The Bad News Bears

If I said even half the stuff these kids say when I was that age I'd still be shitting out soap suds.

Felt like I was in the waiting room for a baseball comedy

The seventies were a wild time, apparently. No one really seemed to mind that their kids were drinking celebratory beers. One dad just hauls off and punches his kid, and everyone just lets it happen. Jackie Earle Haley is the strangest looking child. This film eschews sentimentality. I feel like a lesser film would have close-up of Matthau looking at the children, realizing his errors, while a sad schmaltzy score plays.

Pure nostalgia. I think most of the kids on the Bears were my neighbors, or me.

It's like "Major League", but with kids. Walter Matthau is great as the coach who couldn't give a damn.

Just like how every sport has a great comedy film, each one has a great children's film. The Bad News Bears it that film for baseball, and Walter Mathau is terrific as the craggy coach who doesn't care. Really good!

Funny, has a good message and is politically incorrect in that unique 70s way that can never be done again. Probably for the best.

I don’t care at all about irl baseball but I do enjoy a good underdog sports movie. The zero to hero narrative is undermined a bit by the Bears’ success largely owing to bringing in a couple ringers. But overall it’s a fun time - training, baseball, profane kids, beers, grumpy Walter Matthau etc.

This movie could not have come out today. Or maybe it could have, but heavily edited. Specifically a certain kid's dialogue. Anyway, Walter Matthau kills it, as usual. Always love a good underdog story and the ending on this one is not your typical Hollywood ending which makes me enjoy the movie even more. Almost hit the perfect 90 minute run time, too.

Formulaic and full of clichés, but the critique of the toxic influence of adults on kids' sport is nonetheless valid.

Even though this film was a massive commercial success, spawning 2 sequels and a TV series, and is genuinely well-liked, I think it's underrated. I say that because it's seldom brought up as an example of the kind of great film made in the 1970's. It's not just that, it's one of the greatest sports films ever made.

Matthau was perfectly cast as the grouchy drunken coach stuck with kids who can't play ball. He plays the role with understated humour, and the kids actually seem like real kids rather than standard movie kids. O'Neil also shines as his estranged daughter and was arguably the best child actress of the 70's. The plot is predictable, but Ritchie/Lancaster sneak in a critique of America's competition ethic that provides a real counterpoint to the triumphalist losers narrative.

While the plot isn't that much different from other underdog sports movies, it is the unique blend of Matthau's saltiness and the kids' grit that gives the film real charm. Lessons are learned, sure, but not to an eye-rolling degree. Jackie Earle Haley is a complete badass.

A-

Randomly saw this but it was actually quite enjoyable. Walter Matthau is perfectly cast as the coach and all the kid actors also play their roles really well. It goes to show that comedy doesn't have to be crude to be funny, and this film had the right mix. You actually cared about the misfits. I remember seeing the remake a few years ago, and I can definitely say that this one is much better.

A fascinating artifact from a more permissive era, as well as a timeless rejoinder to the excesses of American competition, THE BAD NEWS BEARS is a fine antidote to overbearing sentimentality. Though it's rightfully remembered an incongruously vulgar family film (which honestly says a lot more about how audiences have grown to accept a sanitized reality), it's far from a nihilist free-for-all. The emotions are candid and honest, and the movie cleverly posits an alternative moral point of view.

A different kind of comedy than I'm used to - I watched it for 20 minutes and didn't recognise a single joke - comedies have jokes

All the kids here seem really genuine, and while that means that some of them are annoying it's not bothersome. While the blueprint is "ragtag team overcomes the odds" it transcends this with wrinkles of complexity. Matthau is a big part with his cynicism, and O'Neal is a good match for him, both adding something beyond the baseball. My only complaint is that the middle is reduced to montages a bit too much and the final game drawn out too much.

Though not up to the perfection of Matthau's previous comic tour-de-force A New Leaf, The Bad News Bears is crude, irreverent and cranky, and that's exactly its charm.

[rewatch] Possibly the greatest ending of any sports movie. God bless the 70's.

never seen one film pimp so many food chains before

It's a pretty entertaining and funny film, but I feel a lot of its reputation comes from the joy of seeing things so ridiculously vulgar in a kids movie (in the last 20 minutes alone, a father beats his child for throwing a bad pitch, and the Bears celebrate with a round of brewskis).

Despite every main character being a complete punk, this movie somehow became a classic. Definitely would not be able to use the exact same script today.

:D

Having waited so long to see this, I expected the schtick to get old quickly. I was surprised to discover the movie was more than just foul-mouthed kids and a raging alcoholic coach. There's substance behind the characters, and the laughs come from more than just the shock value.

...50 of which are for Matthau. The other 10 is for the surprising vulgarity.

This film is kind of notorious for being extremely non-PC for a PG movie. It doesn't quite live up to its own reputation, but it's alright. I don't really care that much about sports movies, but as far as those go it was pretty good. Clearly there was no reason for a remake. Age has only added the subtext of it being a nostalgic look back to childhood in the 1970s, even though it was never intended as such.

The Bad News Bears is rude, profane, and cynical, but shot through with honest, unforced humor, and held together by a deft, understated performance from Walter Matthau.

Win, lose, no matter.

85.250

Sparkling comedy.

Matthau is good, and so are the kids.

Can't top the original

Fun movie for kids.

Three things make this good: Matthau; the fact that they actually show some baseball practice; and the ending

Done the right way. Edgy and funny. Matthau is terrific.

This was hysterical when it came out.

Walter Matthau has the comedic performance of his carrer. Tatum O'Neil and all of the child actors are fantastic. One of the best baseball films ever.

Matthau is exceptionally well-cast here. A fun sports movie, especially for kids.

I wish there were more comedies like this these days - dirty and crude and edgy, without feeling raunchy and over-the-top. "Tanner got in a fight?" "With who?" "The seventh grade."

Hilariously crude, vulgar, children's (?) film.

I caught this film recently after only having seen it as a child (on its release) and I suggest those who rate it highly rewatch it and adjust your rating as this film is dire.Matthau makes the film bearable with his performance.