MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears (1976) Discussion > great movie, terrible ending!

great movie, terrible ending!

posted 19 years ago by pilarp-1
80 replies | jump to latest

I've loved this movie since I first watched it, but the ending is really sad and disappointing (even if it doesn't look so at first). The members of the Bears team look happy right before the end of the movie, they're jumping, dancing and laughing, but I don't believe they're really happy-happiness is not what they really feel after the final game. Look at the moment when Buttermaker gets a second place trophy-does he look happy? Look at those kids when they face the Yankees team after the game and listen to that speech from the Yankees team member-they look as if they were going to cry. Do you really think this second place is what they dreamt about? After a year of being laughed at, discouraged and humiliated they shouldn't have lost the final game. Everyone but Buttermaker thought they were a team of losers. In the final game they had the only real chance to prove that everyone who thought so was wrong, they had a chance to be the first team to beat the Yankees and they really were able to do it (Turner was really uncertain about the final score and some actions during the game were not too fair for the Bears)! I think the idea was to make an original movie, by which I mean that in all movies of this kind someone who's really weak at the beginning gradually becomes better and better and finally becomes the best and beats everyone else, while here the intention was to make the movie "realistic" and "unexpected" and show that those who are expected to win in the end not always win...but why did it have to be shown in this movie??? I think I've never seen any other movie in which anyone would deserve to win as much as the Bears team did in this one. After all they've gone through (which was almost a miracle as they all wanted to quit after the first game), for all their effort and astonishing progress they made from the first match with silly score 0-26 to the final game, when they were at the same level as the Yankees (or probably even a little better), they deserved a REAL success, which second place was not. Do you remember what that Yankees team member told them after the match? The Yankees apologized and appreciated a good game, but still didn't think the Bears were a good team! Their situation almost didn't change! They weren't losers anymore, but still not a good team either! Some could say second place is a great success anyway, because no one but Buttermaker expected to see the Bears in the final, but I don't think it was enough for them. Come on, it wasn't fair, they deserved that first place and we all know it! Is there anyone else who thinks the final result was very disappointing? Personally I blame the one who was responsible for that terrible ending of "The Bad News Bears", because it's the only weak point of the movie.

[–] kenburke0627 14 years ago

The ending was excellent!

The Bears never did it for the trophy or glory, they did it to prove that they were not the nobodies, the losers, the "marshmellows" everyone thought they were!

Did the win the final game? No.

Did they win dignity, self respect, self admiration, and self confidence? Yes.

No matter how you hack it, the Bad News Bears were the real winners!

PLAY BALL!!!

[–] timerrill 14 years ago

You TOTALLY, UTTERLY do not get it. No point in bothering to explain why, except to point out that in this great film, as in "Rocky," the heroes are actually allowed to lose, and the audience just has to accept that and (egad!) maybe think about what it means. That is what makes the movies of the 1970s so wonderful and unique. It's called REALISM (see also: "Slap Shot," "The Longest Yard," "North Dallas Forty" etc.), and it ain't nothing like the empty, mindless escapism and rah-rah triumphalism we have in sports movies from the Reagan '80s through today (um, "The Natural," anyone?)

[–] sandmets22 14 years ago

The ending makes this movie great. If you look at Turner's face after he wins, he's not thrilled. He realizes what he did to his son, and in front of everybody. The turning point at the end is when Buttermaker throws Stein against the wall because Stein refused to get hit a 2nd time. Buttermaker had lost all concept of what was right--asking a little kid to get painfully hit twice. The entire point of the Bears getting the right to play was for all the rejects to have a chance. When Buttermaker asks, "don't you guys want to win this?", no one replies. They just wanted to play and be respected. Buttermaker does the right thing by letting them play the final inning. His big line is when he tells Lupus something like, "Did you come into this life to sit on the bench all the time?" And Lupus makes a great catch at the wall. The Bears celebrate that play more than any other during their season. The Bears are the winners in the end because the point of the game was to have fun and for everyone to get a chance. This is not meant to be the major leagues. Turner screams at his kid through the entire game. He gets upset because Joey struck out twice. He yells at another player after getting thrown out at first. What kind of talk is that for 9-11 year olds?

In the end the Bears are much happier than the Yankees and they're celebrating like they won. The Yankees were yelled at and treated disrespectfully by their manager all season. I first saw this as a kid in the theaters, and I remember thinking that although the Bears lost, they were the ones celebrating with all the beer and Tanner telling the Yankees to shove the trophy up their ass.

[–] hopscotch6671 13 years ago

Does everybody who grew up in the 1970's remember how Bad News Bears was so great and then they came out with Bad News Bears II as well as Here Come the Tigers (with one guy hitting balls with a karate chop)?
....and then suddenly all baseball movies with kids became crappy?

[–] gabby_bm 13 years ago

Does everybody who grew up in the 1970's remember how Bad News Bears was so great and then they came out with Bad News Bears II as well as Here Come the Tigers (with one guy hitting balls with a karate chop)?
....and then suddenly all baseball movies with kids became crappy?

