| The Bad News Bears | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Jack Davis |
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| Directed by | Michael Ritchie |
| Produced by | Stanley R. Jaffe |
| Written by | Bill Lancaster |
| Starring | Walter Matthau Tatum O'Neal Chris Barnes Vic Morrow Jackie Earle Haley Joyce Van Patten Quinn Smith |
| Music by | Jerry Fielding |
| Cinematography | John A. Alonzo |
| Editing by | Richard A. Harris |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 7, 1976 |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English Spanish |
| Box office | $32,211,330[1] |
The Bad News Bears is a 1976 comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie. It stars Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal. The film was followed by two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training in 1977 and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan in 1978, a short-lived 1979-80 CBS television series, and a remake titled Bad News Bears. Also notable was the score by Jerry Fielding, which is an adaptation of the principal themes of Carmen.
Contents |
Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau), an alcoholic and former minor-league baseball player, is recruited by a city councilman and attorney who filed a lawsuit against an ultra-competitive Southern California Little League which excluded the least skilled athletes (including his son) from playing. In order to settle the lawsuit, the league agrees to add an additional team - the Bears - which is composed of the worst players. Buttermaker becomes the coach of the unlikely team, which includes (among others) a near-sighted pitcher, an overweight catcher, a foulmouthed shortstop with a Napoleon complex, an outfielder who dreams of emulating his idol Hank Aaron, and a motley collection of other "talent". Shunned by the more competitive teams (and competitive parents), the Bears are the outsiders. They play their opening game, and do not even record an out, giving up 26 runs before Buttermaker forfeits the game.
Realizing the team is nearly hopeless, he recruits a couple of unlikely prospects: First up, is sharp-tongued Amanda Whurlizer (Tatum O'Neal), a skilled pitcher (trained by Buttermaker when she was younger) who is the 12-year-old daughter of one of Buttermaker's ex-girlfriends. At first, she tries to convince Buttermaker that she has given up baseball, but then she reveals that she had been practicing "on the sly". Before agreeing to join the team, Amanda makes a number of outlandish demands (such as imported jeans, modeling school, ballet lessons, etc.) as conditions for joining. Upon hearing her demands, Buttermaker asks, "Who do you think you are, Catfish Hunter?" Amanda responds by asking, "Who's he?" Rounding out the team, Buttermaker recruits the "best athlete in the area," who also happens to be the local cigarette-smoking, loan-sharking, Harley-Davidson-riding troublemaker, Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley). With Whurlizer and Leak on board, the team starts gaining more confidence, and the Bears start winning games.
Eventually, the unlikely Bears make it to the championship game opposite the top-notch Yankees, who are coached by aggressive, competitive Roy Turner (Vic Morrow). As the game progresses, tensions are ratcheted up as Buttermaker and Turner engage in shouting matches, directing their players to become increasingly more ruthless and competitive against each other, going as far as fighting, spiking on slide, or the batter getting hit on purpose.
The turnaround point of the game comes after a heated exchange between Turner's son (and Yankees pitcher) Joey (Brandon Cruz) and the Bears at-bat catcher Engelberg (Gary Lee Cavagnaro). Turner orders his son to walk Engelberg, the only Bears hitter he cannot overcome, despite Joey's wish to give it a try. In response, Joey intentionally throws a wild beanball nearly striking Engelberg in the head. Horrified, Turner goes to the mound and slaps his son. On the next pitch, Engelberg hits a routine ground ball back to Joey who exacts revenge against his father by holding the ball until Engelberg has an inside the park home run. Joey then leaves the game dropping the ball at his father's feet.
Buttermaker - realizing that he has become as competitive as Turner - puts the benchwarmers on the field, thus giving everyone a chance to play. In spite of this, the finish-up brings up the best team-play from the Bears. After loading the bases with smart tactics (two walks and a bunt) they nearly recover a four point difference, with the last runner getting taken out at the last moment.
After having narrowly lost the game 7 to 6, Buttermaker gives the team free rein of his beer cooler. Although they did not win the championship, they have the satisfaction of having come a long way. The condescending Yankees congratulate the Bears telling them that although they are still not that good, they have "guts." Tanner, the shortstop, replies by telling the Yankees where they can put their trophy. The Bears cheer and Lupus overcomes his chronic shyness enough to yell "Wait 'til next year!", then they spray their beers all over each other. The movie ends with a field celebration that makes it look as if they won the game.
