Slap Shot (1977)

This is one of the best comedies you will ever see. I'm only writing this in case anybody who hasn't seen this movie is reading reviews, because I want to tell you that you're a fool for having missed this until now. It's not just the best hockey movie ever, it's a classic 70's comedy, up there with Animal House and The Bad News Bears. Don't even debate it, just watch it.

Watching this again, made me realize, just what a great if uniquely natural actor we lost. I'll be honest, I don't really like films, centered around sport, especially basketball or golf, although I did like Blue Chips and Caddy shack. What makes Slap Shot a winner, owes much to it's script, that really screams profanity, and doesn't mind getting bloody, hence the R rating, with comedic themes, and great characters. The Chiefs, a dying ice hockey team, led by Reggie Dunlop, (Newman O,naturel and great) earns their wins with dirty plays, instigated by insults, towards the opposing team. Slap Shot also has another plus: The Hanson Brothers, savages, who join Reggie's team. They also brought their little toy cars, and train set, which I guess, really makes them unique. The only guy, not for the dirty play is Newman's second man, Braden (Ontkeon, who's cheating on his average looker of a wife (Crouse, who's so entertaining, thanks to her anger) We have an older randy player, who likes to ramble on with old tales, as well as some ethnic players, one not really getting the character exposure he should of, while the other one, opens the movie, in what you could say, is a funny and hurtful interview. Why I like this film so much, to me is an enigma. I guess partly, it's because the players really get bloody, where the blood looks real, but too, like I said at the beginning, a lot of thanks, goes to the screenplay. We have two young female fans, in matching attire with matching hooters. One scene has Newman, going off at a would be female representative, who folds, as she can make more money the other way, thus making Newman spout an unsavory remark, firily, about the woman's little boy. We pretty much know how the film ends, with that "last game must win", scenario, only this victory doesn't go the way you think. Newman's performance really pulls you in, and there's fine work, from veteran, M Emmet Walsh, as a sports writer, while other performances from our other playes (double meaning) captivate too. Slap shot is a well made sports film, just as good now as it was then, comedy with does of drama then blend beautifully, with a great beating music track, attached. Definitely one for sport movie fans, regardless of the movie's age.

Every now and again, a movie comes along late on a Friday night being aired on some obscure cable channel that pulls you in and keeps you there, despite the premise being something that interests you less than collecting rocks - and Slap Shot is one of them.Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, an ageing Ice Hockey coach who is torn between a genuine love for his soon to be leaving wife, and an undying love for the game that has allowed him to remain a child all of his years. On the back of a series of heavy defeats, he decides to tear up the rule book and bring what is described as 'aggressive hockey' back to his side of dysfunctional misfits, the Charlestown Chiefs, in order to draw attention to the side in the vain hope that the team won't be foreclosed along with what appears to be the entire town.That's the premise, but what lies beneath is something incredibly fantastic; a genuinely funny, raucous and carefree movie that has clearly benefited from not only the time in which it was made, but also from the seeming freedom the director had when making it.If you don't like Ice Hockey or any sport for that matter, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference. This movie works in the same way that Airplane! and Blazing Saddles does - with an effortless fluidity and style that will have most viewers going back for repeat views again and again in search of another comedic nugget of gold.The character combinations here are superb, and the casting agent did a wonderful job getting Paul Newman on board, who seems to revel in this sort of role - this movie makes you feel good because it's clear from the start that it was a whole bunch of fun to make.Full to the brim with one-liners, appropriate and hilarious cursing, memorable catch-phrases and all the dysfunction you could ever hope for in a slick 123 minute runtime. Some of the scenes are genuinely laugh out loud funny; my favourite, the Charleston Chiefs organ player who gets clouted in the head and knocked off his chair by a stray puck shot from distance, only to appear in his next scene resplendent with a protective helmet - I had to spit my drink out.As mentioned in other reviews there is a small amount of social commentary here, but not enough to spoil the jokes, of which there are plenty. Hilarious, compelling and wonderfully carefree in a way that studio executives dare not entertain in this day and age, Slap Shot will surprise and revive you on one of those rainy Wednesday evenings after a bad day at work. So spend a couple of hours with the Chiefs - you'll be glad you did.8.1 / 10

If you accept sports as entertainment with machismo and honor, you can appreciate this film for its' dressing room cliché humor and small town usual killing time on the road for the Charlestown Chiefs, a minor league hockey team led by an over the hill payer-coach and in a town one plant closing short of collapsing. Loving hockey, I saw this in the theater and still see it as a small town story. It may have a cult following, but that is not to say it doesn't light the red light for new fans as well. Quoted as much as Spinal Tap and The Godfather, the writing is crisp and action hilarious as Paul Newman works his con man act on a memorable team of cast offs. This film remains both relevant and funny with some really silly scenes countering a few heartfelt moments. I said, a few, as the transformation of this hockey team of cast offs into a goon-a-thon on ice. The characters not on the ice are just as memorable for their proliferation of the problem that Nancy Dowd was writing about