The Bad News Bears (1976)
The screenplay was written by Bill Lancaster (son of actor Burt Lancaster) whoi drew his inspiration for the film from his experience playing Little League baseball with a leg crippled by polio. "We were a terrible team. Truly horrible." he said.
Tatum O’Neal’s father, actor Ryan O’Neal, had previously prevented his 11-year-old daughter from accepting any lead roles until the age of 16, after her debut performance in Paper Moon where she won an Oscar and he didn't even get nominated. However she was offered (a then staggering sum of) $350,000 with eight percent of net profits, and Ryan relented.
Director Michael Ritchie had to shoot double the amount of film he had expected to (more than his previous two movies combined) because of the difficulties in controlling the large cast of children, who often went off script and swore way more than they were supposed to. Walter Matthau and Ritchie frequently mentioned the children’s proficiency in the use of foul language, particularly that of Tatum O’Neal.
Paramount, concerned that the baseball aspect of The Bad News Bears would not be easily understood by many foreign audiences, added a five-minute animated baseball primer at the beginning of the film. It was dubbed in five languages and featured characters that resembled the cast members of the movie.
The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, another baseball movie that opened in 1976, challenged The Bad News Bears to a charity baseball game at University of Southern California’s Dedeaux Field during the summer, to determine which team would be "Champion of all Hollywood". 3,000 fans were in attendance, as well as many celebrities and cast members from both films. The final score was 5-5.
