The Bad News Bears | 
| Director: Michael Ritchie
Actors: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'neal, Chris Barnes, Ben Piazza, Vic Morrow
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.98
Buy Used: $1.96
You Save: $8.02 (80%)
New (64) Used (83) Collectible (2) from $1.96
Rating:  68 reviews
Sales Rank: 6439
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 0 x 0 x 0
MPN: TM2510
ISBN: 0792178823
UPC: 097360886344
EAN: 9780792178828
ASIN: B00005JK9L
Theatrical Release Date: 1976
Release Date: February 12, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
First of a trilogy of films takes an unflinching look at the underbelly of little league baseball in Southern California. Former minor leaguer Morris Buttermaker is a lazy, beer swilling swimming pool cleaner who takes money to coach the Bears, a bunch of disheveled misfits who have virtually no baseball talent. Realizing his dilemma, Coach Buttermaker brings aboard girl pitching ace Amanda Whurlizer, the daughter of a former girlfriend, and Kelly Leak, a motorcycle punk who happens to be the best player around. Brimming with confidence, the Bears look to sweep into the championship game and avenge an earlier loss to their nemesis, the Yankees.
Amazon.com essential video
This likable 1976 comedy gently skewers the whole post- Rocky mania for movies about losers who find their mettle or salvation or purpose in life in competitive sport. Walter Matthau stars as a drunk who becomes manager of a pathetic little-league baseball team. When he brings in a talented girl pitcher (Tatum O'Neal), the crew have an actual chance at winning some games and maybe a championship. But director Michael Ritchie (Downhill Racer) undercuts the romance of it all with the team's foul-mouthed tendencies and Matthau's own decadent spin on mentor-coachdom. Similarly to Ritchie's wicked comedy Smile --which lampooned the fervor surrounding beauty pageants--The Bad News Bears pokes fun at another American institution. --Tom Keogh
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| Customer Reviews: Read 63 more reviews...
 These Bears are Bad News December 2, 2008
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
Another great 70s film that was made into a poor 21st century film. This film is matter of fact without loud music and greatly exaggerated mugging passing off as acting. Yes, the characters are exaggerated for effect but not like acting is now. The story and the movie are more subtle but the story is classic cinema. A horrible, pathetic kids little league team is coached by a hopeless alcoholic. Somehow with the recruitment of a GIRL! Everyone gets their act together and plays pretty well. The ultimate lesson is that it's only a game and character is far more important. See the better baseball team with the lousy kids on the other team and terrible parents for reference!
Another classic 70's movie April 10, 2008
Micah B. Evans (USA)
Im not going to tell you all about this film, or tell you who is in it, or what they did, etc. Everyone knows Walter Matthau plays an ex-ball player who drinks, smokes and swears to much thru the movie, and also that Tatum O'Neil plays his ex-girlfriend's daughter who he gets to pitch and all the other stuff, like Tanner swearing and saying the "N" word, and such. All this has been said and reviewed in earlier post. I saw this movie when it first came out in 1976. I was 9 turning 10 years old that year. I cant believe its been 32 years now. WOW! Im gettin old. I believe that this movie is a time capsule. Its an era and time, long gone by. Sure, there is little league baseball today, but its not the same as it was back then. People who were kids back then (like me) can tell you that the whole scene was different back then, not like today. Sometimes I wonder if kids today really want to play, or their parents push them so hard to play, and the parents are the ones that really get off on it. Back when I was a kid, we wanted to play. Now, its big sponserships, and this and that. Differnt times back then, different vibe. I catch myself putting this movie on every once in a while to catch that vibe again, and to be transported back in time, to a more simple time and place.....Get this movie....
 Bad News Bears April 6, 2008
R. Pohner (Austin)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's nice to purchase movies I watched as a child. This one is the best of all three.
hey Keogh, it's not avant gard - duh March 10, 2008
c k (pac nw)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
The Amazon essential video review by Mr. Keogh seems to miss the mark on a review of this movie. Making any similarity or connection to Rocky is a fallacy at the least. Especially considering it's released in the same year. There were a few good movies to come out around the American bicentennial which includes "Bugsy Malone", "Deathrace 2000", and "Rollerball". Trying to classify this movie as "post Rocky" shows that this guy has no idea what he's talking about. The biggest mistake Mr. Keogh makes is by claiming that the director "undercuts the romance" using profanity and decadence?????!!!!! This is one of the most idiotic statements I've ever read in an Amazon movie review. It shows that this guy's childhood was not only enclosed and sheltered, but experienced in some communist state outside of America.
The movie was originally rated 'R' and even then it wasn't that easy for kids to get in without a parent. The story represents the imperfect world of working class kids (something Mr. Keogh obviously knows nothing about) and how they can overcome the stereotypes of the yuppie middle class. At the same time, it empowers a girl to be the leader of a team that was actually more interested in looking up to a boy who was a rebel on a motorcycle. A great movie, a great comedy, and a great lesson is social ethics.
When Comedies, Kids, and Everything Was More Laid Back. January 25, 2008
mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA)
"The Bad News Bears" inspired a franchise of movies and the entire kids' sports comedy genre when it was released in 1976. Now it's a trip back in time to an era when preteens smoking and swearing was PG-rated family entertainment. It's amazing how much attitudes have changed in 30 years. As we are now at the opposite extreme in what is considered normal behavior in middle-class youngsters, "The Bad News Bears" seems like a breath of fresh air. And its message to adults who compete through their children's' achievements is more timely now than it was then.
When a local politician (Ben Piazza) can't convince any parent to coach his son's Little League team, he hires former minor-league pitcher Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau), now a drunken "broken-down third-rate ball player". Buttermaker steels himself to coach the hopelessly untalented kids by spiking his ever-present beer with whisky. But he grows fond of the boys and regrets the constant ridicule they endure. So Buttermaker decides to turn the Bears into winners by recruiting 11-year-old Amanda (Tatum O'Neal) to pitch and a delinquent hot shot named Kelly (Jackie Earl Haley) to dominate the outfield.
This movie has a laid-back tone that doesn't hit us with any real intensity or messages until late in the season. It encourages the children's idiosyncrasies and indulges Morris' alcoholic malaise. Tatum O'Neal exudes charisma as reluctant tomboy Amanda. Her sass and childish self-possession steal every scene she's in. "The Bad News Bears" should be mandatory viewing for the "soccer mafia", as parents who claim every inch of unused grassland for soccer fields are referred to in my area. In the end, this is a fun film that says it's ok to have fun. It's not necessary to have a cow about everything. English subtitles are available on the Paramount 2002 DVD.
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