Screen Riot Score - 6.7/10
With pristine bats, gloves, hats, and uniforms, the boys of the Southern California Youth Baseball League were ready to start another year playing America's favorite pastime. But, when newly elected city councilman, Bob Whitewood (Ben Piazza), sues the league for excluding the Bears, the team for which his son plays, the league gives in and allows the Bears to participate. However, unbeknownst to the league, Whitewood has a ringer, his pool cleaner Morris Buttermaker (played by none other than the great Walter Matthau).
Buttermaker, an aging, drunken, washed-up minor leaguer is hired by the councilman to coach the Bears. Armed with his trusty cooler full of beer, a fifth of whiskey, and two ringers of his own, he leads this ragtag team of misfits to the championship game.
What makes "The Bad News Bears" such a popular baseball movie?
The movie's popularity, rewatchability, and longevity stem from its heart. If you dig beneath the surface and search for a deeper meaning, you will find it. Buttermaker, like many of Matthau's characters, is not likable in the least. He's a drunk who uses his influence over a former girlfriend's daughter and an impressionable boy to have them be his star players on the Bears. This not only leads to those two kids hating him but also the rest of the team. By the end of the film, he has manipulated the team, given them beer, driven drunk with them in the car, and passed out on the field while they practiced.
But, after an argument with Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), his heart softens, and you start to have some empathy for the character. Once Coach Turner (Vic Morrow), the coach of the rival team the Yankees, slaps his son across the face for refusing to follow an order, Buttermaker turns himself around and realizes that the game is just a game and the kids want to have fun just as much as they want to win.
Most of us who saw the film as kids remember it fondly because of this message.
However, this film has not aged well in terms of questionable content. I doubt the film would be able to garner anything less than an R, perhaps even an NC-17, from the current MPAA standards.
So, at first glance "The Bad News Bears" would seem like a family-friendly film, but it's not. Written by Bill Lancaster and directed by Michael Ritchie, this film takes viewers into the gritty reality of youth sports in all of its unsettling glory. The saying "boys will be boys" is perfectly applicable when one player, frustrated with his performance, strips down to his undies and scales a tree. Similarly, another player, seemingly disappointed with the diversity of the team, lays down a slew of racial epithets that would wind up on the cutting room floor today.
Couple that with Buttermaker driving the team around in his convertible, top-down, no seatbelts on, and while he drinks a beer, and the movie would be given some very harsh criticism in today's climate. And let's not forget that heartwarming scene after the Bears lose the Championship when Buttermaker hands out a consolation prize, ice-cold bottles of beer for his players to enjoy.
Is "The Bad News Bears" a great film?
Yes, as long as viewers realize that it was made during a different time. Also, one cannot think of this film in "The Mighty Ducks" terms. This is not a movie made for kids. This is a movie made to teach adults how to act responsibly toward one another, their children, and those under their tutelage.
Currently, there are not many movies being made today that can do so much with their message. Movie-going audiences want action and adventure, superheroes and villains, and movies that make them escape reality, instead of facing it head-on. Perhaps, one day, we will again be mature enough to escape into reality instead of run away from it.
Enjoyed this Review? Consider visiting our YouTube Channel by searching Screen Riot!
With pristine bats, gloves, hats, and uniforms, the boys of the Southern California Youth Baseball League were ready to start another year playing America's favorite pastime. But, when newly elected city councilman, Bob Whitewood (Ben Piazza), sues the league for excluding the Bears, the team for which his son plays, the league gives in and allows the Bears to participate. However, unbeknownst to the league, Whitewood has a ringer, his pool cleaner Morris Buttermaker (played by none other than the great Walter Matthau).
Buttermaker, an aging, drunken, washed-up minor leaguer is hired by the councilman to coach the Bears. Armed with his trusty cooler full of beer, a fifth of whiskey, and two ringers of his own, he leads this ragtag team of misfits to the championship game.
What makes "The Bad News Bears" such a popular baseball movie?
The movie's popularity, rewatchability, and longevity stem from its heart. If you dig beneath the surface and search for a deeper meaning, you will find it. Buttermaker, like many of Matthau's characters, is not likable in the least. He's a drunk who uses his influence over a former girlfriend's daughter and an impressionable boy to have them be his star players on the Bears. This not only leads to those two kids hating him but also the rest of the team. By the end of the film, he has manipulated the team, given them beer, driven drunk with them in the car, and passed out on the field while they practiced.
But, after an argument with Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), his heart softens, and you start to have some empathy for the character. Once Coach Turner (Vic Morrow), the coach of the rival team the Yankees, slaps his son across the face for refusing to follow an order, Buttermaker turns himself around and realizes that the game is just a game and the kids want to have fun just as much as they want to win.
Most of us who saw the film as kids remember it fondly because of this message.
However, this film has not aged well in terms of questionable content. I doubt the film would be able to garner anything less than an R, perhaps even an NC-17, from the current MPAA standards.
So, at first glance "The Bad News Bears" would seem like a family-friendly film, but it's not. Written by Bill Lancaster and directed by Michael Ritchie, this film takes viewers into the gritty reality of youth sports in all of its unsettling glory. The saying "boys will be boys" is perfectly applicable when one player, frustrated with his performance, strips down to his undies and scales a tree. Similarly, another player, seemingly disappointed with the diversity of the team, lays down a slew of racial epithets that would wind up on the cutting room floor today.
Couple that with Buttermaker driving the team around in his convertible, top-down, no seatbelts on, and while he drinks a beer, and the movie would be given some very harsh criticism in today's climate. And let's not forget that heartwarming scene after the Bears lose the Championship when Buttermaker hands out a consolation prize, ice-cold bottles of beer for his players to enjoy.
Is "The Bad News Bears" a great film?
Yes, as long as viewers realize that it was made during a different time. Also, one cannot think of this film in "The Mighty Ducks" terms. This is not a movie made for kids. This is a movie made to teach adults how to act responsibly toward one another, their children, and those under their tutelage.
Currently, there are not many movies being made today that can do so much with their message. Movie-going audiences want action and adventure, superheroes and villains, and movies that make them escape reality, instead of facing it head-on. Perhaps, one day, we will again be mature enough to escape into reality instead of run away from it.
Enjoyed this Review? Consider visiting our YouTube Channel by searching Screen Riot!