The Bad News Bears

Morris Buttermaker, an alcoholic and former minor-league baseball pitcher, is recruited by Bob Whitewood, a city councilman and attorney who filed a lawsuit against an ultra-competitive Southern California Youth Baseball 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complex, an outfielder who dreams of emulating his idol Hank Aaron, two non-English-speaking Mexican immigrants, a withdrawn and bullied boy named Timmy Lupus, and a motley collection of other "talent".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: sharp-tongued Amanda Whurlitzer, a skilled pitcher (trained by Buttermaker when she was younger) who is the 11-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. 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. 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 and the Bears at-bat catcher Engelberg. 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 run 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 Timmy 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.

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. 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.

Matthau was paid $750,000 plus over 10% of the theatrical rentals.[3] Tatum O'Neal was paid $350,000 plus a percentage of the profits.[4] These were later estimated to be $1.9 million.[5]

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 97% based on reviews from 30 critics and an average rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "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."[6]

In his 1976 review, critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four and called it "an unblinking, scathing look at competition in American society".[7] Gene Siskel awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling the film's characters "more types than people" and the kids' foul-mouth dialogue "overdone," though he found O'Neal's performance "genuinely affecting."[8] Variety called it "the funniest adult-child comedy film since 'Paper Moon'," and lauded the "excellent" script.[9] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times declared it "the best American screen comedy of the year to date," adding, "Bright, pugnacious and utterly realistic as most children seem to be today, these kids are drawn with much accuracy and are played beautifully."[10] Vincent Canby of The New York Times found the film only "occasionally funny" but praised screenwriter Bill Lancaster for "the talent and discipline to tell the story of 'The Bad News Bears' almost completely in terms of what happens on the baseball diamond or in the dugout."[11] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post praised it as "a lively, spontaneously funny entertainment" that "could rally a large parallel audience seeking less innocuous and stereotyped pictures with and about children."[12] Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "miraculously funny and entirely delightful."[13]

• The Bad News Bears (TV series)

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• The Bad News Bears on IMDb
• The Bad News Bears at the TCM Movie Database
• The Bad News Bears at AllMovie
• The Bad News Bears at the American Film Institute Catalog
• The Bad News Bears at Box Office Mojo
• The Bad News Bears at Rotten Tomatoes