Bad News Bears

Bad News Bears "Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world" these were the words once uttered by Babe Ruth. The Bad News Bears is a 1976 film, remade in 2005, about a little league baseball team full of misfits that were originally excluded from their Southern California baseball league for not being talented enough, but parent protest allowed for the team to be formed. The coach in charge of this team is a drunk, ex-professional baseball pitcher named Morris Buttermaker only thinking of himself and his paychecks.

The team loses their first game after having to forfeit in he top of the first inning, quickly forming a rivalry with the Yankees. The team then wants to quit, but Buttermaker has a change of heart and really starts to coach the kids. After adding two more outcasts, Amanda and Kelly, the team miraculously starts winning games. They continue to improve and eventually find themselves competing for the championship against the arrogant Yankees. After a brawl and the hatred heating up the game ends with the Bears tying run being thrown out at the plate in dramatic fashion.

The team doesn''t let this discourage them though, ending with a celebration for the ages. These two movies have almost identical plots but contain key differences in the main character and supporting cast. Quit often films contain many differences in the plot of the original story and its remake; however Bad News Bears does not. Small changes here and there are to be expected due to alterations in society. Most of the scenes that stuck in spectators'' minds after leaving the theatre in 1976 maintained the same in the re-creation of 2005.

When Mr. Buttermaker pulls up to the field in his convertible he opens a beer, poor''s half of it out then proceeds fill the empty space with dark liquor. This opening cene sets the mood for the story, that the coach is a man who doesn''t care enough about this team of oddities to take one afternoon off from his life of drinking. The plot continues to be parallel when during batting practice Buttermaker, drunk, passes out on the mound. The boys don''t know what to do, other than steal the money from his wallet and go home.

In both movies the team slowly improves until Buttermaker, after several attempts, gets the daughter of his ex-girlfriend to Join the team as the ace pitcher. Still, neither team wins a game until the addition of Kelly Leak, a Juvenile delinquent often with amazing athletic ability. Both movies contain a montage of unbelievable success resulting from these new players, landing the Bears in the title game. Although the team loses the championship, both films end on a happy note with a "see you next year" to the Yankees and team beer shower.

Morris Buttermaker is a washed up former semiprofessional baseball pitcher. This is the lead character in the Bad News Bears. Originally played by Walter Matthua, then remade with Billy Bob Thornton, Buttermaker is self-loving alcoholic who smokes cheap cigars like a chimney. Although Thornton and Matthua played this character similarly, there were some key differences. The newer version of Buttermaker is a womanizer unlike the original. Thornton''s character even sleeps with one of the players moms. The Bears even have numerous amounts of risqué girls cheering for the young boys at their games.

In the 1976 version the Buttermaker states that he only pitched in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees. However in the remake he supposedly pitched two thirds of an inning for the Seattle Mariners, with his career earned run average being thirty-six (a very poor earned run average to say the least). The 1976 version of Morris Buttermaker is a lazy pool cleaner/repair man. But n 2005 Buttermaker is made into a rodent exterminator, even seen dumping the dead animals into the dumpster at the ballpark.

The crew of misfits that the new Bears collect as team also differs from the original. The pitcher, Amanda, is depicted differently in the two films. In the first picture she is more feminine, asking for Buttermaker to help her pay for ballet lessons and even speaking about how she will need a bra soon. In the redone version Amanda appears to be more independent and followed mouth. When Buttermaker approaches Amanda in the original film she simply says no, however in the 2005 version she even says "... ou''re such a loser.

Man, you must have a big one, ''cause I don''t know what else my mom saw in you. " Another character change was making the original African- American outfielder into a young Arminian boy. Both boys fear going home after the beating they take in the first game. The former character was embarrassed because his older brothers had been great baseball players. The lauder was for the reason that his father, who wasn''t from America, didn''t see the need for sports and thought the child should focus on school. A new character is added into the re-creation, a boy named Mathew Hooper.

This young man is in a wheel chair and only gets on the field for one inning, making a miraculous catch in the title game. Bad News Bears is a comedy about everything that could go wrong with a little league baseball team, but still finding a way to pull together and succeed. Although the Bears end up losing the pennant, they realize how far theyVe come and don''t care about losing. Although the 1976 and 2005 films have almost identical plots, clear alterations in the main character and supporting cast are obvious. Works Cited Ruth, Babe. BrainyQuote. Xplore, n. d. Web. 08 Nov. 2013.