It's Bad News For...

My current state of sloth led me to aimless clicking of the remote last night and I happened on a showing of The Bad News Bears from 1976. What serendipity.

I had completely forgotten how damned funny this movie is - from Walter Matthau as Buttermaker, the past-his-prime, beer drinking (all varieties, by the way), pool cleaner coach who is given the biggest bunch of misfits in the league to the precious and precocious Tatum O'Neal as Amanda, the best pitcher around who refuses to wear a cup (but wants a bra) and who proves to be a true foil to Buttermaker. Their fierce relationship breaks your heart.

I remember seeing this for the first time and feeling so shocked (and thrilled) by this bunch of kids who said "shit" in front of adults and beat up other kids and drank BEER. I have no idea how old I was (I was too young to have seen it in the theater in '76), but I remember loving this movie - the misfit kids, the camaraderie, the cool girl who kicks everyone's ass. And what about the "hood" - the kid, Kelly, who rode a motorbike and wore those strange, almost disco, tinted glasses? I especially loved that it was about baseball, the greatest game, and as a little girl who played in endless softball leagues, this movie really resonated.

This is comedy before it had to be all about vibrators and sex (not that they're not funny) OR before it had to be politically correct. Kids drinking beer and beating up other kids WITHOUT apologizing or supplying some "moral of the story?" Not today. It's not all comedy, though - this rich movie deals with love, a bit of drama, and seriously scary bullying parents.

I highly recommend a re-viewing of this movie to everyone who reads this. It's simply hilarious and if you love curmudgeons on film as much as I do, the scenes between Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal are priceless.