Benutzerrezensionen

"Bad News for the Athletics!" This movie should be required viewing for parents and coaches of any sport at any level. It reminds me of what is wrong about youth sports, but at the same time what makes youth sports great. There are many lessons to be learned from this movie. It is sad, but many parents and coaches continue to make the game about themselves and not about the children playing. Bad News Bears shows just how ridiculous that type of attitude regarding youth sports is.

Bad News Bears is the original kids/sports movie without the Disney cliches. There isn't a clear cut bad guy, each coach (Buttermaker and Turner) have there faults and motivation. It is also refreshing that the movie does not have the typical Hollywood ending, but instead one that is fitting for the team sponsored by Chico's Bail Bonds.

Bad News Bears is also a great reminder of life in the late 1970s, the uniforms, clothes, cars, etc. Finally, it is an entertaining movie, especially for anyone who has played little league baseball (or any youth sport). It makes me laughs every time I watch it.

Scrappy pool-cleaner (and former ballplayer) in Southern California gets talked into coaching Little League to a bunch of no-talent boys. I don't think I've ever seen another movie that captured this bit of Americana so vividly: you can almost smell the freshly-cut grass and the cigar smoke in the air! One of Walter Matthau's many triumphs, and Tatum O'Neal as the pitching ace is also terrific (especially in the dug-out scene where she tries involving Matthau in her life and he cracks, sending her away in tears: "You don't wanna go, fine, no big deal."). The young boys are mostly all wonderful: Alfred Lutter, from "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", as the nerdy brain; Jackie Earle Haley as the cool kid with shades and motorcycle; Brandon Cruz, from "The Courtship of Eddie's Father", as the pitcher for the enemy-team. The film has some overacting and is occasionally sloppy (with the boom-mike showing, as well as O'Neal's stand-in in a wig), but is otherwise extremely well-written and designed and directed. In 1976, this had kids and adults lining up to see it, so I wouldn't consider the picture a 'sleeper' or an underrated film. It was a big commercial box-office hit and there is an audience for it wherever there's a DVD player and a screen. ***1/2 from ****

The Bad News Bears (1976) This is a classic sports comedy about an aging, down-on-his-luck ex- minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California little league. It stars Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal. This is one of my favorite movies from my childhood. Considered crass and crude in its day, it's now received cult status. The film garnered two sequels, a television series, and a 2005 remake. It also received multiple award nominations. The remake wasn't necessary, as I believe the original still holds up, despite the critics' problem with the drinking, smoking, and profanity. This a great representation of comedy from the era.

"The Bad News Bears" came out in 1976, the summer that I started playing little league. I know I am not breaking any new ground when I say that this film is a classic, but hopefully I can educate some of the younger viewers and posters as to how realistic this film is, in some ways.

First of all, I believe that anyone who has ever played organized youth sports has had a Tanner Boyle, Timmy Lupus and a Kelly Leek on their teams. This is just how it is, and for better or worse, it is one of the galvanizing factors that make youth leagues etch themselves indelibly into the memories of all those who have participated in them.

Second of all, kids curse. I don't know who the "nay-sayers" out there are, but they should look back into their own memories and try to figure out just when they learned to use the F-word. If you didn't learn it from your parents, you learned it from other kids. Granted, not all of us knew exactly what the words meant at that age, but we still used them. It was a small measure of rebellion at the age of seven.

When Tanner Boyle makes the comment that the team is filled with "niggers, spics, Jews and now a broad," it would be a crass, hateful comment if it had come from an adult. Yet, as a youth, Tanner gets a laugh because we all know that he doesn't really mean it, he is just repeating what he has heard at home -- not to condone what might have been said over the Boyle dinner table. The proof of this is obvious when Tanner "takes on the seventh grade," and makes a valiant attempt to preserve Timmy Lupus' honor before he gets thrown into a garbage can. Regardless of Tanner's racist remarks about the team, and his shunning of Lupus, "Lupus, why don't you sit over there? (abbr.)" he is willing to fight for those same people.

Third, (sorry for the digression), that's what parents are like. It is a truth that goes down through the ages: when it comes to their children, all adults are a-holes. When it comes time to see their children strive to excel at something, they become the obnoxious, bullying, chest-beating sh**s they have warned their children not to be. For the most part it is an extension to the children for what the parents' couldn't be in the first place, e.g. a good shortstop.

