MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears (1976) Discussion > Best Baseball Movie Ever Made

Best Baseball Movie Ever Made


Hilarious. Genius.

Bull Durham, Bang the Drum Slowly, Major League, League of Their Own all great, but nothin in Bad News Bears Class.

One of those movies when I see on, I stop what Im doing and watch.

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I kind of have to agree. Even though its about a children's league, there is more raw heinous emotion that goes to the absolute darkness of the soul of competition. Kids get to express what adults would say but could never get away with.

Bull Durham is a winner, though.

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This movie isn't about kids, it is about the adults who parent and coach them.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

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I love this film and also A League of Their Own.

~~
💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍

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Yup. Also one of the best (or at least most realistic) movies ever about adolescents. Very few movies have ever had the guts to portray kids as they actually exist.

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Tanner Boyle is one of the funniest characters ever.

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I love this movie, too -- fantastic screenplay. Kids that talk like real kids, not sitcom writers. When I played hockey in the mid to late 70s, there were parents and kids just like these characters. The line "What are you swingin' at?" is dead-on (I knew a few fathers like Roy Turner). BNB is clearly about so much more than baseball.

And Matthau could have played Buttermaker as just another grouch, but you always felt the heart underneath. A perfect example is after he throws the beer at Amanda. It could have easily been an eye-rolling moment, but not how Tatum and Walter played it. And the scene when his players realize he's acting like Turner...real as it gets.

Doesn't surprise me that Bill Lancaster won the WGA award for it in '77. Sad that he died at such a young age.

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Best baseball movie ever?

Better than The Sandlot, A League of Their Own, Rookie of the Year, Angels in the Outfield, Little Big League, Fever Pitch or Major League?

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Well it's right up there.




"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Simp--" - Frank Grimes

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It's certainly better than any of those Disneyfied offerings!

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Yes.

For the record, from your list:

Bad News Bears
The Sandlot
Major League
A League of Their Own
Little Big League
Fever Pitch

Rookie of the Year and Angels in the Outfield are so putrid, no reason to even list them.

"You didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya?"

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I have this DVR'd and every few months or so I watch it. One of the greats! Walter is the perfect functioning drunk.

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