Written by Nancy Dowd
Directed by George Roy Hill

When people think about great sports movies, the ones they usually mention are about football and baseball. You might get some to think of Chariots of Fire or Hoosiers, but in general baseball and football are in the forefront of people’s minds when it comes to sports films.

Which is a shame, considering they are missing out on one of the funniest sports films of all time. Released in theaters all the way back in 1977, the younger generation rarely gets a glimpse of Slap Shot unless they happen to come across it while flipping through the channels looking for something “good” to watch. Oh, and it’s about hockey. Up until about ten years ago, hockey barely existed as a participation sport outside of the northern tier of the country.

Paul Newman is Reggie Dunlop, an aging hockey player on a minor league hockey team, the Charlestown Chiefs. He also coaches the team. The team isn’t that good, and they don’t have much of a following. Those that do show up for the game seem to show up just to jeer them.

Joe McGrath (portrayed by Strother Martin) is the general manager of the team, and he’s trying to cut costs. Even Reggie confesses that he has no clue who really owns the team, just “some corporation”. Joe is the frontman. Much later, he finds out it’s owned by a rich widow using the team as a tax shelter – she never really wanted them to win. 

Enter a trio known as the Hanson Brothers (portrayed by Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson). The Hanson Brothers play a different sort of hockey than the apathetic games of frustration the ice had become. Their style of play is no-holds-barred and they frequently draw blood.  Reggie isn’t too keen on their style of play, at first.

The upside of all of this is that the fans love it. As the town around them slowly dies and begins decaying due to the only major employer shutting down the factory, the Charlestown Chiefs become the one thing that seems to bring joy. In a move that was later ripped off by the baseball film, Major League, Reggie decides to further inspire his players by telling them that if they can win the championship of their league, the owners will sell the team rather than shut them down. Unfortunately, this could not be further from the truth. Even with the profits coming in, there really is no future for the team in the dying town.

The psychology of that should be apparent in these hard times of recession. As incomes and lives evaporate, people become more fervent supporters of sports teams from high school to professional. Winning teams give a sense of pride that’s often lacking in the day-to-day lives where fears of losing one’s job (or the dismal existence of having already lost one and faced one rejection after another) prevail. Having a sense of being the winner in one area when everything else in life can feel like it’s spiraling downhill is often the catalyst behind many a fan’s obsession with a team that might seem odd to those who don’t live in their world.

Laced with profanity, Slap Shot is not a kid’s film by a long stretch. It’s hysterically funny throughout the film and left me laughing out loud many times but understanding the context of the violence on the ice and that it’s funny here but it’s something players will get in trouble for if they try it for real is a line parents who watch this with their children will have to tread. This is a brand of hockey that isn’t seen on television where brawls are frequent and bloody and the rules are really more like guidelines. Add to it a bit of sex and nudity and it becomes obvious it’s not for children.

Director George Roy Hill worked with Paul Newman for a third time here. In both The Sting and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, they managed to capture a subtle humor while the main part of the story unfolded around them. In Slap Shot, the humor is more overt in sort of an “if I didn’t laugh I’d cry” scenario. Hill manages to create humor in the dying factory town that would otherwise be depressing. What’s happening doesn’t get ignored, but it’s on the peripheral of the events of the film and it was only afterward when I tried to frame this review that the nagging feeling of what would happen to the town and the people within it after the team disappeared kept rearing it’s head.

The late Paul Newman is terrific. He’s brash, confident, and thoughtful. In some ways, it’s typical of Newman’s roles where he’s a confident, intelligent figure. In other ways, it’s branching out a bit for something different. I found Reggie Dunlop to be among the more unique roles Newman ever did, and if you’ve never seen this particular performance of his, I’d advise you to check it out.

The roles of the Hanson brothers were played by two actual brothers who played hockey plus a third man. This managed to create an accurate feel on the ice and off. They are the highlight of the film and it felt like when I used to watch The Newhart Show and Larry, Darryl, and Darryl used to come on. It’s established fairly quickly once they enter the picture what scene will emerge once they enter and they don’t fail to deliver.

The DVD contains a few extras. The commentary with the actors who portrayed the Hanson Brothers is pretty unremarkable. Being able just to see a few of their best scenes without having to figure out where it is on the DVD is good, but really not much was done with this. That’s a shame since I would have loved to have heard Paul Newman reflect on this role before he died.

If you’ve never seen Slap Shot, I highly recommend you check it out. It will shoot to near the top of your list of favorite sports films, I guarantee it.


BONUS MATERIAL:

• Feature Commentary with Dave Hanson, Steve Carlson, & Jeff Carlson a.k.a. “The Hanson Brothers” 
• The Hanson Brothers’ Classic Scenes 
• Puck Talk with the Hansons 
• Theatrical Trailer