User reviews

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!

The Bears are back but Amanda Whurlitzer and Buttermaker are gone. Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) drives the new dictatorial coach Manning away. The team is off to the Houston Astrodome to play the Houston Toros. Leak brings on Carmen Ronzonni from back east to be the new pitcher. The boys drive to Houston on their own. They discover that they still suck after playing a roadside game. They get into trouble for their van and Kelly decides to contact his estranged father Mike Leak (William Devane). Sy Orlansky (Clifton James) is the local businessman sponsoring the game.

Most of the gang is back with the exception of the big stars. It's too bad that Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal can't return but it may be asking too much for sequels of that era. The story isn't much. I don't know why the Bad News Bears get to play in the Astrodome. There are snippets of fun but mostly it doesn't live up to the original. That is until Tanner runs around and the Let Them Play chant. It's cheesy but effective and it's the Astrodome.

Can you name another movie that captured the 70's generation as well as the bond of friendship with the most diverse group of kids in the world. Forget comparing this film to the original or that piece of crap Japan flick that completed the trilogy. This is an amazing film that tells a decent story, but overall gives a funny and enjoyable film that you never get tired of. Even if you hate the Bears or some of the annoying characters, its a classic because it never gets old. The characters all seem too real. Since none of the actors made it big, it adds to how real the characters in the film are. For that, possible sad reason, the film can only be seen through the eyes of the young.

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.

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

"The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" is a cute sequel to the classic original. By know means does it come close to it predecessor but it is a fun time waster.

The Bears head off,unchaperoned, to play an exhibition game at the Astrodome against the Texas state champs. (One major flaw is that it is never adequately explained why the Bears would be making the trip since they lost the championship game in the original). The usual juvenile hijinks ensue on the road as they make their way there.

Once there team leader Kelly Leak enlists the aid of his estranged father (nicely played by William Devane) to coach the team. This leads to the opening of some old wounds between the two. It's a nice distraction from the main story and handled well until the cornball, cliched scene where the hatchet is buried.

The big game is handled well with the Astrodome surroundings a big aid.

While Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal (the star pticher in this one is played by Jimmy Baio who is given nothing to do)are sorely missed, the cast does an adequate job of making the film amusing for kids.

The final result is a nice little film. The game is the best part but there are plenty of amusing moments (including the requisite bad language from the kids) to keep you mildly interested. If you don't agree, just take a peak at "The Bad News Bears Go To Japan." This film will look like a classic compared to that disaster.

Yikes...one of the most awkward sequels of all times. First they replace the inspiring, easily recognizable soundtrack of the original ("Carmen") with some maudlin seventies fare that even Laverne and Shirley would laugh at. Then they have a group of unappealing adolescents known as the 'Bears' ride to the Astrodome in the back of a cargo van (why the Bears were chosen to play in this game instead of the Yankees, the team that actually WON the championship in the first film, is conveniently glossed over). In between, there's a sandlot game where, predictably, the Bears revert to their 'Bad News' ways. Yeech!

There are some sequels that should not be made when the star of the original decides to move on, and this is one of those times. Perhaps Matthau saw the script and realized that his career would follow that of Roy Scheider's if he participated in this atrocity. Other than a somewhat touching subplot involving Tanner's desire to win the game for "The Looper" (Timmy Lupus who appears in the sequel for about twenty three seconds), this film is more than worthy of a royal skewering from Mike and the bots of "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" fame.

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) is a movie that I recently watched with my daughter on HBOMAX. The storyline follows the Bad News Bears as recent little league champions that want to compete for the national championship in Texas. They don't have a coach or a means to get there. The kids put their heads together to find a way to make it happen, get to Texas and compete.

This movie is directed by Michael Pressman (The Great Texas Dynamite Chase) and stars William Devane (Marathon Man), Jackie Earle Haley (The Watchmen), Jimmy Baio (Soap), Dolph Sweet (The Wanderers) and Chris Barnes (The Time Crystal).

This movie badly missed Walter Matthau. The storyline was flimsy but had potential. The kids are always great and their back and forth dialogue is a lot of fun. This didn't have the magic of the first film but Haley was fantastic and Devane delivers a solid supporting performance. The various situations were fun and the ending was rewarding and makes you want to standup and cheer.

Overall, this is a very average family movie that's still worth a watch. I would score this a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

The Bad News Bears are bad again, which is really interesting considering they are on their way to Houston after being the California champions.

I really want to like the BNBs, I really do. They're a motley crew of underdogs and everyone likes the underdog. But, and this is a big but, between the wannabe cool but ever-annoying Kelly Leak and the raging racist runt Tanner, I can't fully embrace the Bears. Tanner spouts out racial epithets like they're the ABC's and nobody bats an eye. People's response is like, "he's cool, he just hates Blacks, Jews, Italians, and American Indians."

