I grew up loving The Bad News Bears. The original one, the one that was part of the amazing slate of movies that came out in 1976. I’ve never cared much for the remake from 2005, though it does have some charm. I probably watched the original 25 times as a kid. However, it’s been decades since I’ve sat down and watched the whole movie. Since I’ve made it a point to watch at least 25 movies released 50 years ago this year, it was the perfect opportunity for me to rewatch The Bad News Bears in its entirety and re-evaluate my opinion on it.
I’ll admit, I was worried about how I would feel about it, as times (and I) have changed a lot since the 1970s, obviously. Would the movie be so cringeworthy and politically incorrect that it would be unredeemable? I feared it could be. That's partly because of that one famous line, said by Tanner (Chris Barnes), which I’m not going to write here, but you can guess which one if you know the movie (it basically offends everyone, including booger-eating morons).
