Slap Shot (1977)

I have never watched an entire hockey game in my life, nor had I watched a movie that concerns hockey principally. I don't recall who recommended this one. But I trusted that it would be easy to follow with even a rudimentary knowledge of the sport. Indeed, the first scene clarifies a few terms that hockey fans probably know well.

Under near-retirement Coach Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman), the fictitious Charlestown Chiefs are the least successful NHL team. Then the manager (Strother Martin) recruits three young brothers (David Hanson, Steve Carlson, and Jeff Carlson) who look like wimpy dorks but play with a super-bellicose style that garners wins despite frequent penalties. Reggie decides to have the team in general adopt a policy of aggression, which makes them popular with their hometown and pretty much no one else. Only the star player (Michael Ontkean) declines. Can the Chiefs save themselves from dissolution?

I have to wonder whether hockey had a different reputation back then. Nowadays, it's common to encounter jokes like "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out." Regardless, I'm sure that any RL team that so deliberately injured opponents -- and sometimes nonplayers -- would not be allowed to continue thus and certainly would not have its scored goals honored.

It reminds me most of The Longest Yard, another dark sports comedy of the '70s. There are similar levels of violence and swearing and maybe slightly less political incorrectness, mostly in the form of characters treating homosexuality as shameful and the Quebecois goalie (Yvon Barrett) talking funny. We also get some nudity in sexual contexts, partly as Reggie pursues his estranged wife (Jennifer Warren) and other women. Kinda hard to believe that a self-described feminist woman, Nancy Dowd, directed this testosterone fest.

You may notice that I've called only one character by name. Reggie is definitely the most interesting major character, or at least the one we get to know best. Of course, Paul Newman is the biggest-name actor involved, and he gives it a good, well, shot.

Do not expect a sense of soul here. The filmmakers never fully endorse or condemn the Chiefs' strategy. When it looks like Reggie has learned a lesson, he pulls back. If there's a coherent message to be found, it's "Here's what you asked for, you lowbrow fans." No wonder contemporary reviews were mixed. Personally, I laughed aloud only at a part that some critics disliked.

Slap Shot may be fully followable to people who know even less about hockey than I did, but I don't recommend it to anyone who doesn't already watch the sport. Those who do may or may not find it rather obvious in approach, if not hackneyed. Still, it is a cult classic and thus keeps appealing to somebody.