The BNB's just weren't the same without Matthau. He was the straw that stirred the drink.

"The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" (which should've just been called "The Bad News Bears 2" takes off a year after the first one. The boys led by Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) jump into a stolen van and drive from Southern California to Houston Texas to play against the reigning Little League Baseball Champs, The Toros. I love how most of the boys returned and that it is a worthy sequel. I also like the subplot with Kelly and his father, Mike (William Devane), showing why Kelly was so bad to begin with. Things that did make me mad about this film is the disappearance of Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal, if they were in this film, it would've been good, and Kelly's Dad could've been the co-coach. Kelly and Tatum also could've had a little romance blossom in this one. And the only other thing I didn't like is why Timmy Lupus is in the film, but for a maximum of three minutes! But you gotta love Tanner Boyle, Ahmad Abdul Rahim, and smart whiz Ogilvie. Jimmy Baio's Carmen Ronzanni I could've did without, but he was good towards the end. I recommend this for all "Bad News Bears" Fans.

The subject is a reference to my review of the original (The "Mighty F***s"). There's no getting around it: this movie SUCKS.

It would have been okay if they did this as a separate movie, and it might have found a home on cable, but to piggyback it onto one of the best films of all time was a disgrace.

No Matthau and O'Neal? Are they KIDDING? What made the original work was those two great actors taking a great script and making it even greater. This movie reminds me of watching the Chicago Bulls after Jordan retired and Pippen moved on; the supporting cast was fine when they were letting the two heavyweights shine, but on their own they were as bad as those "Baby Bulls." Do we really need to know Kelly Leak's backstory? Bill Devane as his father was a miscast, but it was hard to notice because the entire cast stunk. The plot -- they are playing for the national little-league championship -- is also far-fetched, since the Bears were about having fun rather than winning, and you can only go so far on Kelly Leak's back.

I wish I could say I remember more about the plot, but most of it was about how the Bears had to navigate their way to Texas without adult supervision (creating tons of complications whenever they needed to be of age for something), and it becomes painfully obvious in this film why Jack Earl Haley is a competent #3 guy in a movie, he is no Jordan or Pippen on the screen.

Calling this movie a sequel is a bit of a stretch as well, as the characters, the plot, and the movie as a whole bears little if any resemblance to the original. Matthau is probably still turning over in his grave at what they did to this movie, and I'm sure Vic Morrow has done the same.

A movie as strong as the original deserved a much better continuation than this one, and it could have been done.

As a 12 year old I probably would've given this movie a 10. Along with Star Wars it was my favorite movie for the summer of 77 and probably for a few more years of my youth. Honestly, it is still incredibly nostalgic to me -I'd say more so than any other movie I watched during that time period of my life. Which is why it gets an 8. I agree with the other posts here especially Damonfordham -This movie is for 12-13 year olds (or kids around that age) not adults. If I saw this today for the first time I would think it was god awful. I think you need the combination of youth, innocence, immaturity and to have been growing up in the 70's to really be effected by this film. There was a time and place for this in my life -if I would've have seen it any later I wouldn't have the memory of it I do today. I remember seeing it twice that summer and the theme song (Our time is now (Looking Good) by James Rolleston) staying with me long after. That song still takes me back. Look, movies have changed tremendously, most kids today might not even like this movie and adults forget it -it's not meant for you. Yes it's cheesy- but if you grew up in the 70's and were 12 or so when you saw this then you get it.

I have often sang that song throughout my life when life is looking good- here are the lyrics: The road is open and we're rolling thru and life is looking good We got a dream that maybe could come true and life is looking good If we just stay loose now we'll come out alright There's something telling me our time is now It's just a whisper but I know somehow We've got to listen got to do it now Life is looking good for you and me The clouds have parted and the sun's come thru and life is looking good There's nothing that can beat all we can do and life is looking good If we hold together we're gonna be alright There's something telling me our time is now It's just a whisper but I know somehow We've got to listen got to do it now Life is looking good for you and me If we just stay loose now we're gonna be alright....

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) was a notch below the first film. A couple of key players from the first film are missing (Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal). So the supporting cast has to pull their weight. The Bears go on a summer trip to play in the Astrodome. But they need a manger. The kids decide to leave on their own. After tricking their parents into thinking they found a manger, they hit the road. Jackie Earle Haley (co-captain of the Bears in the first film) takes over as the leader of the team. The players want a manager. So he searches for his estranged father (William Devane) to help them on their way to Houston. Will the Bears make it to the Dome on time? Can the father and son patch up their differences and work together? How do the kids travel from California to Texas? Find all that out when you watch THE BAD NEWS BEARS IN BREAKING TRAINING.

