The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978)

User Rating:

2.9/10   

Director:

John Berry

Writer:

Bill Lancaster (written by)

Release Date:

30 June 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sport

Tagline:

They never met an adult they couldn't drive crazy.

Plot:

In this third film version of the Bad News Bears series, Tony Curtis plays a small time promotor/hustler...

Plot Keywords:

Baseball | Japan | Sequel | Sports Team

Cast

Tony Curtis	...	Marvin Lazar
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Kelly Leak
Tomisaburo Wakayama	...	Coach Shimizu
Antonio Inoki	...	Himself
Hatsune Ishihara	...	Arika
George Wyner	...	the Network Director
Lonny Chapman	...	Louis the Gambler
Matthew Anton	...	E.R.W. Tillyard III (as Matthew Douglas Anton)
Erin Blunt	...	Ahmad Rahim
George Gonzales	...	Miguel Agilar
Brett Marx	...	Jimmy Feldman
David Pollock	...	Rudy Stein
David Stambaugh	...	Toby Whitewood
Jeffrey Louis Starr	...	Mike Engleberg
Scoody Thornton	...	Mustapha Rahim

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA | Japan

Language:

English | Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Tokyo, Japan

Company:

Michael Ritchie Productions

Quotes:

Abe Bernstein: Marvin I can't take off my shoes, I'll get athletes foot!
Marvin Lazar: Well then that'll be the only part of you that is an athlete.

Movie Connections:

References "Happy Days" (1974)

Soundtrack:

MEAN BONES

The Bears are BAD.

It had to happen. After the success of "The Bad News Bears" and "Breaking Training" the film execs at Paramount knew they had a goldmine on their hands and couldn't leave well enough alone. They started on the right track by enlisting Bill Lancaster to write the script. He also authored the original. Sadly that is where the similarities end.

"The Bad News Bears Go To Japan" is one of the worst films of the 70's. It's so bad the many of the kids from the first two don't even appear in this one. The ones that do are given little to do save for team leader Kelly Leak who gets to romance a young japanese girl. The love story is laughably bad.

The coach this time around is Tony Curtis playing a con man looking for his next score. Curtis looks as if he is in a trance as he sleepwalks thru the film.

And the worst part? There is very little baseball in a movie about little leaguers!!! We get more scenes of sumo wrestling. The one baseball game we DO get is badly directed and comes so late in the film you may have either fallen asleep or turned it off.

And why send the kids all the way to Japan? A bit far fetched don't you think? Apparently the first film was a smash hit in Japan, playing in one theater for over a year. That says it all. The filmmakers knew that no matter how badly it bombed here (and it did) that they would have a hit in Japan (and it was). Too bad they didn't care that the product they were presenting was no better than a student film on a tiny budget. No. Take that back. A student film on a tiny budget would have to be ten times better than this pathetic "comedy."