Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Bumpy Chip It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Blueghost It seemed like most of the kids I met in school or out on the playground were like the Bears, or various shades of gray. A lot of kids with Anglo genes mouthing off to whoever wherever they pleased, smoking, drinking beer, drawing pornographic graffiti wherever they pleased, and swearing up a storm. That's the Bad News Bears, and that was how most of the American youth in the 1970s and 1980s behaved. How I avoided it I'll never know.It's fine film for what it is. It's a bit on the low budget side with lots of hand held shots, but it has a good story and a certain integrity to it. This is how kids behave when their parents aren't around, and when this film was released it was a smash hit among kids because this showed my peers to adult America how they were "in the raw", so to speak. The geeky uncoordinated kid, the feisty short blonde kid, the gentle or effete kid (colloquially referred to as "the wussy" in pre-teen speak), the athletically talented black kid, the proverbial fat kid, and the "bad boy" along with a host of others. If you lived in California anywhere south of Shasta, then this film and the scenes it portrays are all too familiar.It's a rags to riches and almost bag to rags story with a lot of scrappy attitude. We see these kids behave as a lot of boys behaved when things didn't go right. Whether it was fate, bad luck, or lack of preparation, when all those factors met, or just one reared its ugly head, mayhem ensued, and we usually threw our gear on the ground and cursed the world and fell into a minor kid like depression.I remember the hype more than the actual film. I remember everyone talking about this movie. I remember everyone saying how great it was. I remember how both kids and parents (and even some teachers) alike would mention the name of the movie, and then the kids who had seen it would say what a great film it was.Well, as a middle aged man seeing this for the first time in over forty years, I think I can rightfully say that it's a decent film, but that I had the same misgivings about it then as I do now, and that is it's essentially a window on un-parented boy behavior.There's a parable here about talent and good parenting verse being an abusive coach, but I'm not sure the message hits home with the not-so-ironic poetic ending. There's also a message about how girls can play boys' sports, but this film was made in an era of supposed psychological discovery, and how boys and girls are the same (well, we weren't then, and still aren't now) and do all the things that boys can. Eh, sure, if so inclined, and that's the ultra important point that the arrogant social psychologist of a screenwriter missed. But never mind.All in all The Bad News Bears is an okay film. It was worth seeing once for a nostalgia blast, but man do I remember those days, and seeing this film reminds of just how much I wanted to forget them. Kids with attitude problems may make for an interesting film, and it certainly is a reminder of an era past, but, like I say, I'd just assume forget it.If you grew up in California, then see again one time. If you're looking for a good film about little league, well, I'm thinking there's a better film out there somewhere.

jaywensley2004 Most of the best-loved movies centered on sports are about the sport as an icon. They are tributes to the sport; love stories about something we idealize. "The Bad News Bears" is one of a handful of movies that evoke what it was like to play a sport. It may be the best of such movies, although I would place it in a tie with the brilliant "Personal Best."For any one who played an organized sport when they were young, "...Bears" should ring true. We didn't just know these kids, we were these kids. Trying to balance a developing sense of pride with the gratification that comes from being an appreciated part of a group. Trying to learn how to enjoy the journey as much as the destination. And trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with the adults who were supposed to be guiding us.For most of us, we figured it out. We may not have realized it, but we did. For some, "The Bad News Bears" may have been an important part of that. Anyone who hasn't had a moment like Tanner's when he realizes that he may not like Timmy, but Timmy is "TEAM!" probably never played a team sport. And I especially liked the way the film took advantage of the (at the time, new) inclusion of girls on Little League teams. I had aged out of Little League by then but "The Bad News Bears" reminded me that I had often wondered when I was playing LL if there weren't girls who could stay on the field with us boys. (As an aside does anybody remember the "Silver Bullets?" I firmly believe there are women capable of playing MLB caliber baseball, especially at 2B or SS.)As "film," "The Bad News Bears" is a great piece of work. Watched today, almost 40 years after its release, it seems classic, undated. The script has moments of brilliance (the aforementioned scene where Tanner discovers he's a team player and Tatum O'Neal's line about "up there" are favorites), the cinematography preserves the reality of suburban Little League settings, the direction is crisp but unobtrusive and the story is so well-crafted that it stings like an 11 year-old's fastball to the ribs. And the acting, especially among the players seems less like performance than candid documentary. These kids look, talk and act like pre-adolescents. They are old enough to be hearing "act your age" from the adults around them but present without affectation the confusion that is inherent from hearing themselves answer "But...I'm 11!" This more than anything else is what makes "...Bears" such a realistic film about playing a sport. These youngsters are being taught to compete, taught to win, but what they are doing is trying to have fun. It is confusing.

Wizard-8 "The Bad News Bears", a modestly budgeted comedy, turned out to be the fourth highest grossing movie of 1976. Watching it today, it doesn't take long to discover why audiences of the time found it appealing. After decades of movies showing kids to be pretty sweet and innocent, the viewpoint of kids in this movie is more realistic, not just with their use of dirty language. The movie also shows the adults who push kids such as these into sports to have a pretty dark edge to them - it's obvious they are living off their kids' winning or losing. Despite the movie's prominent serious edge, the movie for the most part still manages to be an amusing experience, and manages to get the audience to sympathize with the Bears and root for them to win in the end. Better than that is the movie's biggest message: that sports, at least when it comes to kids, should be more of a FUN experience than a competition.

SnoopyStyle Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) is a drunken ex-minor leaguer. He gets hired to coach a little league team of misfits. One of the fathers had sued to get the kids into a competitive league. However after a humiliating opening loss, the father figures the team should quit and so do the kids. Buttermaker try to save the team by getting a couple of ringers, his former girlfriend's kid (Tatum O'Neal) who happens to be a little girl and a juvenile delinquent (Jackie Earle Haley).This isn't simply a good kids movie. Quite frankly, parents today wouldn't want their kids to see this. The language is rough. A parent hits his kid. The kids swear, smoke, talk sex, and drink beer. I don't know how they got PG.The kids are great. Walter Matthau is his grumpy best. Tatum O'Neal is wonderful. It works as a good underdog movie. And then the last act explodes into something wonderful. It's heartbreaking when Buttermaker rejects Amanda for simply wanting a father figure. Then it goes all out as both coaches go super competitive. It's a real indictment of the ugliness of kids' sports culminating in that slap. It's not just a simple underdog movie, but a movie about real sportsmanship. It is a great original that the 2005 remake cannot touch.