And Fourth: Losing. There is something about those pinstripes and even the moniker "Yankees" that make some of us want to do violent things to a couch. Mind you, I am not a native southerner, nor am I a Red Sox fan. I am just a man who can see the fact that pinstripes and the word "Yankees" symbolizes a corporate juggernaut that tries to annihilate the concept of fair play. For the Bears to ultilmately lose to the "Yankees" is just. They got beat. Perhaps it is an irony that this movie came out one year after the last choppers left Saigon, that defeat was in the air, so to speak.

There was still a message to this movie. A message that I have carried throughout my adult life. A message that Churchill had during the Blitz, and Giuliani had in the post 9/11 rubble. Once again, a line from Tanner Boyle: "Hey Yankees, you can take your trophy and shove it up your ass. Just wait until next year!"

This is a superb movie. I don't think it will ever become dated--not as long as little league baseball is in existence. I remember first seeing it at a drive-in when I was ten, shortly after my own little league season had finished. Walter Matthau is excellent as Buttermaker, the beer-soaked coach who takes on the unwanted task of coaching a team of misfit kids who were allowed to play in the league only after a civil action law suit was won in their favor. Tatum O'Neal shines as the team's recruited pitcher Amanda, whose mother once dated Buttermaker. A touching subplot involves the relationship between Amanda and Buttermaker which turns from distant to warm as the final game approaches. Vic Morrow gives a frighteningly good performance as the out-to-win-no-matter-what coach of the opposing team who was never happy with the fact that the Bears were allowed to play in the first place. Joyce Van Patten is also good as the butch, outspoken league supervisor.

It's the kid players that really give this movie the edge. All performances are top-notch, and director Michael Ritchie splendidly keeps the focus mostly on them and their feelings about the whole ordeal. Stand-outs include Jackie Earl Haley as the heroic Kelly Leak and Chris Barnes as shortstop Tanner Boyle. This film should be a warning to relentless adults who try to achieve stardom on the backs of their children, be it on the baseball field or on the ballet floor.

If any of the kids in "The Bad News Bears" were your child, or if you had any acquaintance with a youth sports coach even remotely like Morris Buttermaker, you'd be outraged and embarrassed. At the same time, the film delivers a message that all involved with youth sports probably couldn't hear enough of. In other words, do as "Bad News Bears" implies, not as it says or does and take the foul language and poor behavior at comedic face value only.

Walter Matthau stars as Buttermaker, an drunken former minor leaguer who coaches a little league team because his job as a pool cleaner isn't exactly lucrative. His job is to coach the Bears, a group of untalented misfits, most of whom have attitude problems. Basically from Buttermaker and the other adults involved in the league all the way down to the rebel kid, Kelly (Jackie Earle Haley), who tears up the field with his motorcycle, not a character has respect for another. Kids talk back to adults, adults yell at kids -- it's an ugly scene. How "Bears" redeems itself is something of a feat.

You can't deny "Bears" its heart. Every lesson there is to be learned from youth sports finds its way into this film. At the very beginning the Bears give up 20 runs in the first and forfeit. Quitting and adopting a counter attitude is present from then on. Then there's the balance between winning and playing the game, something many parents and coaches still lose sight of even today. Despite filling its cast with rotten blonde kids and insensitive adults, "Bears" sneaks this in naturally. The film nearly gets dramatic at times considering the extent to which the disrespect does become a serious part of the story.

So on one hand, you have a little blonde kid saying "Great, we have a team full of (insert racial slurs here) and now a girl!" and then you have examples of good sportsmanship winning out. It's tough to call "Bears" a family film or a kids film for that reason, but then again, some kids would really benefit from the values. Most of all parents of kids in youth sports need to see this movie as it really speaks at them.

As a comedy, a good chunk of that nastiness earns a good deal of laughs, especially when it involves the innocence of kids rather than the awfulness of the adults. If blurring the line between acceptable behavior in films and comedy is fine by you, "Bears" is as good a sports comedy as any. ~Steven C

Visit my site at http://moviemusereviews.blogspot.com

Hilarious film with a darker side that sometimes pokes through, especially in its serious moments. This is classic Walter Matthau, and classic Jackie Earle Haley, too! (Love that air hockey scene!) It reminds me of my childhood, and not many movies do. I can watch this film a dozen times and never get tired of it.