Oh yes. I was there.
And it took "The Sandlot" to make it great again, if only for a small, brief moment in time.

It's like that though. You get one good movie and then a lot of cheap imitations to sucker people out of their money.

"Atlas Shrugged- Part 1"- NOW on DVD and Blu-Ray

[–] bgva 13 years ago

As a kid I actually saw "Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" before I saw the first one, so it holds a special spot in my heart, as cheesy as it is. The first one holds up much better.

I saw the third one on HBO a couple of years ago, and didn't even make it through. The Japanese couple singing the "Happy Days" theme song during karaoke was just painful.

"The Sandlot" was awesome...much like this movie, it was followed up by way too many awful prequels. I can't think of any straight-to-VHS/DVD sequels worth watching.

Oh stewardess...I speak jive.

[–] jefgg 13 years ago

I liked the ending. How was it supposed to end? Was everyone supposed to join hands around a campfire and sing "Kumbaya"?

[–] RichN36 13 years ago

I always liked the ending just the way it was. Something Missed in the comments that say "WAAAA they should of won" The attitudes of the Winning team as they walked off the field. They just walked off like yea another Win big deal. But the Bear Players knew that they did something special and that's why they celebrated like they did.

There is more Gravy about you then the Grave. Scrooge.

[–] benntura 13 years ago

"I liked the ending. How was it supposed to end? Was everyone supposed to join hands around a campfire and sing "Kumbaya"?"

I believe that was one of the deleted scenes.

[–] corinnacarpenter 12 years ago

LOL.

I love sarcasm.

Marry me,Bob Gunton!

[–] corinnacarpenter 12 years ago

I like how the one Bear (I think it was Lupus) threw that trophy back at the Yankees

Marry me,Bob Gunton!

[–] PeterBlues 12 years ago

as it started out i expected a disney tale sort of movie, but then you hear the sort of language the kids are using, in a movie of this time yet, i'm guessing this didn't air on american television, and matthau drinking beer cans as he coaches the kids. it seems this guy does so many politically incorrect things as the movie goes along that he would be barred for life from coaching any more teams, right. i wasn't around when this movie was made and i don't know to what degree it was acceptable some of the things he's doing, and perhaps that makes this movie even funnier watching by todays standards. like a movie about real people expressing their true emotions, while you watch with the vibe it would cause outrage and people suing their asses off each other. from where i got this it was billed as a comedy, but you see as the movie goes along he's so rough on the kids it can't be solely a comedy, and its odd how in many scenes the kids comes off as more mature than their coach, i didn't expect this movie to be as rich as it was.

sitting at the train station,
had it all set where we would go,
just looking forward for you to come along,
to continue on this rail we have been travelin on,
but this time you didn't step off the train,
and all future plans i had blew away,
now i've got no destination to go,
as i sit here at the train station alone.

[–] ml-125 9 years ago

The ending is PERFECT!!!

[–] Willus_A 9 years ago

I saw this when I was 11 years old in '76. Back then I wished they had won, but as an adult I think the ending is perfect.

"Hogs have futures, I don't."
Dr. Johnny Fever

[–] pilarp-1 9 years ago

Wow, I seriously didn't expect this thread started by me would still be among the top discussed threads more than 10 years later!

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] snelling 8 years ago

Ignore all the jerks on here. I just read this whole thread, and even though I don't agree that they should have won, there is no need for name-calling.

At one time I thought the Bears should have won also, but that was Hollywood brainwashing me when I was just a kid. I later learned that the loss was better for the characters, the story and the viewing audience.

"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Simpso--" - Frank Grimes

[–] fwr6437 8 years ago

You simply have bad taste; The ending is what makes this movie so awesome and at the same time, unique. You obviously don't get the meaning of the end - they may have technically lost the game, but they won at life and showed that they were tougher and had more integrity than the Yankees. Think about how pointless this movie would be if they won? I'm pretty sure it would be extremely lame and certainly not unique.

[–] alv790 (87) 4 years ago

Well, I understand where OP is coming from. It would have been satisfying, if cliched, to see the Bears win. However, I agree with those who said the ending is perfect. It's a bittersweet ending that shows there are more important things you can win or lose than a little league match. If the Bears had won the game, it would divert attention from the fact that they had already won before that.

If you need a winning moment, that could be the instant when Lupus catches that homerun ball right over the fence. Think about it, Lupus, the utterly hopeless, the worst player ever, the most bullied kid, the butt of every joke... and Buttermaker puts him on the field on a key inning, because they are all part of the team and they all play, thus giving him the opportunity for that moment of glory. Or, going back further than that, the moment when Tanner sticks up for Lupus ("Nobody ever stuck up for me before"), or the moment when Kelly Leak sticks up for Tanner during the final match.

The Bears didn't need to win that match because they had already won their self-esteem and their pride. On the other hand, Coach Turner won the match, but really who cares about that little league trophy, when he had lost the respect of his son and his wife. Who is the winner and who is the loser? As Tanner says, they can take their trophy and shove it straight up their ass.