The Bad News Bears, All-Americans
Madman of Chu mentioned to me recently that he wished he'd added The Bad News Bears to the list of movies that embody American values or American-ness in some way. I have just discovered a nice tribute to the original Bad News Bears at The House Next Door that includes this insight:
It’s so quintessentially American - When I saw The Bad News Bears for the first time, I was younger than the kids who played the Bears. Those kids had a special allure because I lived in Japan and I wanted to know what was happening in America. A couple years later I moved to California and played little league ball myself, and everything was just as it was portrayed – the team chants, the Pizza Hut parties, the suicide soft drinks. It’s such an American story, and the movie captures so well that peculiar American attitude -- an ingrained identification with the underdog that is patriotic and “f**k you” at the same time. It tapped a spirit that flowed on through National Lampoon’s Animal House and Bill Murray’s American Mutt speech from Stripes. For a truly American experience, find a copy of The Bad News Bears this summer and watch it. It will deliver on moms and baseball. The only thing missing will be the apple pie, but Pizza Hut works just as well.
[edited to protect G-rated ears from R-rated language]
(Hat tip Ross Douthat)
It’s so quintessentially American - When I saw The Bad News Bears for the first time, I was younger than the kids who played the Bears. Those kids had a special allure because I lived in Japan and I wanted to know what was happening in America. A couple years later I moved to California and played little league ball myself, and everything was just as it was portrayed – the team chants, the Pizza Hut parties, the suicide soft drinks. It’s such an American story, and the movie captures so well that peculiar American attitude -- an ingrained identification with the underdog that is patriotic and “f**k you” at the same time. It tapped a spirit that flowed on through National Lampoon’s Animal House and Bill Murray’s American Mutt speech from Stripes. For a truly American experience, find a copy of The Bad News Bears this summer and watch it. It will deliver on moms and baseball. The only thing missing will be the apple pie, but Pizza Hut works just as well.
[edited to protect G-rated ears from R-rated language]
(Hat tip Ross Douthat)
posted by Kate Marie | 9:53 PM | Permalink
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3 comments
3 Comments:
Thanks for the editing, KM.
Looks like I've got another movie to add to my list of "things to watch when I blow out a knee or get too old to move around much."
That's right -- I've never seen the BNBears movie.
Think nothing of it, CIV. I was thinking specifically of you when I did the editing. :)
Good. You'll be glad when your Princesses are older and start hunting down Mom's blogs.
Don't think the old DEL key will help. They'll be using the Wayback Machine or whatever replaces it. Remember: if you need it and delete it, it's gone for good; if you wish you never wrote it, it lasts forever.
Just wait till today's teens and twenties reach middle age and can't get rid of the Facebook filth they posted about themselves.
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