Hardball (2001) / The Bad News Bears (1976) (Double Feature) |  | Directors: Brian Robbins, Michael Ritchie
Actors: Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, Chris Barnes
Studio: Paramount
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $0.63
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Rating:  70 reviews
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 207 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: D124894D
UPC: 097361248943
EAN: 0097361248943
Theatrical Release Date: April 7, 1976
Release Date: August 7, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Movie DVD
Amazon.com essential video
This likable 1976 comedy gently skewers the whole post- Rocky mania for movies about losers who find their mettle or salvation or purpose in life in competitive sport. Walter Matthau stars as a drunk who becomes manager of a pathetic little-league baseball team. When he brings in a talented girl pitcher (Tatum O'Neal), the crew have an actual chance at winning some games and maybe a championship. But director Michael Ritchie (Downhill Racer) undercuts the romance of it all with the team's foul-mouthed tendencies and Matthau's own decadent spin on mentor-coachdom. Similarly to Ritchie's wicked comedy Smile --which lampooned the fervor surrounding beauty pageants--The Bad News Bears pokes fun at another American institution. --Tom Keogh
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 70
I cannot lie August 13, 2009
Daniel Hayes
This is a good movie. It also is the first PG film I remember watching, and let me tell you my virgin ears of 8 years old were shocked. This movie reminds me of why I don't have the heart to put my son in neighborhood sports. The competitiveness, the vanity, the pressure it's all too much. I remember about 6 years ago hearing about a riot that broke out at a school sports game, and a poor 17 year old girl paid the price for the wrath of the spectating parents. It broke my heart what happened to her, and I guess my heart breaks for the kids in this movie. It's a good underdog movie about a has-been drunken third rate ball player who coaches a team of throwaway kids. There's a racist shortstop, an obese catcher, and a whole bunch of kids that just wouldn't fit in the "Perfect" team. It was done well in the sense that it showed the team being built from the ground up, and the addition of 2 good players to shoulder the weight, and only to increase the diversity of this team as now we add a girl, and a juvenile deliquent. Alot of good performances went into this movie Walter Matthau as the coach, Vic Morrow as the opposing coach a Type A(as in anal) person, and Joyce Van Patten as his assistant, and Tatum O' Neal as the girl pitcher Amanda. These aren't Oscar-Winning performances, but they carry their weight for this movie. The film is a dark comedy, and that's putting it mildly as we see how human nature just takes over when a person tries to make a kid into a better person...a promising adult. This film also made me have some prejudices against parents as I feel that parents are so much wanting to be cocksure about their kids being good athletes that they bet their whole paycheck for their kids team to win. Let's face it parents we have to let our kids just have fun, and learn on their own about fair-play, and good sportsmanship. If we do what one parent says in this movie: "You're supposed to tag him you dummy" we've shown our kids where our heart is it's not about our kids either.....it's about us living through our kids, and that's not a good way to be. I don't know if they do this where they have a class at the beginning of the sports season where the adults learn about good sportsmanship, and just chilling out at the game....if not they should. I still remember the 17 year old girl, and if I was at that game I would've comforted her like she was my own daughter, and nurse her wounds. We send a mixed message to our kids when we act like this, and that's: "It's only fun when you win" instead of "It's not if you win or lose, but how you play the game." As I said I cannot lie this movie is good, and it's all too real about what happens in organized neighborhood sports. Parents it's time to wake up, and smell the coffee; Are we exposing our kids to this because we like the sport, and hopefully they'll like it, or is this one of the ways we try to get to heaven thinking God will let me in if I show how dedicated I am to making my child into a winner. Parents think before you expose your child to neighborhood sports.
Good news about the bad news bears July 13, 2009
Titus (Boston MA)
"The Bad News Bears" is a heartfelt, poignant movie about how one man comes to find redemption through that most hallowed of American institutions, little league baseball. The film is anchored by Walther Matthau who is perfectly cast as Morris Buttermaker, a washed up ex-minor league pitcher frittering away what is left of his life cleaning pools in suburban southern California. He agrees to coach a little league baseball team to make a few extra bucks.
All Buttermaker wants to do is show up, drink beer and collect his money. His attitude changes, however, as he watches his team get laughed at and humiliated by the little league "powers that be." He decides that he is not going to stand by and watch his players start down the same path to nowhere he has taken.
Matthau is supported by a great cast including first and foremost, the child actors fronted by Tatum O'Neal as the daughter of Buttermaker's ex-girlfriend. The kids pull off the difficult task of portraying the collection of misfits, social outcasts and ner-do-wells as both obnoxious and yet endearingly innocent and charming all at the same time.
Vic Morrow is excellent as the coach of the Bear's archenemies the Yankees. The scene where he forces his pitcher son to intentionally walk Engelburg, the kid he most wishes to strike out, is one of the most powerful in any movie about children, sports, and a "win at all costs" attitude. Joyce Van Patten is also wonderful as the annoying busybody who runs the league.
Overall "The Bad News Bears" is a terrific movie not just as a nostalgia trip for those like myself who grew up playing little league in the '70's but also for its positive message. I highly recommend it.
 These Bears are Bad News December 2, 2008
Lynn Ellingwood (Webster, NY United States)
Another great 70s film that was made into a poor 21st century film. This film is matter of fact without loud music and greatly exaggerated mugging passing off as acting. Yes, the characters are exaggerated for effect but not like acting is now. The story and the movie are more subtle but the story is classic cinema. A horrible, pathetic kids little league team is coached by a hopeless alcoholic. Somehow with the recruitment of a GIRL! Everyone gets their act together and plays pretty well. The ultimate lesson is that it's only a game and character is far more important. See the better baseball team with the lousy kids on the other team and terrible parents for reference!
Another classic 70's movie April 10, 2008
Micah B. Evans (USA)
Im not going to tell you all about this film, or tell you who is in it, or what they did, etc. Everyone knows Walter Matthau plays an ex-ball player who drinks, smokes and swears to much thru the movie, and also that Tatum O'Neil plays his ex-girlfriend's daughter who he gets to pitch and all the other stuff, like Tanner swearing and saying the "N" word, and such. All this has been said and reviewed in earlier post. I saw this movie when it first came out in 1976. I was 9 turning 10 years old that year. I cant believe its been 32 years now. WOW! Im gettin old. I believe that this movie is a time capsule. Its an era and time, long gone by. Sure, there is little league baseball today, but its not the same as it was back then. People who were kids back then (like me) can tell you that the whole scene was different back then, not like today. Sometimes I wonder if kids today really want to play, or their parents push them so hard to play, and the parents are the ones that really get off on it. Back when I was a kid, we wanted to play. Now, its big sponserships, and this and that. Differnt times back then, different vibe. I catch myself putting this movie on every once in a while to catch that vibe again, and to be transported back in time, to a more simple time and place.....Get this movie....
 Bad News Bears April 6, 2008
R. Pohner (Austin)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's nice to purchase movies I watched as a child. This one is the best of all three.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 70
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