I had some reservations about watching "The Bad News Bears". I didn't grow up with the movie, and baseball isn't exactly a big deal in Australia.

I was surprised by what I saw.

I think this one may have been made before "child stars" became such a massive part of pop culture, with the two Coreys in the '80s and Macaulay Culkin in the '90s.

It's also before Hollywood began churning out kids' movies like paint-by-numbers.

Sure, there are still many of the cliches we know and many of us will probably never tire of: the cynical, down-and-out coach, either a has-been or a never-was, gets stuck with a ragtag children's team, none of whom show any promise, and yet many of whom capture our hearts with their quirky individuality: there's the nerd, the misunderstood delinquent from the wrong side of the tracks, the fat kid, the ethnic minorities, and eventually... the girl (ta da).

But what's interesting about the "Bad News Bears" is that it comes to you rough around the edges - edges that Disney would completely remove with their "Mighty Ducks" flicks, among many others. For one thing, the language is quite harsh. I never thought I would see a so-called "Family" movie from America that you wouldn't be able to show in a school classroom, but here we are. Not only is there near-constant swearing, but one of the kids lets loose with some appalling racial epithets not once but twice, and the movie treats it more as funny than shocking.

Plus, the team doesn't really seem to proceed that much, and nor does the Matthau character - as who else but the crusty coach - really soften THAT much over the course of the movie. Emilio Estevez in "Champions" and John Candy in "Cool Runnings" both had shame in their past that they had to recover from by, er, helping their team win (?). "The Bad News Bears" doesn't take pains to underline its cliches the way that movie did.

What you end up with, I think, is a movie which is a whole lot more real than any of those. The cliches are there but you have to dig to find them. "The Bad News Bears" is a nostalgiac classic for anyone who grew up with it, but I find it unlikely parents or teachers would show this to their kids over "Champions". This one asks a little more of them, including maturity.

I was really impressed with how well this movie has "aged." Walter Natthau plays that role of the alcoholic wash-out to perfection, and Tatum O'Neal portrays the struggle of a young girl trying to enter adolescence without losing her sense of "self" with delicacy and skill. It's a good story,with quite a bit serious to say about human nature and the understandings and misunderstandings between generations; it makes me mad that it never received the attention it deserved because it's "just" about kids. On a sadder note, I also couldn't help being impressed with how far this culture has regressed since 1976. The children's use of even mild profanity would never be permitted now in a "family film," and the wonderful scene at the end would certainly send the Thought Police running for their placards and boycotts. It's worth watching this film again just to remind ourselves that only 30 years ago children still enjoyed some autonomous space in which to grow, and the iron doors of the Nanny State had not yet completely swung closed upon them.

This movie is required viewing for all parents trying to relive their high school glory days through their kids. Only one adult looks good in this movie and it ain't Walter M. This movie is a classic example of how adults should not behave during their kids' sporting events.

This movie is probably rated higher than I normally would because it was one of my favorites growing up. I actually thought that music from "carmen" was original "the BNB's" song. Now watching it again after twenty-some years I see my tastes in movies has changed but it was still surprisingly good. It definitely made up my mind - I have absolutely no desire to see Billy Bob's version. The plot - stereotypical come-from-behind-feel-good-for-your-effort sports movie that I will admit this is one of the pioneers for that genre. The acting lukewarm - the dialog - forced, but it is still worth it to demonstrate what jerks we can all be trying to be supportive.

I'm surprised this film is not higher rated. This is a great film about America and certainly one of the great comedies. Walter Matthau was born for this role. The kids are impeccably cast. Hilarious, moving and inspirational.

Looking to get his son involved in a prestigious little league system that's already over capacity, a well-connected father greases a few palms, recruits his own team of misfits and hires a miserable ex-pitcher to show them the ropes. I'm not really sure what the dad's plan is here, as he quickly fades out of the picture while the team, predictably, plummets straight to the bottom of the standings. Did he expect them to fail and merge with an established club? Maybe he just needed to get that kid out of his hair? Either way, his methods are as strange as his paternal instincts are suspect.

