Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 19, 2023

John Berry's "The Bad News Bears Go to Japan" (1978) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new program with composer Paul Chihara and exclusive new audio commentary by critic Scott Harrison. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The promoter

It is very, very difficult to defend The Bad News Bears Go to Japan (1978). Even though it comes from a different era and has a looser sense of humor that could appear rather fresh, it is every bit as soulless as the various sequels, remakes, and spin-offs Hollywood has produced in the last couple of decades. Was Tony Curtis as desperate to get paid as they say he was when he agreed to do this film? I think he was. He is awful and routinely looks annoyed with the work the screenplay requires him to do before John Berry’s camera but continues to pretend that he cares about his character. Even though he is not the only big actor to have done bad work in a bad film for money, this particular performance is genuinely sad.

Struggling Hollywood promoter Marvin Lazar (Curtis) makes a desperate move to repair his reputation and refill his bank account -- he takes the Bears to Japan to face the local all-star team in a game that is supposed to be so big no baseball fan could afford to miss it. Shortly after Lazar and the boys land in Tokyo and check into a lousy hotel, however, various problems threaten to collapse the unmissable game. First, Lazar runs out of credit and the owner of the hotel asks his obedient gorilla to relate to him while using his fists that if he does not pay the American guests must move to another place. Then during a pre-game encounter with coach Shimizu (Tomisaburô Wakayama) and his boys, the Bears crash so badly that a representative of the U.S. TV network Lazar has been talking to declares that it would be best to call off the planned broadcast to avoid a national embarrassment. Around the same time, while exploring Tokyo, Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) becomes obsessed with Akira (Hatsune Ishihara), a local girl who does not speak or understand English, and reveals that their romance means more to him than the unmissable game.

The narrative is broken into multiple uneven episodes that often seem completely random. For example, in each episode the chaos around Curtis is supposed to produce comedy material that makes the buildup to the unmissable game attractive, but it simply moves the iconic actor from one utterly ridiculous and annoying situation to another. Also, in every single situation the problematic relationship between Curtis and his character is so obvious that it becomes a major distraction. As a result, the comedy material does not materialize as intended, and observing Curtis mismanaging his character becomes a classic endurance test.

The other very, very big problem with this film is that a huge chunk of the original Bears team is missing. Was this why Curtis was brought on board? To fill the huge void? If it was, it is fair to declare that the producers of this film were clueless because they did not have even a basic grasp of what made the previous two films effective. The Bad News Bears (1976) and The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) are good films because they reveal sincerity that touches the heart in a special way. This sincerity emerges from an understanding of how to bring together children and adults and film them as human beings in situations where the funny and the sad constantly overlap. They were all passionate about baseball but their best and worst plays were in the game of life.

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Bad News Bears Go to Japan arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Via Vision Entertainment.

The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Paramount Pictures. Even though the age of the master easily shows, I would describe it as good. Why? Because it produces visuals with good, often even very good detail and depth, and because it does not have any traces of problematic digital corrections. It has a stable color scheme too, but this is an area where various meaningful improvements can be made to improve balance and saturation levels. Select areas should have superior highlights and shadow detail, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of various darker areas where darker nuances look quite nice. Image stability is good. Small blemishes and dirt spots can be seen, but there are no distracting large cuts, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The dialog is stable and very easy to follow. However, there are areas of the film where the audio becomes a tad thin, possibly somewhat flat as well. I think that if it is remastered with modern equipment its overall quality will improve. But you do not have to worry about any serious distracting anomalies that could affect your viewing experience.

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• America's Wildest Export: Scoring The Bad News Bears Go to Japan - in this exclusive new program, composer Paul Chihara discusses Michael Ritchie's original concept for The Bad News Bears, the music that was used in the first two films, and the soundtrack he created for The Bad News Bears Go to Japan. In English, not subtitled. (13 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critic Scott Harrison. There are some quite interesting observations about the visual style of The Bad News Bears Go to Japan and what makes it different than the previous two films as well as their reception. Mr. Harrison also concedes that The Bad News Bears Go to Japan is a "disjointed" film, but this is only one of its many serious flaws.

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is it possible that The Bad News Bears Go to Japan could have turned out a better film if its producers had booked another actor to play Tony Curtis' part? Yes, I think so, but I am unsure if this better film would have been a good film. In its current form, The Bad News Bears Go to Japan has too many serious flaws and virtually all of them can be traced back to Bill Lancaster's screenplay and John Berry's direction. Replacing both would have meant starting from scratch again. I did not like The Bad News Bears Go to Japan at all. Curtis looks awful and I could not detect even a whiff of the sincerity that made the previous two films memorable. Via Vision Entertainment's Blu-ray release is sourced from an old but good organic master that was supplied by Paramount Pictures. It will be of interest only to completists that must have all three films about the Bears in their library.