The Bad News Bears(1976) and Breaking Away (1979)

[Edgy MD]

The two best sports films in US history both:



1. Feature Jackie Earle Haley.

2. Feature great, famous classical music pieces adapted for semi-ironic heroic scoring.

3. Feature teams shoehorned into the competition as an afterthought, with the Bears being the seventh team in the six-team league and the Cutters being team 34, starting in the back of a 33-team field.

4. Feature those teams only ending up in the competition as an afterthought only because of a bureaucratic bone being thrown to them.

5. Feature protagonist competitors who are aliens in their own town.

6. Feature probably a little too much comic hay being made at the expense of the gangly, curly-haired Jewish kid.

7. Feature just enough comic hay being made from the short kid who likes to punch.

8. Feature one (on the cycling team) and two (on the baseball team) stars carrying the rest of the sad sacks.

9. Feature the sad sacks having to step up and bail out the injured stars before the end.

10. Feature the redemption of a broken father figure, and you don't even realize it's going there until it does.

[kcmets]

Strange (or interesting) take on BNB in some ways, never saw Breaking Away.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Jeesus H, KC, go watch Breaking Away. It might be one of my favorite movies ever, not even slicing it up to "sports movies."



We've broken this down before but its nearly perfect. The only issue I really have with it is the too-convenient coincidences of the very same jock villain happening to be the guy whose frisbee they run over, and brawl with in the bowling alley, and whose girl gets involved with Stoller, and who heads the rival bike team. Other than that, a masterpiece.

[Edgy MD]

Caught BNB streaming on Amazon Plus.

[Frayed Knot]

Strange (or interesting) take on [CROSSOUT]BNB[/CROSSOUT] Breaking Away in some ways, never saw [CROSSOUT]Breaking Away[/CROSSOUT] Bad News Bears.

On a further note: was it established at any point that Cyril was Jewish?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Breaking Away is ranked 8th on AFI's list of top 100 all-time inspiring movies. It's a Wonderful Life tops the list.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Cheershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Cheers



It's also ranked 8th on AFI's all-time list of sports movies. Topping that list is Raging Bull.



https://www.amctheatres.com/american-film-institute/ten-top-ten/sportshttps://www.amctheatres.com/american-film-institute/ten-top-ten/sports

[Frayed Knot]

I remember making a mini-list of sports movies set in Indiana and ranking BREAKING AWAY ahead of HOOSIERS and far ahead of RUDY

I know that the folks in Bristol, Connecticut (among others) would be aghast at the order of my list and that this is a subjective thing to

which each is entitled to their opinion. But in this case they're wrong and I'm right.

[Willets Point]

I love Breaking Away but it's been about 20 years since I last watched. I never saw Bad News Bears but I tried to watch it with my son a couple of months ago and he asked me to turn it off about 15 minutes in. I don't think the constant use of ethnic slurs appealed to either one of us.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Never seen Breaking Away. I guess I'll give it a try if I see it in the TV listings. Bad News Bears is a fun little movie but I don't seem to have the same esteem for it that Edgy does. My favorite baseball movie is Bull Durham, but I may have seen it one too many times.

[Edgy MD]

Willets Point wrote: I love Breaking Away but it's been about 20 years since I last watched. I never saw Bad News Bears but I tried to watch it with my son a couple of months ago and he asked me to turn it off about 15 minutes in. I don't think the constant use of ethnic slurs appealed to either one of us.

There's a lot of ugly stuff there, no doubt.

[Frayed Knot]

Breaking Away is ranked 8th on AFI's list of top 100 all-time inspiring movies. It's a Wonderful Life tops the list. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Cheershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI%27s_100_Years...100_Cheers It's also ranked 8th on AFI's all-time list of sports movies. Topping that list is Raging Bull. https://www.amctheatres.com/american-film-institute/ten-top-ten/sportshttps://www.amctheatres.com/american-film-institute/ten-top-ten/sports

So BREAKING AWAY is lower than HOOSIERS and PRIDE OF THE YANKEES in the sports movies list yet higher than both according to their 'Inspiring' list.

[Edgy MD]

Sports Films Set in Indiana

2. Breaking Away (1979)


4. Hoosiers (1986)


6. Speedway (1929)


8. The Winning Season (2009)


10. Rudy (1993)


12. Knute Rockne, All American (1940)


14. Home of the Giants (2007)


16. American Teen (2008)


18. The Great Dan Patch (1949)


20. Born to Speed (1947)

[Frayed Knot]

I didn't include any of those movies in my mini-Indiana list because I haven't seen any of them aside from Breaking, Bears, & Rudy - and I wish I hadn't seen Rudy.

In fact, I never even heard of at least half of those others.



I did at least look up 'The Winning Season' ... and what is it with basketball movies featuring stories about redemption through coaching?

Ben Affleck made another one this year which, unfortunately for him (though fortunately for the public acc to several reviews I read) debuted just as the country was heading into

shut down mode most likely sending it straight to video/streaming-ville. I think the poster for it is still up outside of my local theatre if that's any consolation to him.



btw, the coach redemption story in 'Hoosiers' was just one of the elements in that film which was total fiction (as was about 95% of the movie). Nothing wrong with any of that of

course, I'd just wish that fans of the flick would stop treating it as if it were some sort of documentary.

[Edgy MD]

Almost every sports movie about a douchey young man who had it all and lost it and needs to find redemption through coaching ... is almost always really about a douchey slipping A-list actor who had a great Q-rating and lost it and needs to find redemption though a family movie.

[smg58]

I watched Breaking Away but don't remember it. I was just the right age for The Bad News Bears, much like I was just the right age for Star Wars. It's always been a favorite of mine. It got even better as I played Little League.

[Fman99]

Yeah, my dad was a LL coach and so when that film came out in '76 I was a toddler, already spending every summer hanging around the practice and game fields while my dad coached.



I've also never seen Breaking Away.