THE BAD NEWS BEARS Directed by MICHAEL RITCHIE Screenplay by BILL LANCASTER
Coach Morris Buttermaker passes out on the pitcher's mound during practice. Scraping himself together, he sips a few cold ones in the dugout while watching his team take the field for the first game. Score at the end of the first half of the first inning: 26 to zip. Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) figures it is time to forfeit. He has nothing to lose but his pains, and there are nine of them on his team, with a couple of alternates thrown in for good measure.
Quite unexpected, entirely welcome, The Bad News Bears is a fracturing comedy of honor, victory and defeat in the Little League. Yes, the Little League, which Director Michael Ritchie (Smile, Downhill Racer) turns into a target for a brassy, good-humored satire on Middle-American values.
The Bad News Bears is about a fictional Southern California version of the Little League called the North Valley League. The Bears are rejects from the league's 16 other teams, and the boozy Buttermaker is a fitting leader for them. A former minor league pro now reduced to cleaning pools for a living, Butter-maker has no particular affection for kids. He does not care much for baseball, either. Just now, boilermakers are his main passion.
The Bears may be terrible, but they are enthusiastic. Misfits all, playing—even miserably—gives them a shot at self-respect. Buttermaker considers this and, out of his beery fog, figures the kids deserve a break. His motives are not entirely altruistic, however. On a rival team, there is a gung-ho, supercilious coach (well played by Vic Morrow), and Buttermaker hates his guts.
Heavy Hitter. To beef up his goofball outfit, Buttermaker recruits a couple of sawed-off powerhouses. Amanda Whurlitzer (Tatum O'Neal), the tomboy daughter of an old flame of Buttermaker's, is expert in the fine art of the fastball and the spitter; Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley), a local terror who chain smokes and rides a Harley, is a heavy hitter. He also has the hots for Amanda. With Kelly and Amanda on the team, the Bears start to win.
Ritchie and Writer Bill Lancaster (Burt's son) are especially shrewd in showing how a game for kids is converted into a contest of egos for their elders. The movie is calculated and a little cute. It relies too heavily on the amusement value of hearing little kids cuss like Marines. Yet The Bad News Bears is also tough-minded. It does not turn Buttermaker into a lovable codger, and the kids do not become last-minute victors.
Grumbling all the way, gargling his booze, Matthau is better than he has been in years, and all the kids are wonderful, full of spirit and spunk. (Inquires one fearless sad sack of a combative rival: "How'd you like me to stick that bat where the sun never shines?") The movie has some very traditional concerns—about the value of playing as opposed to winning, about trying to achieve a certain minimal dignity—but deals with them lightly and with charm.
Surprisingly, improbably, The Bad News Bears is the year's funniest movie. It is very much like the team itself: no serious threat at first, but, finally, tough to beat.