I haven’t seen this one since I was a kid, and watching it now in the 2020s, some of it is jarring, and honestly, it’s hilarious in its shocking bluntness, though the casual racism thrown around… wow!

Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) is a drunk, former ballplayer who has been bought and paid for to coach a group of misfits in Little League. He initially doesn’t care about the team’s standings or the players, but when he sees their spirit, especially little Tanner (Chris Barnes), he begins to come around and helps the team come together.

He recruits one of his former girlfriends’ daughter, Amanda (Tatum O’Neal), as the new pitcher, and she helps to convince local ‘thug’ Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) to be their star outfielder.

There’s hilarity aplenty set to Bizet’s Carmen, and Matthau is so blunt in the way he talks and deals with everyone, especially the kids, that you can’t help but laugh at the audacity of the characters. The kids give it right back to him, and that’s even funnier.

Of course, there’s a team that is their nemesis, and their coach is played by Vic Morrow.

This film is definitely an artifact of its time; that’s not to say it isn’t funny. It still has some fantastic moments, but it also shows how much time has changed. Buttermaker is just a sarcastic alcoholic, and he doesn’t go through much of a character arc. He wants to help the kids win, but he’s not going to change his habits; he’s just going to adapt as needed.

There’s a lot of laughs to be mined through the film, and I frickin’ love Tanner. Matthau is perfectly cast, and he has this role down. He has chemistry with the kids, and he’s more than able to throw abuse at any and all of the kids.

Yet these kids say some pretty harsh things back to him, and I remember at the time only thinking it was amazing, but also shocked… we could talk back to adults like that?

The film runs briskly, clocking in at just over an hour and a half, and it just moves as we follow the Bears through their season and their minor character arcs. I mean, that’s not why we’re watching; we’re settling in for hilarity, baseball and some very funny (and some troubling) dialogue.

This was just fun, and it also spawned a couple of sequels. I’ll check the first one out shortly, but I don’t have fond memories of the second.