I love this movie, too -- fantastic screenplay. Kids that talk like real kids, not sitcom writers. When I played hockey in the mid to late 70s, there were parents and kids just like these characters. The line "What are you swingin' at?" is dead-on (I knew a few fathers like Roy Turner). BNB is clearly about so much more than baseball.
And Matthau could have played Buttermaker as just another grouch, but you always felt the heart underneath. A perfect example is after he throws the beer at Amanda. It could have easily been an eye-rolling moment, but not how Tatum and Walter played it. And the scene when his players realize he's acting like Turner...real as it gets.
Doesn't surprise me that Bill Lancaster won the WGA award for it in '77. Sad that he died at such a young age.
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