SLAP SHOT (1977) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: George Roy Hill
Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Strother Martin,
Lindsay Crouse, Jennifer Warren, Melinda Dillon,
Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, David Hanson,
M. Emmett Walsh, Swoosie Kurtz, Paul Dooley
A raucous jock comedy with a distinctly woking-class edge, starring Paul Newman as the player/coach of a rust-belt minor-league hockey team called the Charlestown Chiefs. The local mill is closing (and with it goes the team's paying fan base) and the Chiefs are slumping through what looks to be their final season, when the general manager (Strother Martin) signs the brawling but intellectually challenged Hanson brothers, three goons with matching haircuts and eyeglasses, along with sharp elbows and high sticks. The Chiefs start to win. So you get the inevitable lead-up to the big game for the league trophy, but there's an underlying fatalism about it all. These guys are not going on to the NHL. They're not going anywhere that's any different from where they've been. The diners and bars and horsing around on the team bus are as good as it gets. And the screaming fans. And the drop of the puck. And the blood on the ice.