Morris Buttermaker, the down-and-out former ace who's tasked with supervising the kids, is a hopeless drunk who alternately neglects his players and torments them. He's barely present to start the season, passing out at practice and slamming brews during games, but something about the team's fighting spirit pierces the fog and draws him out of his private slump. When that switch flips, he shifts from a ghost to a tyrant. No longer apathetic to more than the source of his next drink, he overworks his best players and berates the others for small mistakes. This puts the kids in a weird place: they admire his experience and appreciate his advice, but hate the way he makes them feel. They want to win, but they want to have fun, too, and as their record improves, the pressure to triumph supersedes love of the game. Buttermaker isn't the only coach to fall into this trap; he's just the first to realize it. It takes him long enough, right up to the championship game, but he does come around and the moment he realizes that he's being a toxic old jerk is powerful.

Mostly a screwball comedy that delights in the shocking vulgarity of its young cast, there's also something heartier, something meaningful, churning beneath the surface.

Just watch the trailer at the top of the page, it tells you the story and the jokes and then shows you the ending!

Just a note and I am not a fan of going too far with PC speech but there is a line a little kids uses in this movie, its in the trailer, (that did make me laugh to be honest and I was quite shocked) that if I typed it as part of the review, the review would not get published!

Times have changed for sure :)

I know that is an exaggeration, but I truly believe that this movie sets the standard by which all other "kids and sports" movies will be measured.

What it does that is unique is that it keeps the swearing and fighting where it belongs: on the field. This movie does not even try to make anyone look good, for the sake of making them look good. It just shows the kids at their very essence: booger-eating morons, just out to have a good time trying to play baseball.

Rewarding for both adults and children, this funny and astute movie revels in poking the ribs of Little League Baseball whilst casting a cautionary eye of the obsession some have with winning. An on form Walter Matthau stars as Morris Buttermaker, a now washed up ex minor league player who, prompted by a financial carrot, becomes manager of a multi-racial team of Little League misfits. It's originally a rough road as Buttermaker is more concerned with drinking beer, while the kids themselves don't know which end of the bat to hold. But things start to pick up when Morris enlists his talented daughter Manda (Tatum O'Neal) to pitch for them. Not only that but the town rebel, Kelly Leak (Jackie Earl Hayley), with points to prove, has also been prompted to join.

Directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster (yes, Burt's son), The Bad News Bears never sinks to being a preachy fable. It also delightfully doesn't resort to type for its finale. Making this a very clever and aware film from a genre of film so often troubled by safe playing and a too frothy approach. It would spawn two so so sequels in the next two years, inspire an imitation, get a TV series make over and was remade in 2005 with Billy Bob Thornton taking on the role of Buttermaker. 7.5/10

The Bad News Bears is a snapshot of what life was like on the 70's; the haircuts, clothes, attitudes, kids drinking beer, piling into a car without seatbelts, kids running wild with little to no parental supervision. It was epic and this classic film captures boys youth as if it were a documentary. This movie is a lot like Rocky. It has serious heart like very films do. It connected with the pulse of America post Vietnam. People wanted to feel like winners even though the war didn't go as planned. Our men did what was required of them and then they came home. The subtext of the Bad News Bears speaks to this American experience. Plus, it's a baseball movie that has great acting and very memorable characters. It's one of my all time favorites and very well done.

A washed up,former minor league player is given gets a gig coaching a team of equally lamentable kids. Except perhaps to someone who loves little league baseball, that logline doesn't seem too promising. So why is The Bad News Bears such a popular and endearing film. Because it's well executed. And quality will surmount any genre or topic. Walter Matthau is a pro and he's at his best playing slovenly, gruff characters. The cast also includes Tatum O'Neal,who won a highly deserved Oscar just three years previously,as the lead of the juvenile cast. This film's about a kid's baseball team and if(most of)these actors had not been as good as they were,this film would have suffered greatly. It's a shame someone as talented as Bill Lancaster didn't write more than three scripts:this film, one of its sequels and The Thing. For a director who spent his career mostly making second rate movies, Michael Ritchie did a suprisingly good job.

The picture is very funny and even a bit poignant;in many ways not too different than another picture that came out that year-Rocky. The Bad News Bears is a story about the success in the failure and the victory in the loss.

