Damon Fordham
Folks, There is only one group of people who will truly enjoy and think this is a great film-the group who it was intended for: those of us who were in our pre-teens or early teens who saw this when it first came out in the Summer of 1977.The tale is pretty much the kind of thing that every red-blooded American boy of that age would dream about. The little leaguers fire their tyrannical coach and "borrow" a van to play at a little league championship in Houston. To avoid spoiling it, I'll just say that this deals with their adventures along the way and the results. A "Huckleberry Finn" of the 1970s, to be generous.The overprotective parents and PC squads of today would have heart attacks at the scenes of the kids' foul language, cigarette smoking, chasing a grown woman, committing grand theft auto, and swiping Playboy magazines. But most of us who saw it at the time knew that this was over -the top and didn't take it that seriously.Yeah, an adult viewer would agree that the story, writing, and acting are atrocious. But this wasn't intended to be Shakespeare. See it with a 13 year old mind and trust me, you'll "get it." For those of us who saw this as 13 year olds in 1977, leave your brains at the door and enjoy the nostalgia and the theme song "Looking Good." To everyone else-you've been warned!
Kristine
After seeing The Bad News Bears, I have just been in love with that film ever since my first viewing, so I figured despite the low rating on IMDb, just to give the sequels a look. So, I just watched The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and while I didn't think it was so bad, it lost it's substance of what the first one was, and that was a crappy team with a lousy coach that didn't care if they won or lost. Now we don't get to know the coach better, we get to know the team better, well, I guess we didn't need to know that much.Some of the team is back, mainly it seems like we are focusing on Kelly this time, but they want to go to Texas to win the big game in the Astrodome to win the game for Lupus and a trip to Japan or something along those lines. But the team gets a lousy coach to begin with, so on their road trip, Kelly picks up his estranged father and asks him to be the team's coach and help them practice. Of course, Kelly and his dad need some things to patch up before they can play any games.The thing that was strange to me mainly, I don't know maybe because it's a different time, but I found it strange that the dad kept calling the boys "handsome" and patting their upper legs, but I don't know, maybe I'm just taking it too seriously or too PC. While, on it's own, it's not too bad of a movie, I wouldn't really suggest this movie for the hard core fans, but I rented both sequels, so I might as well see the next one, right? 5/10
jwrowe3
that features the town I grew up in, Houston. If it's a film about paint drying, and was shot in the 70's, I'm there! But, about THIS movie...."BNB BT" is a decent, but weak follow up to the original. But then most "Part II" movies tend to be, right? Without Tatum O'Neal, and Walter Matthau, the movie seems to just coast. Now, I like William Devane, but it would have had more "bite" with the original leads.The kids are cute, they play their hearts out, and you just love them. We have the sub-plot with Devane and his son, and then, the BIG FINISH!Yeah, it was filmed inside the "Seventh Wonder of the World", the Astrodome, famed for such things as, The Billie Jean King-Bobby Riggs "Battle of The Sexes" tennis match, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Astro's baseball, Oiler's football( and the short lived USFL Gamblers, too!), and countless other events. Part of the old school charm of watching anything in the 'Dome, was that scoreboard that lights up with the cowboy, and bull, all LONG gone....It's fun seeing places you knew growing up, AND seeing people who went to your school! The character "Janet" was played by Michelle Fruge, was a cheerleader and was in my graduating class of 1980, from Dulles High School, in Sugar Land Texas. 6 on a scale of 10, for Houston. 4 on a scale of 10 for everything else.
soranno
This second installment in Paramount's "The Bad News Bears" film series is (as most sequels are) not quite as good as the original film but it's not entirely bad either. William Devane does a fairly good job in his role as the new coach of the Bears little league baseball team. He has his sights set on big things including giving the team a shot for the little league world series and a chance to play at the famed Houston Astrodome. However, what could've made this sequel better was if some of the talent that came together to make the first film so enjoyable could've returned. The series was never the same without Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal.
AD
