Slap Shot (1977)

Director:

George Roy Hill

Writer:

Nancy Dowd (writer)

Release Date:

25 February 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Slap Shot out slaps... out swears... out laughs...

Plot:

A failing ice hockey team finds success using constant fighting and violence during games.

Plot Keywords:

Ice Hockey | Booster Club | Small Town | Coach | Team Bus

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Paul Newman	...	Reggie 'Reg' Dunlop
Strother Martin	...	Joe McGrath
Michael Ontkean	...	Ned Braden
Jennifer Warren	...	Francine Dunlop
Lindsay Crouse	...	Lily Braden
Jerry Houser	...	Dave 'Killer' Carlson
Andrew Duncan	...	Jim Carr
Jeff Carlson	...	Jeff Hanson
Steve Carlson	...	Steve Hanson
David Hanson	...	Jack Hanson
Yvon Barrette	...	Denis Lemieux
Allan F. Nicholls	...	Johnny Upton (as Allan Nicholls)
Brad Sullivan	...	Morris 'Mo' Wanchuk
Stephen Mendillo	...	Jim Ahern
Yvan Ponton	...	Jean-Guy Drouin

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Singapore:PG | Brazil:16 | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:R | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Hamilton, New York, USA

Company:

Kings Road Entertainment

Trivia:

Though decried by much of the NHL upon release - many league higher ups felt fans would lump the brawl-filled 1970s NHL with the brawl-filled minor league featured in the film - the movie is still a staple on NHL buses and team charters. It's not uncommon for NHL players born years after the movie's release to name it as their favorite movie. In locker rooms, players refer to reporters who write an untrue rumor with conviction as "Dickie Dunn."

Goofs:

Continuity: In the opening sequences introducing the players, Ned Braden can be seen wearing blue gloves as he stands by the boards. When he skates out for the introduction, he is wearing old brown gloves. When the next player is introduced, he can be seen wearing new matching blue gloves again.

Quotes:

Reggie Dunlop: You know, your son looks like a fag to me.
Anita McCambridge: I beg your pardon?
Reggie Dunlop: You better get re-married again, or he's gonna have someone's cock in his mouth before you can say Jack Robinson.
Anita McCambridge: How dare you! How dare you!

Movie Connections:

References Meatball (1972)

Soundtrack:

A LITTLE BIT SOUTH OF SASKATOON

Like a @#$% time machine back to the 70s

I grew up in south 'jersey when the Flyers were still the Broad Street Bullies and all lived on our side of the Walt Whitman Bridge. They had handlebar mustaches. Many spoke with thick French-Canadian accents and wore wide ties, jackets with lapels you could park a truck on, and more than the occasional leisure suit. Many were just kids when they were pulled from the farmlands of the North and found themselves in the middle of suburbia by day, and at night, playing "Old-time hockey" while the chanting and organ music echoed to the rafters. Now whether you played pro hockey like they did, or were on the semi-pro Johnstown Jets that inspired the crew here, there seems to be a prototype player who played a certain style of game for the rest of us to watch. Sadly, that era is long gone. Marketers and big business have left the game in smoldering ruins. But we still have Slapshot. It perfectly captures what the game used to be and the guys who used to play it. Paul Newman is incredible as Reggie Dunlop, the aging player-coach who seems to be the last guy to figure out his team is on the verge of folding. The fictional town has hit the skids so that means no more hockey team. But instead of going out with a whimper, Dunlop has a scheme to get his crappy team back in the standings and the fans in the stands. And as the plot develops there's locker-room talk that would make even today's teenagers shut up and take notes. Nancy Dowd's story, which she wrote after seeing her brother Ned play in the minors during his career (and parody in the movie as Ogie Oglethorpe) translates into a total classic. The raw banter between Newman and his GM, between the players -- literally all through the movie -- makes for the most quotable flick I know...but I have to be so careful where I can recite my favorites. One such place was out on the fishing boat of a hall-of-famer from the old Flyers. (It's rumored one of the characters in the movie was modeled directly from HIM.) Slapshot brought even this guy to his knees with hysterics. Just rehashing a few quotes from the movie triggered his REAL stories of his own team that won the Cup two years in a row, and then never again since. That's how well the movie tells the story of hockey. There's a lot of social commentary here, too, if you are into such a thing. Lots on relationships, male bonding, machismo and the like. Some of the subplots take the story off the ice for too long, and the movie tends to drag in spots, admittedly. But when play is on, the brutal scenes reach such a sublime level of violence all you can do is gape and laugh in astonishment. The players here have all become like Reggie himself: They don't seem to notice that they've gone too far and they are creating a goonathon just to fill arenas. Meanwhile, those with real talent get benched right along with the national anthem. It's pretty clear -- both on the screen and during the times when the movie was being made -- that Old Time Hockey was on its way out. But it didn't go with a whimper, either, and at least Slapshot was there to give it a send-off to remember.