In the previous article in this series, I wrote about The Sandlot. In Part II it’s a funnier movie, sillier than The Sandlot. There are two versions of The Bad News Bears, the original released in 1976 and then nearly 30 years later a remake starring Billy Bob Thornton which was not anything like the original in simply clean humor.
In comparison, on IMDB the original got 7.3 stars out of 10 where Thornton’s version was rated only a 5.8. The original version was the story of little league baseball and a rag tag roundup of kids who simply could not play the game with any talent. They were a bumbling, goofy group of young kids who wanted to have fun but could not play a lick of baseball.
Walter Matthau played the role of the team’s coach, Morris Buttermaker, who turned his squad’s misfortunes into a winning team. Saving the day for the team were two unlikely stars. The first was Amanda Whurlitzer the only female on the team and the pitching star played by Tatum O’Neal. Then there was the bad ass in the neighborhood riding around on a motor bike played by Jackie Earle Haley and in the movie as Kelly Leak.
Directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster, The Bad News Bears became so popular not only was there the remake but two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) and The Bad News Bears go to Japan (1978). A television series was also created that ran from 1979-1980. Jack Earle Haley even did a short film in 2021 titled “Life Imitates Aet: Jackie Earle Haley on the Bad News Bears.”
Perhaps aside from the Rocky series, most times sequels don’t match the entertainment value of the original. The Bad News Bears is one such film. As for Matthau’s character, in the movie he portrays a former minor league player who works as a swimming pool cleaner but is offered money to coach the pitiful Bears. Tatum O’Neal’s character is the daughter of a former girlfriend of Matthau as he must convince her to come play for his team.
The Bad News Bears
So, where are they now? The main cast of characters from the movie was released 49 years ago. For those who were around when the film came out like me, 49 years ago certainly aged us and it’s hard to fathom that many years have passed. The actors in the movie are 49 years older as well. Here they are…
Walter Mathau (Morris Buttermaker)
It’s been nearly 25 years since the death of Mathau who passed after complications from heart disease. His film career is littered with many awards and accommodations and his acting career covered 45 years of acting roles. His final movie came in the year he died appearing in Hanging Up. His final television appearance in 1998 playing Frank Walsh in The Marriage Fool.
Mathau’s real name was Walter Matuschanskayasky. He was married twice and his second wife he married in 1959, and she remained with him until he passed. Mathau also has three children. His parents hailed from Lithuania and the Ukraine. His second wife Carol Grace died two years after Mathau.
Tatum O’Neal (Amanda Whurlitzer)
It is interesting that the character’s name in the movie was chosen as Whurlitzer. The word is spelled “Wurlitzer” and is the name of an American businessman named Rudolf Wurlitzer who hailed from Germany and was the owner of a company that made pipe organs. As for The Bad News Bears, O’Neal was 13 at the time the movie was released and, in her role, she played a back talking wise little girl who could really toss a baseball from the pitcher’s mound.
Famously known as the daughter to actor Ryan O’Neal, Tatum’s mother is Joanna Moore who was also an actress but passed away in 1997. Ryan O’Neal also passed away his death coming in 2023. Tatum O’Neal was married to tennis super star John McEnroe from 1986 t0 1994 and as an actress Tatum took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress inn Paper Moon which also starred her father. By winning the award she became the youngest ever to take home an Oscar.
O’Neal has three brothers, Griffin who is a natural sibling and two stepbrothers Patrick and Redmond. Redmond’s mother is the late Farrah Fawcett. With John McEnroe the couple has three children. Tatum O’Neal has had an unfortunate history of drug abuse, so much so that McEnroe was given custody of their children following the couple’s divorce. O’Neal has not been in a movie since 2021 when she had a role in Not to Forget. With many television appearances as well, the last TV spot came in 2018 in a made for television movie, Runaway Romance.
Vic Morrow (Roy Turner)
Born Victor Morozoff, this actor had an unbelievable tragic end to his life when filming Twilight Zone the Movie, a helicopter in the scene suffered damage to its roto causing it to crash down on Morrow and two young child actors killing all three. So shocking was the deaths that one of the children and Morrow were decapitated. Morrow was only 53 at the time.
Vic Morrow’s acting career in film began in 1955 and he was 47 when The Bad News Bears was released. He’s been in many films and as for his death and the Twilight Zone movie, I’ve watched this film many times and Morrow’s role was as a racist who because of his beliefs was thrust into situations of racism after he leaves a bar where he was with friends and outrightly committing racial injustice in a conversation over drinks.
Joyce Van Patten (Cleveland). The name Van Patten is synonymous with Hollywood with her famous brother Dick also an actor and Tim Van Patten who is a half brother and played the role of “Salami” in the smash hit television show White Shadow. Vincent Van Patten is a nephew and Grace Van Patten her niece. Amazingly, Van Patten is alive and well at the age of 91.
Jackie Earle Haley (Kelly Leak)
Here we have the bad ass of the film. The motorcycle riding, outstanding baseball player in Kelly Leak. He happens upon the Bears practicing and seeing how awful they are and is convinced to come play for the team. Entertainment was in his life for Haley as his father was a radio show host and a disc jockey but also acted. Hailing from Los Angeles, Haley now 63 lives in San Antonio Texas with his third wife.
Haley is athletic and still holding black belts in Kenpo and Taekwondo. Prior to the filming of The Bad News Bears, Haley appeared in two other movies, The Outside Man and The Day of the Locust. He reprised his role of Kelly Leak in the two sequels to Bad News Bears, “Breaking Training” and “Bears go to Japan.” Haley has been nominated for numerous film awards and last year was a part of two movies, The Union and Dead Money.
In 1979 he starred in the extremely popular cycling movie, Breaking Away. On the tube he’s been in The Partridge Family, Marcus Welby, MacGyver, and Get a Life, among others. His last television appearance came in 2023 when he made appearances in Killing It. Haley has also been on stage in Slab Boys (1983) and in video games lending his voice.
Alfred Lutter III (Oglivie)
The nerdish Oglivie was played by Lutter who got his star in movies with a role in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and for that casting he was a nominee for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. Two more movie roles would follow before being cast in The Bad News Bears. Lutter was in the 1977 sequel and then ended his film career appearing in the 1976 television series Family.
Today at age 63 Lutter has become an entrepreneur, engineer and consultant.
Chris Barnes (Tanner Boyle)
In the movie Tanner Boyle was the kid with the nasty little habits. Sort of like Peanuts character pigpen. Not much can be found on his current life via the internet except that his movie career ended in 1983 and that he turns 60 this June.
Erin Blunt (Ahmad Abdul Rahim). The kid with attitude. That would be a clever way to explain Blunt’s character. But he brought his attitude to the big screen in a way it made you laugh. Like Barnes above, not a lot of information can be found on his current status, but his acting roles ended many years ago. Today he is alive and well at the age of 63.
Gary Lee Cavagnaro (Engelberg)
The kid with the brains was Cavagnaro as Engleberg. There is a video on YouTube interviewing Cavagnaro which is very entertaining. Cavagnaro is a current resident of Carrollton, Texas and is married with four children.
Of course, there were sequels to the original movie and the Billy Bob Thornton remake. But like most movies that have continued the story in additional films, nothing beats the original. In the next two chapters the films “Little Giants” and “Angels in the Outfield.”
