| Title | : | The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1593764189 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781593764180 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 128 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2011 |
Rushed into theaters by Paramount when the beleaguered film industry was suffering from “acute sequelitis,” the (undeniably flawed) movie miraculously transcended its limitations to become a gathering point for heroic imagery drawn from American mythology. Considered in context, the film’s unreasonable optimism, rooted in its characters’ sincere desire to keep playing, is a powerful response to the political, economic, and social stresses of the late 1970s.
To Wilker’s surprise, despite repeated viewings, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training continues to move him. Its huge heart makes it not only the ultimate fantasy of the baseball-obsessed American boy, but a memorable iteration of that barbed vision of pure sunshine itself, the American dream.
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training Reviews
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What an intelligent and passionate book about a film I will never, ever watch! After I finished reading it, I dreamed I was at a bar near the beach, ordering a mai thai and about to give my copy of the book to a family friend who likes baseball. I've never had a mai thai and have no idea what it's made of but hope to surprise myself by ordering one in the near future.
This is Soft Skull's strange version of the 33 1/3 series or alternately the BFI film monograph series but each book is about a B-movie. I was really engaged by the sampler of the series which had excerpts from the Jonathon Lethem and even more interesting Christopher Sorrentino's one on Charlton Heston's Death Wish, which is a weird look into 70s social politics. This was placed onto the dollar rack at Unnameable Books by a customer but the store was still kind enough to sell it to me for a buck even though it had just come out. So far there's been some interesting thoughts on the nature of continuity errors in the film and Michael Eisner's transition to Disney and the work overall deals with hope and fakery. -
I was reading about Josh Wilker’s book, Cardboard Gods, when a Goodreads search let me to this. Like Wilker, I saw this sequel before seeing the original. For some reason my parents took my brother and I to see it on their own initiative. We rarely went to the movies. I think the only other movie we saw that summer was Star Wars. Wilker went to a lot of movies that summer. It was his go-to activity when he visited his father in Manhattan.
To paraphrase Pauline Kael, we tend to like every movie when we are young because it's all new.
We only learn to dislike movies as we get older and start to notice repetitiveness. Therefore, certain movies at certain times can be formative and hold a higher place in our minds than better movies we see later. This movie is such for Josh Wilker.
Wilker is not going to tell you this is classic cinema. He will say that it hits important themes and there's unexpected subtlety at times, although at other times it’s rushed and as thoughtless as you’d expect. The kids all jumping in a converted van and driving to Houston without adult supervision is the classic American road movie and a male fantasy. I do remember thinking this was the most subversive part of the film, wondering if my parents were going to tell me never to try it. A subtlety comes in the character of Oglivie. He has gone through puberty enough to be a quasi-adult and he impressed at how the filmmakers make passing references to this. It's also the reason he suspects that Oglivie is not seen in the wretched 3rd installment.
With no Walter Mathau and no Tatum O’Neill, Jackie Earle Haley’s Kelly is the main character. Kelly’s broken home and reconciliation with his father in Houston is a key plot point that motivates Kelly from one city to the next. Wilker takes a detour of sorts when discussing Haley by bringing up the actor’s long absence from the screen and his return in the 2006 movie, Little Children, a film for which he won an Oscar nomination. It's interesting if you've seen both films, but it feels like an attempt to flesh out a book length essay on a thin film.
Although there are hints of the author’s political leanings in the book, it eventually becomes a major theme. The feisty Tanner is watching Ronald Reagan as George Gipp on TV to make parallels between their injured teammate, Timmy Lupus, and Knute Rockne’s ill-fated star. Ronald Reagan had lost the Republican nomination in 1976 and his party lost the general election to Jimmy Carter, but this might have been shot before any of that happened. Wilker is very much not a Reagan guy and he uses Reagan’s presence in the film as a harbinger for the excesses of 1980s.
Wilker seems to agree with Jimmy Carter’s vision that the shared decline of the 1970s was morally superior to allowing individuals a variance into individual prosperity. In short, the 1980s were bad because of Wall Street and greed. This was a consistent message from the 1980s and we’d still be hearing it had Mitt Romney or Jeb Bush won the presidency. It’s an example of what a paradigm shift Trump and the 2016 brought. Democrats collect more Wall Street money now and the subject is not brought up unless you're a Bernie Bro. I think we can safely say that the accusation has been retired when even Bernie is voting for the Wall Street guy.
Bad News Bear In Breaking Training was an opportunity for the author to write an essay on the time period which encompasses both his childhood experience and his reflections as an adult. Your enjoyment of it is enhanced by your living through this time period at a similar age. I fondly remember conversion vans and mini bikes although Jimmy Carter brings up memories of Ted Koppel and his endless hostage updates. Dad, can we watch Johnny Carson instead? -
One of the best baseball movie books I've ever read.
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I wrote a blog about "The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training" a few days ago that more than justifies a review, and will cut and paste it.
1) A must for Bad News Bears Fans
2) A must for fans of film criticism
3) A must for readers interested in new ways that film criticism is leaking into poetry.
https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog... -
Fantastic book, though I'm the perfect audience for it. I saw the picture when I was 5 or 6, before I saw the original "Bad News Bears" and it's always held a special place in my heart. Wilker does a great job of defending the film and connecting it to 70s political and popular culture. This film series from Soft Skull is badass.
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I grew up in the 70's, played Little League, and had feathered hair. Josh Wilker's enthusiastic ode to the 2nd Bad News Bears movie nails the spirit of the 70's on so many levels. Coming of age. Road trip. Divorce. Changes in parenting styles. The end of Carter and the beginning of Reagan. Sitting on the toilet with a bucket of KFC. Highly recommended.
