Varun Patel
Sports movies prove to be the most frequent arenas of David versus Goliath stories. This is where underdog tales are found the most. ‘Bad News Bears’ is yet another sports film with an underdog story. However, the 2005 film is a sports comedy, allowing viewers a calm movie experience as opposed to a serious one. Unfortunately, the film ended up performing poorly at the box office, raking in just $34 million against a budget of $35 million.
The movie follows Morris Buttermaker, an alcoholic, former baseball player who was banned from the sport for attacking an umpire. However, he gets a second chance in life when he is asked to coach a children’s baseball team called the Bears. The Bears have not been performing well, and it is up to Buttermaker to turn the tables. Billy Bob Thornton plays the role of Buttermaker. Apart from that, Greg Kinnear and Marcia Gay Harden are also members of the movie’s cast.
Is Bad News Bears Based on a True Story?
No. ‘Bad News Bears’ is not based on a true story. While there have been multiple actual stories of sports teams performing beyond expectations, ‘Bad News Bears’ is actually a remake of a 1976 movie, ‘The Bad News Bears. That film itself was followed by two sequels of its own: ‘The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training,’ and ‘The Bad News Bears Go to Japan’ and also a television series on CBS.
While ‘Bad News Bears’ is not based on a real story, there had been a peculiar “reverse incident,” that is, something happened in reality which imitated an event from the movie. The Lennox Little League, in 2012, was about to disband due to a lack of funding. However, it was saved in the last moment because of an unlikely helper.
A strip club named Jet Strip Gentleman’s Club gave $1,200 as a donation to the Lennox Little League. However, the money was returned by the officials as they felt that accepting it would be inappropriate. This event is strangely similar to something that happens in ‘Bad News Bears.’ In the movie, the team is given a donation by the Bo-Peeps Gentleman’s Club. However, a comic situation arises as the donation comes with a condition. The team would have to put the logo of the strip club on all the kids’ uniforms!
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