4/10
When “The Bad News Bears” became a box-office smash in 1976, sequels went into near-immediate production, the first of which – “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training” – lacked the involvement of both director Michael Ritchie and writer Bill Lancaster. Both sat in the stands, as it were, while the 1977 follow-up became a sequel that met with general fan approval, enough to spur the production of another picture that did lure both Ritchie (as a producer) and Lancaster back to the franchise. The net result was THE BAD NEWS BEARS GO TO JAPAN (92 mins., 1978, PG; Imprint Editions), one of those head-scratching “what were they thinking?” misfires that’s more interested in the misadventures of long-in-the-tooth star Tony Curtis than the rag-tag little leaguers who here venture to the Far East to take on their Japanese counterparts.
It’s a surprising(ly bad) sequel because Ritchie and Lancaster were directly involved, yet the movie is inferior to not only the original classic but even the ‘77 sequel that – while itself an obvious comedown from its predecessor – still functions as a fun “kids road trip” flick from the era, complete with a good performance from William Devane as Kelly Leak’s (Jackie Earle Haley) estranged father.
There are no such pleasures to be mined from Part 3, which unwisely takes the focus off the team (several of the kids including Chris Barnes’ Tanner Boyle smartly avoided this one) and shifts it to struggling huckster-promoter Curtis, who latches onto the Bears and their trip to Japan to play the overseas little league champion (hinted at by a couple of planted dialogue lines in the second film).
Lancaster’s script is built around the utilization of Japanese culture and while the location shooting gives the film some appeal – its only appeal – the fragmented story is hard to decipher in terms of what it was trying to achieve. The sequences involving the Bears themselves feel completely arbitrary, with Haley reduced to being involved in an asinine puppy-love romance with a local girl, while Curtis’ character drives the entire picture. Alas, his comedic exploits simply aren’t funny, and the lack of interplay between him and the kids – save the cute younger brother of “Ahmad Abdul Rahim” – makes for a dismal picture in line with some of producer Ritchie’s worst films. And you know a movie is in big trouble when cameos by Regis Philbin and figure skating gold medalist (and TV commentator) Dick Button are the picture’s strongest suit!
Fans of the series may still want to check out Imprint Editions’ limited-edition Blu-Ray of the third “Bad News Bears” movie, seeing as Imprint also released “Breaking Training” last year. The Paramount catalog master (1.85, mono) is clearly of an older vintage but it’s not bad, and a commentary by Scott Harrison tries to sell the film as being superior to the sequel that preceded it (it’s not). The sole extra is an audio conversation with composer Paul Chihara, whose adaptation of “The Mikado” tries to give the picture some comedic inspiration – yet it’s clear even he was aware of how dire the finished product was.
