Slap Shot (1977)

It’s that time of year when the weather is getting warmer and the days are getting longer, it’s early May so WHAT does that mean?  Of course, it means the NHL Playoffs are just beginning!  And what better way to commemorate the kick-off for professional hockey’s playoff season than to revisit one of THE Most Beloved Hockey Movies of All Time….which happens to star one of THE Greatest Movie Stars of All Time, Paul Newman.  

He stars as player/coach Reggie Dunlop of the minor league hockey team, the Charleston Chiefs – they’re a raucous group filled with goons and/or boozers but they MIGHT have a chance to win this season thanks to their latest addition of the Hanson Brothers.  Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson co-star as the Hanson Brothers in this raunchy, raucous sports comedy directed by the legendary George Roy Hill who previously gave us Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid along with The Sting.  

Host: Geoff Gershon

Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

SLAP SHOT - 1977

Directed by George Roy Hill (Audio clip)

Starring Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Michel Ontkean, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse, M. Emmett Walsh, Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, and David Hanson

Genre: Hockey Comedy

To think that THIS was my introduction to the late, great Paul Newman….one of our most enduring movie stars and DEFINITELY among the Top Five Coolest Men EVER to grace the Silver Screen.  I have only seen a relatively small portion of his filmography but possibly with the exception of Blaze which came out about more than a decade later, I don't think Paul Newman was ever THIS gleefully vulgar and as someone who grew up watching the basic cable version of this film, I have a hard time remembering the whole film being this vulgar!  It’s kind of a similar situation to growing up watching the cable version of Saturday Night Fever only to one day discover well into adulthood….the actual ORIGINAL hard-R rated version….the Racist, Rapey Tony Cut. :o Fortunately Newman’s protagonist doesn’t take QUITE as dark of a turn even when going full-on R-rated… (Audio clip) 

Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, an over-the-hill hockey player/coach toiling in the minor leagues who basically spends most of this film's two hour runtime stirring shit up for everyone around him.  Maybe it's to save his town, his marriage, his team, his career, his self-respect, who knows?   We're never sure but we can't help rooting for him because....Newman. 😉 His team is the lowly Charleston Chiefs who aren’t half-bad but the town they are located in is in deep trouble – the local mill is closing down and the equation from Reggie’s standpoint is quite simple: no mill means higher unemployment means fewer folks buying hockey tickets which means…yup….eventually no team and no job for Reggie.  So as a result, we see Reggie eventually throw everything he can at the wall and see what sticks, all geared towards basically….drawing more folks to come see the Chiefs.  But as alluded to earlier, we can never REALLY be sure what Reggie’s trying to accomplish as he seems to have no real plan….and we see him take some EXTREME measures no less, including an attempt to spread rumors that the team might be for sale and moving to Florida.  Fortunately, there is at least one development which goes his way and that’s the arrival of the Hanson Brothers.

Besides Newman and the catchy theme song which we’ll get to later, the aspect of this movie that MOST folks still remember are those Hansons….three tall, jolly, bespectacled goofballs who seem to love only three things….so-da, toy cars, and beating the shit out of any one from the opposing team on the ice.  They’re GOONS in the simplest sense but they’re endearingly friendly when they’re not checking some one into the glass – you can’t help but like these guys for the tall, lanky, doofuses that each of them are.  Yup you take Kramer from Seinfeld with a Minnesota accent and glasses times three….THOSE are the Hanson Brothers!  (Audio clip) 

And their on-ice antics prove to be quite useful not only towards drawing bigger crowds to the Chiefs but even helping them start to win…..all leading to a climactic finals championship which….really isn’t that climactic as it turns out.  There’s honestly not THAT much to this story – it’s more of a lark built around a wacky cast of characters and some well-staged hockey action, nothing more.  Does it need to be two hours long?  Probably not and that would likely be my biggest criticism of this movie – it’s just a bit TOO overstuffed and overlong for what is generally a shapeless comedy.  

Of course, that doesn’t mean that there’s not fun to be had.  Besides Newman and the Hansons, this cast is quite loaded with top-flight character actors including Strother Martin who plays the team’s notoriously cheap owner…..apparently he and Newman went way back as they were in several films together INCLUDING Cool Hand Luke where it is actually Martin himself who delivers the now famous line… (Audio clip) He’s great as is one of my personal favorite all-time character actors….and is STILL with us no less…..M. Emmet Walsh but we’ll get to him later.  

And of course, we can’t forget to mention that the hocky and the fights look pretty convincing and exciting - director George Roy Hill was kind of ahead of the curve with how well he filmed all of this really bringing the camera inside the rink to get the best on-ice action.  It also helped that you had several accomplished pro and amateur players among the cast INCLUDING the Hanson Brothers. (Audio clip) 

Now has ALL of the humor aged well? Well let’s just say that Slap Shot has similar sensibilities to Animal House….but at least every one on-screen is of consenting age.  So overall, it has not aged REMOTELY well….but the whole thing just has an anarchic spirit which carries it through to a pitch-perfect ending.  The ending features Michael Ontkean's Ned (in a mostly thankless role but he plays the stick-in-the-mud well enough) wrap up all of the on-ice insanity with a very fitting act of absurdity that puts a nice little cherry on top of all the chaos which preceded it.  Honestly without THAT ending, this film doesn’t work nearly as well but just another demonstration of how important it is to finish strong….both in sports AND movies. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

This category is a slam dunk or….sorry, actually a slap shot….thanks to a glorious contribution to the soundtrack from British R&B singer Maxine Nightingale.  The song is "Right Back Where We Started From" and we actually hear it at least three times throughout the movie: once during an early bar sequence, later on while the team is on the road being followed by their enthusiastic travelling group of boosters, and finally during the end credits.  It was actually released as Ms. Nightingale’s highest charting single back in 1976 from her debut album of the same name – the song was a pretty big hit at the time, charting in the Top 10 in both the UK and the US….and it’s easy to see why!

