The Bad News Bears

The Bad News Bears
Theatrical release poster by Jack Davis
Directed by	Michael Ritchie
Written by	Bill Lancaster
Produced by	Stanley R. Jaffe
Starring	Walter Matthau Tatum O'Neal Vic Morrow
Cinematography	John A. Alonzo
Edited by	Richard A. Harris
Music by	Jerry Fielding
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	April 7, 1976 (1976-04-07)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Languages	English Spanish
Budget	$9 million[1]
Box office	$42.3 million[2]

The Bad News Bears is a 1976 American sports comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Bill Lancaster. It stars Walter Matthau as an alcoholic ex-baseball pitcher who becomes a coach for a youth baseball team known as the Bears. Alongside Matthau, the film's cast includes Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow, Joyce Van Patten, Ben Piazza, Jackie Earle Haley, and Alfred W. Lutter. Its score, composed by Jerry Fielding, adapts the principal themes of Bizet's opera Carmen.

Released by Paramount Pictures, The Bad News Bears received generally positive reviews. It was followed by two sequels, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training in 1977 and The Bad News Bears Go to Japan in 1978, a short-lived 1979–80 CBS television series, and a 2005 remake.