MovieChat Forums > The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977) Discussion > Tanner the bigot

Tanner the bigot

posted 21 years ago by EPLakeLA
33 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS
In the first two movies, Tanner was such a total bigot. He tries to compensate for himself by putting other people down, and his fights and shouting matches get old quickly. Either he has been raised like this, or he just isn't a good kid. I tried to take his comments lightly, but the following just threw me over the edge.

Tanner: "Hey I called that bed."
Carmen: "Nobody called anything."
Tanner: I CALLED IT RIGHT WHEN I CAME IN, YA DUMB W**!" (Then they fight.)

Oh god, that ticked me off SO badly. He's got a total foul mouth, and in the movie, someone shoulda shut him up.

Mr. Cellophane shoulda been my name, Mr. Cellophane....

[–] jackinthemoon 21 years ago

LOL I thought that was halarious! Pretty much anything that comes out of that kids mouth cracks me up. So what if he called the kid a W**??? lol Big deal...it's just a movie. Don't be so uptight EPlakeLA...I've watched a million movies where I've heard worse. How could you let a quote from a 27 year old movie upset you so much??? By the way, it's FICTION!!!! HELLLLLLLLLLLLO???????? LOL

[–] sniktawt 20 years ago

Tanner was great one of the reasons the third part sucked was because he wasn't in it.

[–] thub66 20 years ago

I don't excuse bigotry, but you have to see the film in context with the time period it was made. ANd then you have to consider the character's situation.

The mid-to late 70's was a strange scene. Richard Pryor and films like "Blazing Saddles" took the taboo off overt racial slur-name calling. It was a time when a lot of people were trying to combat bigotry by "taking ownership" of the slurs. Was this a good thing? I dont know, but this was the era when "properly used slurs" (perhaps an insane notion) was tolerated, if not acceptable.

In terms of character, Tanner is a runt and compensates with hyper-agression directed at evereyone. Bigotry has an altered meaning if the bigot hates EVERYONE. Perhaps it goes beyond even bigotry and becomes a more troublesome personal problem (self-hatred re-directed outward). The lack of depth of Tanner's bigotry is illustrated when he defends Lupus by goading the bullies onto atttacking him instead.

The character and his dialogue fit the era and the type of film. Would they work today? We will see...there is a remake filming.

[–] madmagician 20 years ago

How about stop being so PC, and let a movie be a movie. Jeez.

[–] silentbob8201 20 years ago

he wasnt raised anyway he's a fictional character in a movie from 29 years ago you jackass

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[–] nikeno71 19 years ago

That was his character. There was always a loudmouth smart ass on the team. And some of the quotes were cool. He's ACTING. He is playing a CHARACTER. It's okay, if the DVD had behind the scenes you'd get it.

[–] silentbobtwin 19 years ago

Hahaha, I just watched the original Bad News Bears today and I was thinking, "damn, having a kid like Tanner would be pretty cool" He's just so damn fiesty.

Wah, some 10 year old kid used racial slurs. Who cares? Brown people having been using them in rap since the 80's and no one seems to care. And yes, I did call them brown people, you know why? Because they ARE NOT black. Most of them aren't even African-American, you know why? Most were born in the USA. If they want to be called African-American I demand to be called Irish-American. Don't call me honkey, don't call me whitey, cracker, or caucasian. I'm Irish-American.

There was a point to that above rant. See how ignorant I sound (though technically correct). That's how ignorant the topic poster sounds and any minority that demands to be called one thing. Boo frickity hoo. Grow up, it's just a movie. I'm sure you're the same smart-ass that listens to rap music and will rap along with the cd with your windows down...until you come to a stoplight and then you don't want to offend any people around. Lame-ass.

[–] Debbieric 19 years ago

In a way, Tanner Boyle was the Eric Cartman of the time!

[–] tisssssssss 19 years ago

SILENTBOBTWIN, YOU F** RULE. I COULDNT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF. I THOUGHT NOONE NOTICED THE ANNOYANCE OF THOSE RAPPING WITH THE WINDOWS DOWN, EVEN TO DEROGATORY WORDS. WOMEN ARE SLANDERED IN MOST RAP SONGS, AND NOONE SEEMS TO CARE. I KNOW IM JUMPING OFF TOPIC BUT I WANTED TO SAY THAT WAS AWESOME. WELL PUT, SILENT.

[–] hottstuff15 19 years ago

i love the bad news bad (orignal) and nothing could EVER top it not the new one some ppl today dont even know about it and i think tanner made the movie he was just so funny along w/ tatum o nail and walter matthu but it was funny not stupid

[–] hottstuff15 19 years ago

The Bad News Bears****** sry typo

[–] hottstuff15 19 years ago

tatum o'neil**** sry again typo