Amazing Review Room

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

Hilarious horsehide hoot about a bottom-of-the-barrel Little League team that's raised from dead last with the arrival of a female pitcher (Tatum O'Neal) and a beer-swilling coach (Walter Matthau). Co-stars Vic Morrow, Joyce Van Patten, Jackie Earle Haley; scripted by Bill Lancaster (Burt's son). 101 min. Widescreen (Enhanced); Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English.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 may! be 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