The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978)

You won't be disappointed!

best movie i've ever seen.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This movie didn't know what it wanted to be. The whole plot simply doesn't make sense. Like with the first sequel, main characters disappear without explanation and new ones are added. Also like the sequel, they play horrible ball to start with despite being such a good team. Can talent be switched on and off like offense in a wrestling match? The whole story of the team going to Japan just doesn't make sense. The side plot of Kelly pursuing a relationship is also thrown in without any thought. By the end, you don't care who wins or even if they play at all. In fact, baseball is not even the focus of the movie and the child actors play very minor roles.Just a terrible movie that never should have been made.

The franchise is getting very old and tiring here and the once funny antics of those rambunctious little leaguers on the Bears baseball team aren't even the least bit funny anymore. Many of the kids from the first two films chose not to appear in this one (that may be one of the problems) and Tony Curtis seems lost in his role as the team's new coach, a shifty con man who attempts to make some big money by sending the Bears off to Japan for a highly publicized exhibition game against Japan's best little league baseball team. Paramount wisely chose to end the series after this one.

After repeated viewings i have some comments..Paramount, how could you release this movie upon the movie viewing public? The story is weak, Tony Curtis should have never been brought on board, nobody when i was a kid watching in the theatre could have cared less about his involvement or the endless scenery he chewed and what is worse is that the Bears are nowhere to be seen for over half the movie! And speaking of the Bears, a good chunk of the team is missing!! However, the most glaring omission of them all...where is Chris Barnes AKA Tanner Boyle? Outside of Jackie Earle Haley, you could have dumped anybody else from the team and nobody would have cared, but Tanner was the heart of the team in the original and the sequel. This movie singlehandly killed the Bears franchise.

This film didn't follow-up to the first two successful sequels! John Berry, was not a good director, and especially a bad script!!!Tony Curtis (Father of Jamie Lee, starred in "Halloween" the same year), did an Ok job, and I say that this film was disaster!!!NO STARS!!!