Bad News Bears: Triple Play Collection [3 Discs]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

This collector's set features the hit 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears, starring Walter Matthau as a hard-drinking former baseball player suckered into coaching a hapless Little League team, as well as the film's two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan. All three films have been given letterboxed transfers to disc in the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, and have also been enhanced for anamorphic playback on 16x9 monitors. The audio for The Bad News Bears appears in both Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Mono, while the other two films are mastered in Dolby Digital Mono only. All three films are in English, with optional English subtitles, but with no multiple language options or bonus materials included. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 3
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 (Alternate Wide Screen)
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Subtitle: English
• Features:
  • cc [None specified]

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Tony Curtis - Marvin Lazar
       William Devane - Mike Leak
       Walter Matthau - Coach Morris Buttermaker
       Clifton James - Sy Orlansky
       Tatum O'Neal - Manda Whurlizer
       Vic Morrow - Coach Roy Turner
       Tomisaburo Wakayama - Coach Shimizu
       Jimmy Baio - Carmen Ronzonni
       Hatsune Ishihara - Arika
       Joyce Van Patten - Cleveland
       Ben Piazza - Councilman Whitewood
       George Wyner - Network Director
       Jackie Earle Haley - Kelly Leak

• Director:

  John Berry, Michael Pressman, Michael Ritchie

• Producer:

  Terry Carr, Leonard J. Goldberg, Stanley Jaffe, Polly Platt, Michael Ritchie

• Screenwriter:

  Paul Brickman, Bill Lancaster

• Cinematographer:

  John A. Alonzo, Fred Koenekamp, Kozo Okazaki, Gene Polito

• Composer (Music Score):

  Paul Chihara, Jerry Fielding, Norman Gimbel, Craig Safan

• Songwriter:

  Norman Gimbel, Craig Safan

• Editor:

  Richard A. Harris, Dennis Virkler, John W. Wheeler

• Production Designer:

  Walter Scott Herndon, Polly Platt

• Art Director:

  Stephen Myles Berger

REVIEWS:

• The Bad News Bears didn't really call for a sequel, but studios rarely argue with a hefty box office -- and so was born the unnecessary The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. Since unnecessary sequels really exist only to lure in viewers who were pleased with the original, they usually try to duplicate the earlier film as much as possible -- hence Training's insistence that the Bears are a bunch of losers, even though the first film was all about them learning to work together and be a successful team. To overcome this, Training needs to have a bunch of clever plot twists and be loaded with snappy dialogue. Instead, the plot is tired and clichéd and the dialogue confuses scatology with wit. Worse, the writers add in an estranged father-son subplot that is entirely too sentimental for the surroundings. What saves Training is its cast; the kids are a good little bunch of actors (and Jackie Earle Haley is considerably more than that), and William Devane adds a good deal of punch. There's nothing special about The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training, but its performers make it much more painless than it could have been. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
• Bad News Bears is one of the most delightful blends of family and adult entertainment ever made. The underdog-made-good story may please and kids in the audience, but it's only one facet of the film's entertaining, realistic portrait of little league baseball. The real appeal comes from spot-on performances by Tatum O'Neal and Walter Matthau. Their relationship, as a grizzled divorcé and the pubescent girl trying to make him her father, is finely tuned and immensely enjoyable. Their natural stubbornness yet vulnerability comes through, helping to keep the story out of the realm of the sentimental. The entire script, by Bill Lancaster, is full of authenticity, capturing both the different personalities of the kids and the often embarrassing and bizarre world of Little League. Director Michael Ritchie achieves all of the story's drama without losing any of the innocence of the youngsters. Considering that his three previous films (Prime Cut, The Candidate, and Smile) were all distinctly adult fare, Bad News Bears was a surprising movie from Ritchie. But he brings his mature sensibility to his characters, never expecting them to be perfect but never judging them either. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide

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