The Bad News Bears
THE BAD NEWS
BEARSÂ (PG)
D: Michael Ritchie
Paramount (Stanley Jaffe)
USA 🇺🇸 1976
103 mins
Â
Comedy/Sports
Â
W: Bill Lancaster
DP: John A. Alonzo
Ed: Richard A. Harris
Mus: Jerry Fielding
Â
Walter Matthau (Coach Buttermaker), Tatum
O'Neal (Manda Whurlizer), Vic Morrow (Roy Turner), Joyce Van Patten (Cleveland), Jackie Earle Haley (Kelly Leak), Ben Piazza (Whitewood)
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A washed up baseball professional coaches a
team of troublemaking kids in this hilariously politically incorrect comedy from the 1970's.
A Disney-esque story, but the script is full
of dialogue which makes it a little on the adult-marketed side for a family
film, though it spawned a couple of sequels which were more for a juvenile audience. Â
Decent entertainment for a rainy weekend although it might appear a little too dated now.
Walter Matthau is great as the salty old pro, while Tatum O'Neal takes great glee in playing the tomboyish leader of the ball players.
6/10
Did You Know:
Jodie Foster was cast at one point as Amanda Whurlitzer
but dropped out in order to play Iris in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976).