The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training - 1977

They've fired their coach. They've "borrowed" a van. They're on their way to the Houston Astrodome...with girls on their minds, cops on their tails, and the game of their lives at stake.

Director
Michael Pressman 

Writer
Paul Brickman 

Producers
Fred T. Gallo 
Leonard Goldberg 

Cast
William Devane - Mike Leak
Clifton James - Sy Orlansky
Chris Barnes - Tanner Boyle
Jackie Earle Haley - Kelly Leak
Jimmy Baio - Carmen Ronzonni
Erin Blunt - Ahmad Abdul Rahim
George Gonzales - Miguel Agilar
Jaime Escobedo - Jose Agilar
Alfred Lutter III - Ogilvie
Brett Marx - Jimmy Feldman
David Pollock - Rudi Stein
Quinn Smith - Timmy Lupus
David Stambaugh - Toby Whitewood

Review by Theo Robertson

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977)

There's a showbiz rule that you should never work with children or animals . Michael Jackson didn't heed this advice and now look at him , so why on earth did someone think a baseball movie featuring a bunch of kids would be a hit ? It's not just any bunch of kids , no siree it's a Jewish kid , it's a black kid , it's a really fat kid , it's small but gutsy kid etc who are all annoying as can be

If they'd remained a bunch of stereotypes and cyphers it would have been bad enough but someone somewhere decided to stick the knife into the audience by casting a bunch of ( Not very good ) child actors who obviously attend a ( Not very good ) stage school . You might be interested though not shocked to know that the only actor in BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING who has had regular employment since is William Devane and he was 37 years old when this movie was released

There's another problem and that's a heart tugging family sub plot where we see the crap hair style kid spouting lines like " I remember being five years old and you gave me a bike . I didn't want a bike - I wanted a father " I'm telling you what this kid really needs is some acting lessons . Something else is the suggestion that if people chant " LET THEM PLAY " at a sports arena people will get what they want . I'm sorry but we don't live in a democracy . Don't believe me ? then go to the republican party convention and chant " WE WANT JOHN McCAIN " then go to the Democrat party convention and chant " WE WANT RON KOVIC " and see what happens

Add to all this mush poor directing where everything seems to be framed in medium shot and strange cinematography where primary colours dominate the screen and you've got a movie that rates two out of ten