MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears (1976) Discussion > What a great f#cking ending.

What a great f#cking ending.

posted 11 years ago by Sandro-88
4 replies | jump to latest

[SPOILERS]

To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to this, and I blame contemporary kids (or just kids-centric) films and their overt doses of saccharin. The reason why I ended up watching it after all is because it's apparently one of Tarantino's favourite movies (yeah sorry, but I'm a big QT fan). His taste in movies is very diverse; classics interspersed with obscure so-so's to downright turkeys. But hot damn did this flick surprise me.

The story is told so freshly (not yet spoiled by the cookie cutter sh*t we get nowadays), Matthau is on fire as always, and the kids... hell, they took the damn cake. I don't think any other film has so many superb child actors. So raw, real and hilarious.
And then there's the ending; the Bears lose, Buttermaker hands out beers(!) to the kids, they tell the Yankees to stick their trophee straight up their ass, and then have a celebratory beer fight. Classic.

Never knew this was directed by the same man who made the gritty, fun-as-hell, cult film Prime Cut, starring Gene Hackman and Lee Marvin.

'88

[–] skohl632001 11 years ago

Amen. As great as the entire movie is, it's the ending that takes it to a whole other level. So much better than a boring, predictable "happy" ending. I loved the ending as a kid but I love it even more today.

[–] RRPounder 10 years ago

They filmed two versions of the ending, one with the Bears winning. I'm surprised it hasn't made it as a dvd bonus. Similar to Kevin Costner's scenes in The Big Chill.

[–] janet-conant 10 years ago

It still is a film that if I found it on TV would definitely watch again and again. Love when Tanner puts down all the types of kids on the team, something you don't hear so much now, and Ogilvy comes back with a great retort. Alfred Lutter II was very good as the stats boy and love Matthau. No one else could play Buttermaker better than he could. Everyone was great in this.

[–] oscarflix 10 years ago

It's kind of like when Rocky loses. The losing makes it a better story and movie.