1978
PG
Paramount Pictures
1 h 31 m

1978
PG
Paramount Pictures
1 h 31 m

Summary In this third film of the Bad News Bears series, Tony Curtis plays a small time promoter/hustler who takes the pint-sized baseball team to Japan for a match against the country's best little league baseball team which sparks off a series of adventures and mishaps the boys come into.

Directed By: John Berry

Written By: Bill Lancaster

1978
PG
Paramount Pictures
1 h 31 m

1978
PG
Paramount Pictures
1 h 31 m

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan

Name: The Bad News Bears Go to Japan
Genre: Comedy, Family, Sport
Released: 1978-06-30
Duration: 1 min 31 s
Rating: 31
Cast: Tony Curtis, Jackie Earle Haley, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Antonio Inoki, Hatsune Ishihara

Metascore Generally Unfavorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews

User Score Available after 4 ratings

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Where to Watch

Directed By: John Berry

Written By: Bill Lancaster

Where to Watch

Critic Reviews

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Metascore

Generally Unfavorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews

0% Positive
0 Reviews

29% Mixed
2 Reviews

71% Negative
5 Reviews

All Reviews
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Mixed Reviews
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Metascore

Generally Unfavorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews

0% Positive
0 Reviews

29% Mixed
2 Reviews

71% Negative
5 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

Although director John Berry equips him with a bottle at every opportunity in an effort to recreate the bumbling but lovable charm of Matthau's performance, Curtis is never a sympathetic character. Curtis is by nature far too slick and suave a character ever to be a lovable curmudgeon. [04 July 1978]

FULL REVIEW

Variety

Producer Michael Ritchie (who directed the first installment) and writer-creator Bill Lancaster encore with Japan resulting in a more vigorous film than the sodden Bad News Bears in Breaking Training.

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Washington Post

By and large the film seems humorless, the reflection of exhausted or snide entertainers. [21 June 1978, p.B13]

By Gary Arnold FULL REVIEW

Washington Post

There is almost a total absence of action in the picture - not even any baseball, until a few minutes at the end - and a certain faithfulness to showing the worst of Western-originated Japanese culture has resulted in long scenes of variety and game shows played entirely in Japanese. [23 June 1978, p.19]

FULL REVIEW

TV Guide Magazine

It's somewhat more energetic than the previous year's Breaking Training, and the Japanese locations are a plus, but so much silliness has been substituted for the solid situations and characterizations of the original that it's hard to believe the same people had anything to do with both pictures.

FULL REVIEW

Time Out

Third and last in the Bad News series, with Curtis as a Hollywood hustler trying to make a buck exploiting the sad sack little league baseballers, but suffering the obligatory change of heart. Dire.

FULL REVIEW

The New York Times

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan isn't the sort of bad movie that angers you. It's sad in the way of something that's been abandoned. It deserved better from the people involved.

By Vincent Canby FULL REVIEW

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Production Company Michael Ritchie Productions, Paramount Pictures, Toei Company

Release Date Jun 30, 1978

Duration 1 h 31 m

Rating PG

Genres

Tagline They never met an adult they couldn't drive crazy.

Website https://mt2.org/uyeler/the-bad-news-bears-go-to-japan.16047/

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Awards

The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards

• 2 Nominations

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan

Where to Watch

Where to Watch

Top Cast

Tony Curtis

Marvin Lazar

Jackie Earle Haley

Kelly Leak

Tomisaburô Wakayama

Coach Shimizu

Antonio Inoki

Wrestler Antonio Inoki

Hatsune Ishihara

Arika

George Wyner

Network Director

Lonny Chapman

Louis the Gambler

Matthew Anton

E.R.W. Tillyard III

Erin Blunt

Ahmad Rahim

George Gonzales

Miguel Agilar

Brett Marx

Jimmy Feldman

David Pollock

Rudy Stein

David Stambaugh

Toby Whitewood

Jeffrey Louis Starr

Mike Engleberg

Scoody Thornton

Mustapha Rahim

Abraham Unger

Abe Bernstein

Dick Button

Dick Button

Regis Philbin

Harry Hahn

Kin'ichi Hagimoto

Game Show Host

Hugh Gillin

Pennywall

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

Details

Details

Awards

Awards

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