Recently I had the pleasure to see the original
Bad News Bears, and the
Richard Linklater remake within 2 days of each other. How do they stack up? Well if the Walter Matthau coached team played the Billy Bob Thornton team, it'd be a tie, with both Tanners locked in a death struggle.
Watching the original 1976 film I was struck by the amount of subtle rascism, child endangerment and outright viciousness. As compared to its more PC 2005 relative, the original is a lot more honest about the interactions of the kids and they bring a more beliveable performance to the movie. Some aspects were changed for PC reasons. Such as the omission of a scene in the original inwhich the lone black kid strips to his underwear and climbs a tree out of the frustration of losing. His obsession with Hank Aaron is subplanted nicely though, with Mark MacGuire. Making the remake version of his character, as one of the kids puts it, "Oreo".
Other changes to the kids include the addition of more ethnicities, Armenian and Indian, and Englebert, the resident fat kid, being on Atkins. These, and the rest of the changes Linklater has made for his version work extremely well, and are akin to his School of Rock. He has an affection for the kids in the movie, and seems to portray them as much more innocent than their 1976 counterparts.
For all the small kid changes many characters remain the same, or are simply updated. The introverted Lupis of the first film is traded in for a more bizarre incarnation, while the snot nosed Tanner is virtually unchanged. Fans of the original can rest easy, the most central figure, Mr. Buttermaker, the Bears' coach, still retains his alcoholism, sardonic wit, and loser with a heart of gold in Billy Bob Thornton. While Matthau infused his version with a little less sympathy, Thornton nonetheless delivers the goods. I can't think of another actor who could have pulled it off so well.
The plot, and indeed some of the lines, remain completely unchanged. So I won't bother to go into them here. With the exception of some minor updating, such as Kelly and Amanda's duel taking place in a skate park instead of an arcade, the 2005 film remains true to the spirit and characters of the original. And although I still contend that there was no reason to remake it, at least this new film is worthy of the title.
1976 Bears 9, 2005 Bears 8 (in extra innings)