A cheesy fun family film. Many of the key players from the first film reprise their roles. This film was Jackie Earle Haley's chance to shine. He was a child star during the eighties. He practically fell off of the face of the Earth until he began to show up in movies recently. Followed by The BAD NEWS BEARS GO TO JAPAN!

Recommended.

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

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.

How can a movie like this be made ? How come this is not an afterschool special, because it sure looks and smells like one. This stinker is so bad...so incredibly bad.

Questions to ponder: Why does Kelly's Dad clap like a neanderthal ? Why is Kelly Leak so cool ? Why is there a celebration scene about getting hotel rooms (what is it with these Texas movies and celebrating otherwise normal things, see Urban Cowboy review). How are the Bears the California Champs if they lost in the title game last time ?

Things I love about this movie. William Devane mugging at the camera and showing off his baseball skills (in an Army jacket no less, notice he has one outfit almost the entire movie). Kelly "losing control" and just running...running...running from all his problems. And perhaps the best scene in the entire movie, when the team gets the hotel room with the view of the Astrodome, Harpo Marx Jr. runs into Kelly's room to tell him they can see the dome from another room, and Mr. Jackie Earle Haley in all his coolness gives him the biggest "I am way too cool to be bothered by your childish excitement" look. Now that is direction !

but all is not lost, Willy Devane does well considering the material he has to work with, and J.E.Haley actually went on to be in '83s Losin' It, a rather funny movie and role. And we get to see the wonderful Astrodome in all its 70s glory, although Jimmy Baio nearly tanks this one and surely makes his cousin look like Anthony Hopkins.

This second installment in the Bad News Bears series is a horrible, horrible travesty.

It is patently worse than the original on a number of levels.

Firstly, there is absolutely no continuity between it and the first film...at all.

It picks things up with a totally new storyline that doesn't really make any sense in relation to the first film.

Rather, it is solely done to prolong the series with a third film, where they go to Japan (and it all inevitably culminates with a p__n installment).

For example, why would the bears be chosen to play a game at the Astros stadium, in order to win a chance to go to Japan and play a Japanese team...when the Yankees had won the previous season?! (They do portray them as the "California Champs", but none of the kids have aged, so the explanation seems forced and lacking).

On top of this, despite the fact that many of the same kids have returned to continue their roles, the ones missing- most notably Walther Matthau as the coach, the gun slinging girl pitcher and a replacement actor for Englebert, the chubby catcher- really leave a gaping void that the rest of the film fails to overcome.

As no explanation is given for their absences.

That aside, the acting is notably worse on pretty much every front.

With the cinematography and direction being mediocre at best.

To be fair, things do come around a bit in the second half of the film, once they get to the Astros stadium and start playing the game.

But it's hard to overshadow the shortcomings of the rest of the film.

The plot revolves around Kelly re-establishing his relationship with his estranged father, who acts as their coach for the game, whipping them into shape, and sticking up for them when they are about to have their chance for glory ripped away from them.

And there's nothing wrong with that, but it's tainted by the homophobic machismo, which is much more prevalent in this film, as compared to the original (which it was also present in, however).

That just sends the wrong message to kids.

So, even though the stadium scenes do get you rooting for the underdogs again...the film fails to redeem itself, in relation to the whole.

And in that sense, it is not recommended.

3 out of 10.

This was a good follow-up but, Where's Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, and director Michael Ritchie? Well, Michael Pressman was an OK director but, Michael Ritchie's direction was successful in the original. They were a few changes, of the players; Engleberg, got fatter (portrayed by another unknown actor, so they can make the character even funnier), and a New Pitcher!!! He was a good one, and Tanner was seven times funner!

William Devane was awesome!!! he did well od the coaching, and especially, it was a lightweighted script.

**1/2 out of 4

Dolph Sweet as the "Bears" overbearing coach, and William Devane as his reluctant replacement, are the only reason to sit through this. Otherwise, what you get is a predictable bore of a baseball film, that is strictly adolescent material and definitely by the book. The will he or won't he play scenario seems pretty stale, and the father - son relationship tension doesn't work either. Devane is really wasted, essentially playing a one dimensional character, that is very forgettable. Most attempts at humor fail miserably, and even the big game is weak. This is probably a sequel that never should have been made. Billy Bob Thornton's abrasive character in the "Bad News Bears" remake seems like "Oscar" material compared to "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training". - MERK

I first saw this movie back in the summer of '77, just before my 9th birthday, and enjoyed it so much that I joined a little league baseball team the following year. That's what this film did for my life.

