Slap Shot (1977)

Paul Newman and his Butch Cassidy director, George Roy Hill, made a very original comedy in this 1977 story of an over-the-hill player/coach (Newman) for a lousy hockey team who gets results when he teaches his players to get dirty. One of the most hilariously profane movies ever to come out of Hollywood, this is the kind of film that makes its own rules as it goes along. Newman is very good, and while Hill goes for the gusto in terms of capturing the violence of this world, his instinct for comedy has never been sharper. Great support from Strother Martin, Paul Dooley, and the rest. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com essential video

Here's what it is, here's what it ain't

Slap Shot is bottom-of-the-barrel minor league hockey. It's blue collar, living on the edge of desperation, rust belt culture. It's about a marginal business run for purposes irrelevant to sport. It's people miscast in life from hacks who see themselves as pros, to elitists who deign to play with the low-lifes. It's about people screwing up their relationships, about mis-communication and non-communication. It's about how people hurt each other in order to connect with one another. It's crude and irreverent. It's about the really screwy things people finally rally around. It combines more comedy genres than I can count.

Slap Shot is not a typical heartwarming sports flick. It concludes nothing about good and evil. Or overcoming long odds. It's not about a noble coach or noble players. Or illuminating all the wonderful things inside us. It's not for children. It has little to do with pro hockey.

Slap Shot is often described as one of the greatest sports movies ever filmed, but understand what that really means. This is a dark comedy about the human condition put into a sports setting. Low-end minor league hockey, which is a low-paying dead end for most players, is a perfect setting for the movie's themes, especially when set in a dying backwater city. The characters are losers who cling to their illusions, and circumstances and a mismatch between their ideals and personal illusions has led them straight to the bottom. The finale of the movie is first about one final heroic go at ideals - Old Time Hockey! (and even here there's a manipulative twist) - then decends into absurdity ... and the mood lifts and people finally connect as reality sets in. It's a wonderful, unconventional use of sports in film.

Paul Newman is superbly cast in this film. A lesser actor couldn't possibly have pulled off the complexity in this role. He is simultaneously an idealist, a pragmatist, an aging star holding off the inevitable, a womanizer still in love with his ex, conniving, and personally engaging. His manages all that and more in a completely convincing manner.

The film is a classic. Newman said it was one of his favorite roles. Roger Ebert lists it as one of the greatest American comedies.

Priceless. November 4, 2008

To hockey what "Bull Durham" is to baseball

Just one of those 'classic' sports movies. Aside from the 70s nostalgia, it's the fact that if you've ever worked or played in the minor leagues this movie will ring absolutely true. I finally burned out my old VHS version that I played every October when the NHL starts up. The names, the references, the laughs; even if you don't like hockey, "Slap Shot" can be appreciated for what it is - a look back at the bottom rung of a bygone era in sports. July 16, 2008

Damn Funny

This is a very funny movie. When I watched it the first time, I was just thinking "this is not how sports should be played, where is the sportsmanship." But then I watched it again a few days later, and I realized that it is more about how messed up things were in a town like this and in the '70's, and it suddenly made sense that they desperately wanted to keep their jobs, so they did whatever it took. There are a lot of classic lines in this movie, and it kept me laughing the whole time. How can anyone forget the Hanson brothers after watching this movie? Paul Newman does great as well, very tough, very funny. Good movie. July 2, 2008

ugh!

Paul Newman was hopelessly miscast in this pic.It was unnerving to hear the filth that came from his mouth.He is too great for that.Hard to believe this is the same man who excelled as Fast Eddie Felson or Cool Hand Luke. June 15, 2008

Slapshot

Does this really require a review. A NEwman classic and throw in the Hanson Brothers and you have a great film! June 2, 2008

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