This movie ruled my summer a year before STAR WARS codified summers into pablum. (For the record, Logan's Run was heir to the throne.) It was both forbidden fruit but rated PG, so I got to see it a couple times. I was also the chubby kid playing little league at the time.
I saw both sequels in their respective summers and am shocked that Lancaster wrote the third one. To this day, I assumed he'd merely written two movies that altered my DNA before passing away too early. I remember so little about that second sequel, which says everything you need to know about that one.
You really do. I'd never seen it before (always meant to, but always thought of it as a crass Disney movie about baseball) and annoyed it took me so long.
Thanks for the informative background on this movie. It was filmed in San Fernando Valley; it is a virtual documentary of what it was like in youth baseball in that particular place and that particular time. Nothing in the movie is exaggerated - the personalities, the kids, the parents, the beer, even some of the racial stuff. Also the fact that a terrible team could become good by the end of the season. Girls were starting to play ball at that time as well; part of women's lib, or "girls' lib" movement. Some of the girls couldn't play, but there were others who could do what "Amanda" does in the movie.
And what O'Neal could do - apparently she got pitching lessons and became quite good at it. This is why I like the Ritchie movies: it does feel like for all the comic shenanigans, I'm seeing what these places were like.
This remains a great movie. As kids, we loved it. I always liked Lupus. I don't remember the sequels much except that I saw them, and they seemed sanitized. The sitcom wasn't terrible but I think it was mostly held up by Jack Warden. The remake is forgettable, but wasn't an insult. The original stands on its own. I rewatched it a few years ago when I was a movie blogger. I wrote, "The movie is one of the pinnacles of child acting. Nowadays the kids are all [portrayed] like the one in The Day of the Locust, you want to stomp them to death. Here they all reminded me of the little bastards I grew up with- bullies, nerds, slobs, and kids with language that would make the Brady Kids strangle themselves with their perfect blonde hair."
See, this was my worry - that they'd try to go "kids' comedy" with the sequels. I remember virtually nothing about the remake except it felt redundant, even for someone who hadn't seen the original. You're 100% right about the acting: these feel like real kids, nasty little beasts, slouching their way into puberty. It's rare that we see childhood in movies as the ugly, awkward thing it was. And it has the weird effect of making me give a shit about every one of these kids.
Love that film!
The best.
This movie ruled my summer a year before STAR WARS codified summers into pablum. (For the record, Logan's Run was heir to the throne.) It was both forbidden fruit but rated PG, so I got to see it a couple times. I was also the chubby kid playing little league at the time.
I saw both sequels in their respective summers and am shocked that Lancaster wrote the third one. To this day, I assumed he'd merely written two movies that altered my DNA before passing away too early. I remember so little about that second sequel, which says everything you need to know about that one.
OMG! I can't believe I've never seen this.
Now, I have to. Thanks! :)
You really do. I'd never seen it before (always meant to, but always thought of it as a crass Disney movie about baseball) and annoyed it took me so long.
Thanks for the informative background on this movie. It was filmed in San Fernando Valley; it is a virtual documentary of what it was like in youth baseball in that particular place and that particular time. Nothing in the movie is exaggerated - the personalities, the kids, the parents, the beer, even some of the racial stuff. Also the fact that a terrible team could become good by the end of the season. Girls were starting to play ball at that time as well; part of women's lib, or "girls' lib" movement. Some of the girls couldn't play, but there were others who could do what "Amanda" does in the movie.
And what O'Neal could do - apparently she got pitching lessons and became quite good at it. This is why I like the Ritchie movies: it does feel like for all the comic shenanigans, I'm seeing what these places were like.
This remains a great movie. As kids, we loved it. I always liked Lupus. I don't remember the sequels much except that I saw them, and they seemed sanitized. The sitcom wasn't terrible but I think it was mostly held up by Jack Warden. The remake is forgettable, but wasn't an insult. The original stands on its own. I rewatched it a few years ago when I was a movie blogger. I wrote, "The movie is one of the pinnacles of child acting. Nowadays the kids are all [portrayed] like the one in The Day of the Locust, you want to stomp them to death. Here they all reminded me of the little bastards I grew up with- bullies, nerds, slobs, and kids with language that would make the Brady Kids strangle themselves with their perfect blonde hair."
See, this was my worry - that they'd try to go "kids' comedy" with the sequels. I remember virtually nothing about the remake except it felt redundant, even for someone who hadn't seen the original. You're 100% right about the acting: these feel like real kids, nasty little beasts, slouching their way into puberty. It's rare that we see childhood in movies as the ugly, awkward thing it was. And it has the weird effect of making me give a shit about every one of these kids.
Great review of a great movie!