It’s got a great fast-paced hook aided by a large rhythm section including two base guitarists, horns, and even some strings which you hear during the bridge of the song – you THINK you’re hearing clapping as part of the background sound but it’s actually just lively percussion.  Nightingale’s high-pitched vocals just NAIL the sweet, reassuring tone of this song coinciding with some very sweet lyrics.  Does it completely match up tonally with the generally mean-spirited, raucous vibe of the movie?  Probably NOT but no matter as this song is just PURE joy – always puts a smile on my face – and last I checked, most comedies are still supposed to elicit smiles. (Audio clip)  Beyond that, this song has become so iconic AND commonly associated with ice hockey that decades later, several professional teams have begun to use it as a celebratory song to play on the PA whenever their team scores a goal OR wins the game….most famously the New York Islanders who now play it after every home win.  Just a TRUE banger of a song and in my opinion, one of the best needle drops of the ‘70’s!  

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film): 

Now back to M. Emmett Walsh who plays Dickie Dunn, the local sports beat reporter who inadvertently helps Reggie spread his rumor about the team possibly being sold.  With a two hour runtime, he NEEDS to be in this movie more.  Because seriously….dude’s a LEGEND plain and simple, he has been in more than 200 movies no joke!  Just an incredible filmography now spanning SIX decades including Midnight Cowboy, The Gambler, Serpico, Blade Runner, Blood Simple, The Mighty Quinn, Romeo & Juliet (the 90’s one), A Time To Kill, and Knives Out being his most recent feature.  Even when he’s in truly BAD movies like Wild Wild West or Christmas….cough cough….with the cough Kranks, he’s still always fun to watch….always with a distinctive character often with some weird variation of his baritone Southern-by-way-of-New York accent.  He’s good at being menacing, endearing, funny, no matter…..you have a two hour hockey comedy here and he’s in what….TWO scenes as the local hockey reporter??  Come on now…you can never have ENOUGH M. Emmet Walsh plain and simple! 

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie): 

Roughly just under an hour into this hockey opus, we finally see the on-ice debut of the Hanson Brothers after two of the Chiefs have suffered unfortunate injuries resulting in the need to send out a new line of forwards.  Bear in mind that up until this point, NOBODY (including the audience) is remotely aware of the types of players these guys are….but we soon find out! To the delight of Reggie AND of course the crowd which goes nuts, what results are several minutes of admittedly violent slapstick: opposing skaters are being tripped up from behind, smashed into the glass, and even the ref’s are getting it as the Hansons gleefully sideswipe them.  This sequence is a blast and special props to seasoned DP Victor Kemper whose camera is genuinely there on the ice, moving right alongside the action.  And of course, this acid tone of sequence is PERFECTLY set up with one sarcastic line from Ned setting it up in the locker room – as part of an effort to rev up the team, Reggie loudly asks as to WHOM will be taking the place of the injured player on the ice and Ned’s deadpans back, “Is the answer Jesus?”  (Audio clip) 

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film): 

NEWMAN! He was 52 when this movie came out and damn if he doesn't look pretty sharp on and off the ice – seriously though he is sporting clothes throughout which MOST actors, I don’t care how good-looking, just could not pull off!  At one point, he’s strutting about outside in what looks like an orange leather jacket with fur sleeves and collar….over green-tinted plaid plants….and the dude just pulls it off.  While others certainly contribute a great deal to the action and humor of this film, it’s still Paul Newman who truly carries this film in a manner that only the best movie stars can – his timing and breezy swagger just help make all of the vulgarity featured in the story much more palatable. 

Now was this PEAK Newman?  Not in the slightest and this is coming from some one who has barely even seen a third of his filmography IF that….he had absolute banger performances going back decades in Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, The Verdict, The Color of Money, Nobody’s Fool, and probably his last great performance before he passed away in 2008 was Road to Perdition.   Hell if I’m being honest, I HIGHLY doubt that this was even his best collaboration with George Roy Hill as director….that would likely be Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid which came out eight years earlier, great movie!  But at the end of the day, he delivers a funny, engaging star turn in what would end up being of the most influential sports movies of the past several decades - Paul Newman is the MVP.  (Audio Clip) 

Final Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5

No joke, Slap Shot was one of the earliest examples of the “Underdog Slobs” sports comedies, coming out right on the heels of The Bad News Bears.  You DEFINITELY see the DNA of this movie in several future sports films including Bull Durham, Major League, The Mighty Ducks, Dodgeball and Caddyshack.

Streaming on Peacock TV

And that ends another OLD TIME HOCKEY review….Eddie Shore!