Movies
June, 1976
What director Michael Ritchie did in Smile to teenaged beauty contests he tries in The Bad News Bears to do to Little League baseball (referred to only as "sandlot ball" on film, because timorous Little League officials wanted no part of dugout profanity by both kids and coaches). The Bears, whose jersey pullovers identify Chico's Bail Bonds as the team's sponsor, are ruthlessly exploited, in much the same way the girls of Smile were, by status-conscious adult achievers with their own...
