Very best movie i ever watch

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) is a drunken ex-minor leaguer. He gets hired to coach a little league team of misfits. One of the fathers had sued to get the kids into a competitive league. However after a humiliating opening loss, the father figures the team should quit and so do the kids. Buttermaker try to save the team by getting a couple of ringers, his former girlfriend's kid (Tatum O'Neal) who happens to be a little girl and a juvenile delinquent (Jackie Earle Haley).This isn't simply a good kids movie. Quite frankly, parents today wouldn't want their kids to see this. The language is rough. A parent hits his kid. The kids swear, smoke, talk sex, and drink beer. I don't know how they got PG.The kids are great. Walter Matthau is his grumpy best. Tatum O'Neal is wonderful. It works as a good underdog movie. And then the last act explodes into something wonderful. It's heartbreaking when Buttermaker rejects Amanda for simply wanting a father figure. Then it goes all out as both coaches go super competitive. It's a real indictment of the ugliness of kids' sports culminating in that slap. It's not just a simple underdog movie, but a movie about real sportsmanship. It is a great original that the 2005 remake cannot touch.

An alcoholic ,ex-minor leaguer, and all-round sour-puss is hired to coach a losing Little League team because no one else will do it. The team miraculously pulls together to overcome their problems. There is a lot of profanity and bad behavior by both adults and children on the way to the inevitable happy ending. Walter Matthau sleepwalks his way through his standard grouchy/heart of gold role while Tatum O'Neill is wasted. Her character is given little screen time and no development. There's not one word about how the boys feel about a girl teammate, and in 1976, this would have been news.Trashy.

I have to admit I am not a huge sports fan, but several sports movies have sparked my interest, such as Hoosiers, Breaking Away and Remember the Titans. I saw The Bad News Bears mostly for Walter Matthau and I really enjoyed it. While it could have been a tad longer perhaps, and one or two scenes could have been tighter in the pace, it is a very good movie. For a sports movie, it is quite different, taking on the underdogs taking on the big boys scenario for example, and it works wonderfully.The production values are very nice, and Jerry Fielding's score compliments each scene beautifully. The film's script is quite gritty, but it is also funny and thoughtful, while the story is always engaging and well-thought out with the relationship between Morris and his team particularly pulling you in. The direction is solid, while the acting is excellent. Walter Matthau is simply brilliant as the boozy coach Morris, while Joyce Van Patten gives great support and the child stars are more than a match for Matthau. Especially Tatum O'Neal, who is quite charming yet very spunky and likable, and I personally think she has better screen presence than her dad.All in all, a very enjoyable movie, and whether you are a fan of sports movies or not, this movie is recommended. 8/10 Bethany Cox

The Bad News Bears defined Little League baseball in the USA for better or worse. Previous to this movie the only item I can remember about the Little League was a Walt Disney television film that starred Kevin Corcoran.Walter Matthau stars as a former minor league ballplayer who got a major league look/see in spring training in the Fifties who gets picked by town councilman Ben Piazza to take over the worst of the Little League teams in the league in that small Iowa town they're from. It's the Bears and these kids have no motivation no drive and not a whole lot of talent. What Matthau does is scout for some talent which includes a female pitcher in Tatum O'Neal and a young hood in training in Jackie Earle Haley. With two stars and after losing his first three games, the Bears make a race for the Little League pennant.When they get there they have to contend with Vic Morrow who is a real sports dad and who wants to win at any price. That leads to some unforeseen complications with Brandon Cruz who is the star pitcher on Morrow's team and his own son.Matthau in his usual brand of grumpy cynicism with the kids supplies the comedy. The drama and it's serious is supplied by Morrow who gives the best performance in the film. We've seen more current news stories about riots and fatalities at sports events, even kid's sports events. In that sense The Bad News Bears was ahead of its time. And the film is good and more serious than one might think given its reputation.