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Plot

The success this underdog comedy from director Michael Ritchie almost single-handedly spawned the kids' sports film boom of the 1980s and '90s. When beer-breathed ex-minor-league ball player and professional pool cleaner Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) agrees to coach a little league team in the San Fernando Valley, he soon finds he's in over his head, having inherited an assortment of pint-sized peons and talentless losers. They play well-organized teams and lose by tremendous margins, and the parents threaten to disband the Bears to save the kids (and themselves) any further embarrassment. Buttermaker refuses, though, and brings in a pair of ringers: Amanda (Tatum O'Neal), his ex-girlfriend's tomboy daughter, and Kelly (Jackie Earle Haley), a cigarette-smoking delinquent who happens to be a gifted athlete. With their help, the Bears manage to change their losing ways and qualify for the championship, where they face their arch-rivals, the Yankees.
MPAA Rating:
PG
Genre(s):
Comedy
Run Time:
102min.
Theatrical Release Date:
07/27/2003
DVD Release Date:
02/12/2002
Distributor(s):
Paramount
Director(s):
Michael Ritchie
Starring:
Walter Matthau , Tatum O'Neal , Vic Morrow , Joyce Van Patten , Ben Piazza
Themes:
Fathers and Sons,Underdogs,Baseball Players,Fathers and Daughters,Coaches and Players
Tone:
Affectionate,Poignant,Gritty,Raunchy,Literate,Irreverent,Wry
Keywords:
Little-League,baseball,bumbler,coach,coming-of-age,friendship,generation-gap,team,underdog
Language:
English