The Bad News Bears arrived in theaters just in time for the start of the Major League Baseball season in 1976.
It debuted on Wednesday, April 7, one day in advance of the Cincinnati Reds’ season-opening 11-5 victory over the Houston Astros.
While the Big Red Machine rolled to a 102-60 regular-season record, defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers by 10 games in the National League West, and then swept the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Championship, and the New York Yankees in the World Series, it’s unclear who had a better summer, the Reds or the Bears.
Produced with a budget of $9 million, The Bad News Bears wound up earning $42.3 million at the box office, which is a pretty solid return on investment.
The film starred Walter Matthau as Morris Buttermaker, an ex-ballplayer turned drunk with a gambling habit, who took the job as coach of this ragtag group of kids to earn some pocket change from a busy father who didn’t have time to do it himself.
Mathau’s co-headliner on the movie poster was Tatum O’Neal, who, at just 12-years-old, already had an Academy Award to her credit as supporting actress in 1973’s Paper Moon. She portrays Amanda Whurlizer, who is the daughter of Buttermaker’s ex-girlfriend. He taught her how to pitch, and she’s brought aboard to shore up the pitching staff.
The film, which was written by Bill Lancaster (son of Hollywood luminary Burt Lancaster), skewered the competitive nature of youth sports and parental behavior in particular. (How prescient it was, right?) As the Motion Picture Association of America didn’t have a PG-13 rating for nearly another decade, The Bad News Bears was awarded a PG rating despite the drinking, smoking, and coarse language throughout (from the adults and the children).
So, if you’re just biding your time until the annual Little League World Series ramps up later this month in South Williamsport, PA, crack open a cold beer of your choosing (any will do, just ask Coach Buttermaker!) rewatch The Bad News Bears and let me know what you think.
Just to review, The Fan Teaser was the creation of former Ann Arbor News Sports Editor Geoff Larcom. Longtime friend and fellow Ann Arbor News alum, Pat Schutte, took it to heights previously unknown. We aim to keep it alive here at The Sports Fan Project. The cropped photo and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.