| Adults | ||
|---|---|---|
| Morris Buttermaker | Walter Matthau | Coach of the Bears: A drunken, loud, ex-professional baseball pitcher and part-time pool cleaner, who drives a yellow Cadillac convertible; the protagonist |
| Roy Turner | Vic Morrow | Coach of the Yankees and the antagonist |
| Cleveland | Joyce Van Patten | League manager |
| Bob Whitewood | Ben Piazza | City councilman and lawyer who sued the league to allow the Bears (in particular, his son) to play. He convinces (and pays) Buttermaker to coach the team. |
| Kids | ||
| Regi Tower | Scott Firestone | Another lightly developed character; has red hair. Plays third, then first base. Wears number 1. |
| Toby Whitewood | David Stambaugh | An unassuming boy who plays first base. He knows about the other players' personalities and at times speaks for the team. Son of councilman Bob Whitewood. Wears number 2. |
| Kelly Leak | Jackie Earle Haley | Local troublemaker who smokes and rides a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Also the best athlete in the neighborhood. He alternates between left and center field and has a crush on Amanda. Wears number 3. |
| Timmy Lupus | Quinn Smith | A "booger-eating spaz;" plays right field and is considered to be the worst player on the team, but surprises everyone in the final game by making a key play to keep the Bears in the game. He is the most quiet and shy player, but showed the odd ability to properly prepare a martini for Coach Buttermaker while the team was assisting the coach with pool cleaning. Wears number 4. |
| Mike Engelberg | Gary Lee Cavagnaro | An overweight boy who plays catcher; A great hitter, he frequently teases Tanner about his size, his jabs at rival pitcher Joey Turner ignite a rivalry. Wears number 5. |
| Jose Aguilar | Jaime Escobedo | Miguel's older brother who plays second base; doesn't speak English. Wears number 6. |
| Miguel Aguilar | George Gonzales | Jose's younger brother; mostly plays right field. He doesn't speak English either; so short that the strike zone is non-existent. Wears number 7. |
| Jimmy Feldman | Brett Marx | Fairly quiet third baseman with curly blond hair. Wears number 8. |
| Alfred Ogilvie | Alfred W. Lutter | A bookworm who memorizes baseball statistics. He's mostly a benchwarmer who assists the coach with defensive strategy. A backup outfielder/first baseman. Wears number 9. |
| Rudi Stein | David Pollock | Nervous relief pitcher with glasses who is a terrible hitter; often asked by Coach Buttermaker to purposely get hit by pitches so he won't try to swing. Also a backup outfielder. Wears number 10. |
| Amanda Whurlizer | Tatum O'Neal | 12-year-old pitcher who feels insecure about her tomboy image. She is proven to be a good pitcher. Her mother is Buttermaker's ex-girlfriend. Wears number 11. |
| Tanner Boyle | Chris Barnes | Short-tempered shortstop with a Napoleon complex; after suffering a horrible loss on their first game, he picks a fight with the entire seventh grade from his school (and loses). He tends to curse more than the others, and often insults and bullies Timmy. Wears number 12. |
| Ahmad Abdul-Rahim | Erin Blunt | An African-American Muslim who plays in the outfield and adores Hank Aaron; strips off his uniform in shame after committing errors, but is convinced to return to the team by Buttermaker. Wears number 44 in honor of his hero. |
| Joey Turner | Brandon Cruz | The star pitcher for the Yankees (wears number 2 for that team). Coach Roy Turner's son. He has a rivalry with Engleberg and regularly bullies Tanner and Timmy. Allows Engleberg an inside-the-park home run, then quits the team after Roy slaps him in anger over a wild pitch. |
The Bad News Bears was filmed in and around Los Angeles, primarily in the San Fernando Valley. The field where they played is in Mason Park on Mason Avenue in Chatsworth, California. In the film, the Bears were sponsored by an actual company, "Chico's Bail Bonds." One scene was filmed in the council chamber at Los Angeles City Hall.
The film was notable in its time for the amount of vulgarity (including profanity and ethnic slurs) placed into the mouths of the various child actors who played the principal roles (specifically, a memorable Tanner Boyle, played by Chris Barnes, quoted as calling his teammates en masse "a bunch of Jews, spics, niggers, pansies, and a booger-eating moron"). Most of the questionable dialogue was used for comic effect. A true product of the mid-70s, it includes a scene that would most likely no longer be allowed in a PG-rated film today: an inebriated Buttermaker drives the players, who are not wearing seatbelts, in an open-top convertible.
In his 1976 review, critic Roger Ebert called the film "an unblinking, scathing look at competition in American society."[2]
The film inspired two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, a TV series, and a 2005 remake.
Saturday Night Live did a parody of the film with Matthau as the guest host called The Bad News Bees with John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and the rest in their recurring "bee" costumes. This subtly dealt with masturbation which was referred to as "buzzing-off".
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