10 Baseball Movies That Knocked It Out Of The Park

1. The Bad News Bears

No, not the awful 2005 remake ... I'm talking about the original 1976 classic starring a crusty Walter Matthau (in perhaps his best performance) as an alcoholic former player named Morris Buttermaker who is forced by poverty to coach a horrendous little league team of misfits.

While the film got a lot of attention at the time for its profanity and frank teen sexuality, The Bad News Bears remains a valuable time capsule of seventies attitudes and values. Even more, the film is probably the most realistic portrayal of kids in the little league environment; anyone who has ever stepped onto a field as a child will recognize the dynamics here.

The kids are brilliantly cast. Tatum O'Neal is excellent as the lonely and spunky pitcher Amanda Whurlitzer, and Jackie Earl Haley perfectly personifies cool seventies kids as the dangerous stud outfielder Kelly Leak. The breakout performance, though, comes from Chris Barnes as the foul-mouthed, violent, blonde-haired Tanner Boyle; much of the film's success comes from his vibrant, layered performance here.

While the film certainly grabbed attention from its underdog storyline and shocking profanity, the film is much deeper than most critics allow. Matthau's Buttermaker's anger and his drinking come from an overwhelming feeling of failure in his own life, which he inadvertently inflicts on the children he coaches. The kids, mostly from broken and unhappy homes (we never see their parents in the film), recognize Buttermaker's anger as part of their own cycle of unhappiness. This cycle of disappointment is just one of the adult themes the film explores. This is not just a funny film about a ragtag bunch of losers. It's a film about wanting to be accepted, about dreams achieved and those unfulfilled, and how the effects of those unattained hopes can influence your life and those around you.

It is a brilliant film, and my choice for the best baseball film ever made. Here are two scenes of terrific power and silence that illustrates everything I love about this film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2qNJ7IzzqE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc2xTMnIwrI