While "Rocky" was about an athlete overcoming obstacles to pursue a dream, "The Natural" centered on an older man's comeback in professional sports, and "Jerry McGuire" told a story of transcendence between a sports agent and his fiery unpredictable client, "The Bad News Bears" focused much more on organic down-to-earth issues. Aside from films derived from real-life true stories, such as "42", "Hoosiers", and "Rudy", "The Bad News Bears" may be the most poignant fictional sports film ever produced. "The Bears" deals with prejudice, inequality, injustice, racism, and obsession, on one hand, while simultaneously searching and finding acceptance, bridge-building, and determination. Yet, the characters and setting are so real, the dialog so true-to-life, you don't realize you're being offered these larger ideas. They just emerge from the plight of the characters. Who knows whether or not the filmmakers were setting out to make a social statement, but they did which is the mark of a truly great story.

The essential plot is pretty basic. A group of junior high school age baseball players are thrown together to play on a team called "The Bears". They only have one thing in common: they are, for the most part, terrible. They can't pitch, they can't bat, and they can't field. Walter Matthau, in one of his best performances since "The Odd Couple", plays Morris Buttermaker, a swimming pool cleaner who is asked by a City Councilman to coach this team of athletically challenged misfits. The Councilman had filed a lawsuit against the city because the Little League was excluding players with less ability, and the Bears team was the city's "restitution", allowing less-skilled kids a chance to play the game.

What makes the film as good as it is has to do with the characters of the players as much as Matthau as Buttermaker. These kids were literally ripped right out of reality, and seem so similar to the kids I played with when I was of junior high age that it's almost scary. I can't name them all, but I offer a few of the ones which stick in my mind. In no particular oder: Toby, son of the councilman, who's probably the most vocal of the kids, Ogilvie, the most intellectual of the boys but not the best player, Amanda, their best pitcher and the only female in the league, Kelly, the trouble-maker who smokes and rides a Harley but is an amazing outfielder and hitter, Tanner, my favorite character, the shortest but craziest of the team who would give Napoleon Bonaparte a run for his money when he takes on the entire 7th grade. He defends Lupus against some bullies at one point in the film. Lupus is perhaps the worst player on the team and shows little knowledge of social decorum. At first Tanner and the others are put-off by Lupus, but at one point the team appreciates him.

At first, there seems little hope for this group of unskilled oddballs when they're slaughtered during their first game. However, as the film progresses we learn more about the characters and how they start to pull for one another. Several of the Bears are either dismissed or harassed at various moments in the story, and the teammates begin to learn to stick up for one another, both on and off the field. As a result they slowly begin to play better. Even Buttermaker changes during the story. At first he's not the best coach, but he starts to see things in his players the other teams around the league don't see. We also witness the obsession and over-zealousness of the parents, whose attitude becomes more about the kids winning than simply experiencing the game. In the climactic final game, Buttermaker makes a realization which is as profound as any in sports films of this type.

This is just an incredible story which says much more about modern culture, particularly about young people, then it may have set out to do. The dialog seems like it was derived right out of a junior high school baseball diamond. While most child characters speak dialog which is unrelated to their age and experience, the script of the Bad News Bears must have come from the mouths of babes, literally. I imagine the screenwriters must have spent time at actual Little League games and written down the dialog. The ending is one of the best in all of sports films, and it is not only completely believable but it fits with the rhetoric of the entire film. An absolute breath of fresh air, especially if you're tired of those fictional sports films where you can guess the outcome.

