THE BAD NEWS BEARS clobbered a homer with 102 minutes of barbed Americana in one of the best comedies of 1976. Directed by keen social observer Michael Ritchie (The Candidate, Smile, Semi-Tough), written by Bill Lancaster (son of Burt) the touchstone sports classic/period piece has kept its brashly honest, p.c. free charm (with laugh lines we won’t quote) and a penetrating undercurrent of immature adults horning in on what’s supposed to be summer playtime and character-building fun.

Summer in ‘the Valley’ (LA-speak for the San Fernando Valley) and pool cleaner ‘Morris Buttermaker’ (Walter Matthau) brings his background as a minor league pitcher to an under-the-table gig, coaching ‘the Bears’, a team of prodigiously nonathletic kids, scorned by other teams as the lamest outfit in the league. Cynical and booze-basted, Buttermaker makes little effort with the boys, until he sees a chance for something other than collective humiliation by managing to enlist two kids who have actual skill: 11-year-old ‘Amanda Whurlizer’ (Tatum O’Neal, 12, second film) who can pitch (even if she is “a girl!“) and local j.d. ‘Kelly Leak’ (Jackie Earle Haley, 13, third film), a gifted natural who also happens to smoke, ride a Harley and behave like a rebel without a cause. As his bedraggled Bears start looking like they might actually amount to more than a joke, Buttermaker amps up winner-crushes-all competition with ‘Roy Turner’ (Vic Morrow), hardball-playing coach of the ‘Yankees’.

His offbeat leading man career in full flower during the 70’s, Matthau smoothly alternated between parts where he put his rubbery features and shambling walk into service going cranky (The Sunshine Boys, The Front Page), sardonic (The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three, Charley Varrick) or endearing (House Calls, Hopscotch). His jaded coach from Beerville dares to challenge sympathy when a dash of meanness shows up.  Morrow leaves the tough but fair leader persona caved out by five years in Combat to chance his own fan discomfort as the pushy jerk Turner. The realistic adult characters don’t make hopeful role models; the movie rightly belongs to the hapless but striving youngsters, who not only get the best lines, but come off like real kids, not sentimental movie brats. It’s a choice crew, not a weak link, with the most laughs coming from little badass ‘Tanner’, done with dynamite gusto by 10-year-old Chris Barnes. I first saw this with my father, and recall his bemused reaction to Tanner’s famous finale statement; Dad chuckled softly and offered the wry “Spoken like a true American kid.”

Atmosphere redolent thanks to shooting around various sun-kissed locales in ‘the Valley’, made for $9,000,000 (another source says 3mil, which seems more likely). Ultimate Movie Rankings aka Cogerson and Box Office Mojo list it as tagging 18th place with a gross of $32,211,000. The Numbers claims $42,500,000, which may include home rentals and sales. Baseball stats are always more verifiable than film financials.

On the field: Erin Blunt (‘Ahmad’), Gary Lee Cavagnaro (‘Engelberg’), Alfred W. Lutter (‘Ogilvie’), David Pollock (‘Rudi’), David Stambaugh (‘Willie’), Quinn Smith (‘Timmy Lupus’), Jaime Escobedo (‘Jose Aguilar’), George Gonzales (“Miguel Aguilar’), Brett Marx (‘Jimmy’), Scott Firestone (‘Reggie’) and Brandon Cruz (‘Joey Turner’ of the Yankees).

Other grown-ups: Ben Piazza, Joyce Van Patten and Shari Summers. Two sequels followed; sans Walter, Tatum and Vic a number of the boys suited up for The Bad News Bears In Breaking Training (a walk to first base in 1977) and The Bad News Bears Go To Japan (three strikes time in 1978). A remake was fielded in 2005, dropping ‘The’ from the title.  Notably, 1976 also pitched The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings, comfortably tagging 41st place with another satisfying piece of home-baked pastime pie.

* Sympathy for the underage underdogs in the script bore the imprint of Bill Lancaster’s backstory. Polio as a child left him with a limp, yet he played Little League in Beverly Hills—first base while wearing braces— and experienced first-hand parental over-reach with their kids and sport competition. Matthau’s character was partly based on Burt, who could be pretty intense. Bill also wrote the screenplay to John Carpenter’s version of The Thing. He died too young, taken in 1997 by a heart attack. He was 49.