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

 Slap Shot Review
The disc arrived in perfect condition, however will not play on the DVD recorder. Push play and it ejects with no message. Putting into the computer DVD drive it displays a ticked US and canada only. Australia is listed but 'in faint' and an inability to register exists. Whilst this probably is not Amazon's fault discs sold overseas should be playable.
Adrian Abrahams May 1, 2008

 sports classic
Even if you are a casual hockey fan or not this movie is classic.
Funny beyond belief. April 24, 2008

 One of the greatest sports films...
Love hockey? Enjoy Paul Newman? Relish quirky supporting casts? This one's for you, if you answered yes to any of these questions. It's fun, full of action, and has now attained cult status among us "sports movie nuts"!
Get a large bag of shelled peanuts & enjoy! April 14, 2008

 I'd Rather Be High Sticked Than Watch This Again
Many people seem to believe that this is the greatest sports movie ever.

Not only is it _not_ the greatest sports movie ever, but it would have a hard time beating The Mighty Ducks 3 in a shootout.

Slap Shot is a dreary movie, utterly lacking in humor, suspense or style. Its plot is predictable, the dialogue is almost completely expository and unforgivably repetitious, and the characters are unsympathetic and insipid. By the end, I didn't care whether they won or lost, were disbanded or moved to Florida; a nuke could've gone off at the end and obliterated the team -- at least *that* would have been a surprise!

Paul Newman is wasted in this movie. He may also have been wasted on the set, for all I can tell by his performance. The only relief from the tedium in this film are the scenes of hockey violence, and even they get stale after a while (they go on, and on, and on, and on).

Slap Shot is an awful film, completely undeserving of the praise it's received for whatever reason. The script is a nightmare, and cannot be saved by the run-of-the-mill to worse performances, or production values, and its plot is as generic a sports tale as they come.

Find a better movie to watch. April 4, 2008

 "Old-Time Hockey"
Paul Newman reunited with director George Roy Hill for this perceptive look at minor league hockey and its impact on a blue-collar steel town. Profane, violent and very funny, "Slap Shot" (1977) has grown in stature as a classic sports film. Newman delivers a career-high performance as player-coach Reggie Dunlop, complemented by a wonderful ensemble cast. And three cheers for the Hanson Brothers! March 7, 2008

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