While people have often criticized this sequel over the absents of both Walter Matthau and Tatum O'Neal from the original cast. I think the criticism would be an accurate and valid one if this sequel was trying to be something like, "Rocky II", for example. Where the sequel is just a slight variation on the original story, except that the hero (or heroes) win at the end of the movie, instead of lose. But that's NOT what this movie was trying to be.

Instead, "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" is a road picture at heart. About a group of preteen misfits from the suburbs of Los Angles, California who get swept away by their shared ambitions of playing in the Astrodome in Houston, TX for the National Championship of little league baseball.

Sort of like, "Bless the Beast and Children", meets, "Treasure Island" in the form of a sports movie. Without any pirates or buffalo's serving as metaphors for the doomed spirit of young boys.

But, what I think is a more accurate criticism of this sequel, is that despite the Bears being the West Coast champions at the beginning of the movie, they're apparently a really bad baseball team, who are in desperate need of a decent pitcher.

Twice we see the Bears play baseball prior to the championship game and twice it's like watching the 3-little stooges, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin all on the same baseball team together trying to hit and field a baseball.

That is, until Kelly's long separated father (William Devane) becomes the teams manager shortly after the Bears arrive in Houston. Then, he quickly converts them from a comically bad team into a championship team, after just a few days of practice.

Also, there's the unnecessary family drama conflict at the end of the film between Kelly Leak and his father/team manager which suddenly erupts out of nowhere, for no reason, and feels very forced and too tact on for the audience to empathize with Kelly's sudden outburst of pent-up emotional rage of being abandoned by his father (that everyone likes by now) when he was a very young child.

Then later, in this 70's "Feel Good Summer Sports Movie" - which would eventually become a movie cliché by the mid-80's - all of that sudden serious drama between a divorced father and his abandoned son is all magically resolved by simply winning the big game at the end of the movie.

That's nice, and it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside at the end too. If only real life was more like that.(sigh)

But, both of those justifiable criticisms of the movie are only a very slight departure from what this movie really excels at in a big way. Which is, creating a huge sense of joy and fun of watching a small band of preteen misfits in their collective pursuit of playing baseball on a national stage, inside the greatest sports stadium in the country and possibly bringing a National Championship back to California with them.

I was with the Bears the entire way through the movie, and I even lived in Texas at the time, and still do.

While I realize that this movie is definitely not for everyone. But, if you were a kid in the 70's, or just want to reconnect with your lost sense of youthful mischief when the world was still just one big adventure? Then this is a must see movie.

This is my first one star review, I think. It doesn't even deserve that!! At 5.6 it's so far overrated that I'm actually about to give up on IMBD altogether. This is as pointless a movie as you'll ever see. While the kids were excellent in the original and made that movie one of the best movies of all time, they just can't carry the momentum into this one. It's so completely stupid from start to finish any sane person would get extremely irate. The plot, acting, dialogue, soundtrack is all complete rubbish. I can't stress how bad the acting is all the way around. The kids cannot act worth spit in this movie, which is strange because some of them did so great in the first one. I guess the one star could be for some of the cool vehicles of that era. The scenes and direction are annoying beyond belief. Ridiculously lame awful stuff here. No laught at all. You can go to any random part of this movie and be stunned at the sheer incompetentness of everyone involved. I'd understand if you shut it off in the first 10 minutes. That would only prove your excellent taste in movies. There's no humor or drama or anything to hold interest. Nothing. It's just a clinic on how to make the worst type of movie, with a cast of dull kids who you really don't care about one bit. There's no point dissecting the plot because it's so thin and unbelievable. It's the most clumsy effort at making a film you'll ever witness. One reason to watch is just to see how the next scene could be worse than the one you just saw. And trust me, they manage to make the next one way worse. The game scenes in the first were genuine and rang true. Not here. Not even close. The way the team related to each other was dumb and not sincere in the least. The pitcher they brought in dragged the movie down big time. He was successful in Soap because he had good material to work with. And this love and fawning over Lupus was ridiculous. He caught one fly ball in the original and instantly became everybody's best friend and superstar. Ok. On what planet? I forced myself to watch this and it wasn't easy. I couldn't even do anything on my computer or phone because just hearing it in the background was nauseating. All supporting cast and other team members are equally dismal. I never thought I'd see a movie so worthy of a zero star review. Well here it is. I feel sorry for the people who could manage to see anything worthwhile in this movie and could never understand being so easily pleased by the constant flow of manure this movie flings at you. Devane, who has never done anything remotely worthwhile or displayed a hint of acting talent, fits right in with this sorry lot of miscast dunderheads.