Kelly has a Harley?
Isn't he supposed to be 11? How does he possibly have a license to drive a Harley, and where did he get the money? We also see him driving another type of bike earlier in the film.
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MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears (1976) Discussion > Kelly has a Harley?
Kelly's Harley was actually made by AMF during that particular time period.
shareI think he rode it because it was in the script. The writers didn't keep reality completely in the picture (two 12-year-olds seeing a Rolling Stones concert together?), but overall, it came off more realistically than the majority of kids films.
He who conquers himself is mightier than he who conquers a city.
It was the 70s. Kids were a quite a bit tougher overall than today. I saw AC/DC when I was 12. Parents were really naive then (parents then grew up in the 40s and 50s were virtually free of the crap plaguing their kids in most cases, like drugs, sex, etc.).
I love my parents, but they were pretty easy to fool. Plus, the culture simply let kids fend for themselves, unsupervised, much more than today.
As paraphoto said....the Harley he has is one of the craptastic AMF Harley bikes from the mid/late 70s. Back then, Harley was a joke. Not what it is today.
shareas mentioned by paul, harley was bought from the originators by amf at this time and was putting out all kinds of bikes the original harley company never had any interest in ... and yes, he rides a harley dirt bike ... amf/harley was even sponsoring a motocross team during this period something, again, the original harley folks never would have done since they made road/touring bikes ... dirt bikes were dominated by the japanese made kawasaki, yamaha, etc at this time and harley, in its original form, was not interested in it ... those weren't 'real' bikes ...
as with many american companies at the time such as fender and gibson guitars for two similar examples (similar in company size and reputation) of a 'slick corporation' taking over a small but prestigious company and ruining the good name that company had by cutting quality and relying solely on people's knee-jerk reflex to keep buying the product despite the sharp decline in workmanship and materials used ... luckily, both fender and gibson were eventually bought and reconfigured and saved ... but this is similar to harley's demise under the 'leadership' and greed of a corporation ...
there was a sharp decline across the board in american quality during the 70s as corporations got the impression that people would keep buying the name no matter how crappy the product became ... you might take a look at the fall of the big three american automakers as well in that they scoffed at those 'little japanese cars' and kept building poorly made gas guzzlers at a time when the oil prices were going up and up ...
Because he's Jackie Haley.. that's how...
"I'm not perfect, but at least I can pretend to be"
.. and Kelly Leak was 'the most dangerous 12-year old on the planet..' - right? can't remember if that line is in the movie, but it was in the paperback.
:-) canuckteach (--:
He got the money for that bike from winning all those air hockey games ...he said "we play for a buck a game here" ..... Kelly Leak IS the Man ! LOL
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It is a harley sprint it is a small 350 cc bike almost like a dirtbike
shareI don't know, but he was one bad *beep* on that bike.
I got scared when I first saw the movie and saw him peeling out in the baseball diamond on that bike. I was praying he wouldn't come crashing through my screen and chase me around my neighborhood.
I was eight years old when I first saw "The Bad News Bears". I thought Kelly Leak was THE MAN. It is hard to imagine now, but Harley-Davidson had financial troubles in the '70s when it was owned by AMF. The '70s were a different time. Most parents didn't try to supervise every minute of their childrens' days.
shareThe '70s were a different time. Most parents didn't try to supervise every minute of their childrens' days.
Do you really think it is more now? Back then, having a stay-at-home mom was considered normal. Today women are looked down on for "not working" and "just raising their kids". Most families have two parents that work, and are "shocked" when they find out what their kids are doing, because they have no idea after being "just too busy" for their own kids.
Good examples are how now even breakfast has to be provided by the school because Mom just does not want to make it anymore.
And I have heard people proudly talk about how they have children as young as seven years old go home to empty houses because Mom decided that having a ca-REER is more important than being their for the child.
Then of course, when something goes wrong, blame goes to the school, teachers, police, celebrities, video games, anything but the parents. After all, how can it be the fault of parents who were never involved? share
Stay at home moms were not very common in my neighborhood in the '70s. I grew up coming home to an empty house. Maybe it wasn't the best thing, but it taught me how to be self reliant. Mom did not chose to pursue a career over family. She had to work to pay the bills. I could not imagine growing up being harassed on a cell phone by parents all day.
shareMost of the parents I speak to say they hardly ever call their kids' cell phones (another example of how much looser things are today, I got by as a kid with no cell phone, today they are "necessary" for children) because if the kids sees their number, they do not bother to answer.
Ask a lot of parents today where their kids are, they have no idea. Same goes for who their friends are.
I really do not see the "harassment" of kids today because most parents I know let their kids do whatever they want. And if the kid does wrong, then the parent gets involved to defend their actions and argue how/why no punishment should be given.
There are bad parents just like there were in the 70's - you just seem to know a lot of bad parents. What I see today is a greater divide between 'good' (bordering on obsessive in some cases) and 'bad' (ones who don't pay attention to where their kids are) parents.
shareI drive a Harley Davidson. Does that turn ya on, Harley Davidson?
shareI thought the Harley was some kind of dirt bike or a moped.
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