Directed by: Michael Ritchie
Starring: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Joyce Van Patten, Jackie Earle Haley, Chris Barnes
The Bad News Bears equally satirizes the scrappy titular little league team of misfits and the Little League Parent. I don't recall any such term being used back in the late 1970's to describe the overly zealous parents who verbally and physically abuse umpires and yell at coaches who don't give their children enough playing time. Perhaps there wasn't a term for this phenomenon yet, but the personality type was there in full bloom. Little League was created so kids could experience playing sports and being part of a team. Then, it became about the adults who act with less maturity than the players. Coaches and umpires donate their leisure time so kids can play. They aren't paid, but that doesn't stop a parent from grilling an umpire on a missed strike call. I deeply commend the adults who sacrifice their precious time for a thankless job.
This Bad News Bears movie captures that dynamic and shows we haven't much evolved in the nearly fifty years since the movie's release. Walter Matthau, playing the ever lovable curmudgeon, is Morris Buttermaker, a pool cleaner hired by a liberal city councilman to coach a team of different races to see if such a team could play in a mostly white little league. (Remember this is 1976) Buttermaker is a former minor leaguer turned alcoholic who drinks beer in his car and even in the dugout during practices and games. No one comments on this, although I can't imagine it was acceptable behavior even back then. Try as he might, Morris is unable to turn his team into one that doesn't lose 20-0 every game until he recruits Amanda (O'Neal), the daughter of his former girlfriend, to pitch. She has a great arm, and once Morris recruits motorcycle-riding Kelly Leak (Haley) as his star hitter, things perk up for the Bears.
Does the team gel? Do they get their act together in time to play for the league championship? Will Buttermaker get his own act together? Yes, Yes, and kind of. Matthau plays irascible better than anyone and O'Neal matches him as the tough girl who doesn't like to show her sensitivity. She and Matthau have an argument which cuts both very deep, and heaven forbid either shows it to anyone. On the flip side of Buttermaker is Roy Turner (Morrow), coach of the rival Yankees who shows mostly disdain for Buttermaker and the Bears under a guise of civility and sportsmanship. He keeps his anger under wraps until a critical moment in the championship game where his true colors are revealed.
The Bad News Bears follows a traditional sports movie formula arc well and who wouldn't like to see the slobs beat the snobs, whose cruelty is masked under faux sportsmanship. It worked brilliantly two years later in Animal House, and who's to say the writers weren't following The Bad News Bears' lead?
No comments:
Post a Comment