favorite line or dialogue:

Tanner Boyle: "Hey Yankees... you can take your apology and your trophy and shove 'em straight up your ass!"
Timmy Lupus: "And another thing...just wait 'till next year!"