I think back to my early days of little league baseball in Elmont. I wore my first purple and white uniform with the sponsors name across the back "Talk Of the Town Grocery". There I was at 9 years old fumbling grounders, bobbling fly balls and whiffing at bad pitches killing potential rallies by my team mates. earning the nickname "Duchebag". A traumatic experience playing hardball for the first time for any child. Take an over the hill, cigar smoking, beer guzzling pool cleaner in search of extra cash. Add some bungle-some maladroit's, one Harley Davidson Juvenile delinquent and flame throwing lassie and you have The Bad News Bears sponsored by Chico's Bail Bonds. If your looking for a wholesome warm movie about a star player getting the game winning hit to win the championship with bits of sportsmanship thrown in you got off at the wrong stop. Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) inherited this ragtag bunch of little league pre-teen ballplayers. Let's describe this roster of misfits. At catcher you have the irritable hefty Engelberg who can barely close his shirt around his massive belly and always has a supply of chocolate bars on hand and a bucket of fried chicken.. Then you have the very intelligent timid, storky, bespectacled Ogilvie. On the mound as number 2 through 5 starter the clumsy Rudi Stein who has a penchant under the orders of the Manager to lean into one and get struck by a pitched ball. At Shortstop you have the boisterous, foul mouthed Tanner who has the boldness and bravery to take on the entire seventh grade. Our token Black player on the squad is Ahmad who when things go bad, and they usually do, takes off his uniform and climbs up a tree. Timmy Lupus is every person's underdog. Meek like a doe with his eyes in the headlights of an on coming truck. Teased and harassed by opposing ballplayers as Tanner comes to Timmy's defense but is physically deposited into a garbage can by Joey Turner (Brandon Cruz). You remember the adorable Brandon from the days of the TV show The Courtship Of Eddie's Father. In this film Brandon is anything but adorable as the opposing pitcher on the first place Yankees managed by His Philistine Father, Roy Turner (Vic Morrow). Morrow puts winning ahead of everything else in our story including his own family. Vic Morrow was Well cast as the foil against the deadpan Matthau. Ironically the two worked together in the Movie King Creole with the Iconic Elvis Presley years earlier. I love the banter between two opposing Managers Buttermaker and Turner. Buttermaker refers to Turner as PUSSHEAD. The final piece to this puzzle is our two talents. Map selling 12 year old Amanda Whurlitzer (Tatum O'Neal)who knows Buttermaker because he dated her Mom two years hence and the bond developed between Amanda and Buttermaker was there but not with the Mom. Tatum throughout the picture would want Buttermaker to date her Mom because deep down Amanda needed a Father figure in her life. Finally Cigarette smoking muscle shirted Harley bike riding Kelly Leak(Jackie Earle Haley)the natural power slugging outfielder who practically carries the whole team on his back right up to the championship game. Director Michael Ritchie captures the real childhood experience of Little league with all the foul language and pecking order. A team of dreadful' s being scoffed by the opponents and on the verge of quitting but a philosophic Buttermaker tells his troupe's that quitting is a hard habit to break. So get out your athletic supporters and when the season is over get acquainted with the Wife and kids. Hunt, fish or do whatever you do in the off season but be ready to be entertained by the Bad News Bears. Oh by the way check the baseballs for chocolate stains.

I remember watching the Bad News Bears as a teenager close to when it first came out, and thinking that yeah, this was a fun movie that kind of reminded me of real life. The movie was famous at the time, and I never remembered it being anything more than a fun entertainment. When I watched it again a few days ago (perhaps the first time in 30 years), I was really startled. This movie was not just funny but impressive, capturing something of the truth about the way adults and kids really interact with each other in our society. The kids are gritty--they swear, they fight, they are insolent and belligerent, they are cruel (sound familiar?). The adults are hyper-competitive, drunken, prone to selfish projection, lazy and insensitive (sound familiar again?). The movie becomes much more than a feel-good underdog story (although it would inspire many such imitations) but rather becomes a desperate struggle for dignity among all the participants in a situation that is full of snares. This is a really good movie, not particularly for kids to view.

This was a hit back in the mid '70s because of several things. Walter Matthau was funny in the lead role as a Little League manager. The kids were varied and interesting. Feminists liked the movie because the best pitcher on the team was a girl.

Tatum O'Neal, at 12, became an instant star because of her role as "Amanda," the great pitcher. She wound up living a tumultuous life as a child star and later as adult marrying another spoiled-brat rebel, tennis star John McEnroe.

The public seems to always love shows in which ragtag misfits somehow come together to beat the powerful "establishment" teams or groups or companies or governments. Liberal Hollywood has always loved that rebels-make-good theme, and always will, from "Rebel Without A Cause" to "Easy Rider" to "Revenge Of the Nerds" to "Dirty Harry," on and on. The worse you act, and the more you rebel against authority, the better they will portray you.

In this movie, the manager, "Coach Buttermaker," is a drunk, is profane and a misfit himself but, of course, he gets it all together, too, and winds up a hero along with these bratty kids. And just to make sure you get the point, the biggest rebel of them all - "Kelly Leak" (Jackie Earle-Haley), is some 12-year-old who thinks he's Marlon Brando on a motorcycle. He's the best hitter on the team and an indispensable member of the squad, if they are to win. He's so cool with that bike and a cigarette in his mouth....wow!

All of these movie clichés work, though, and the film was fun to watch and a big hit 30 years ago, spawning numerous lame sequels. It's another one of those '70s irreverent films that were new and "cool" back in their day, but a bit dated now