Poll Position: Slap Shot

In the midst of game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals I watched an old hockey movie that you guys voted last week, “Slap Shot”. Now the fact that being Canadian probably makes me a bit biased when I say, I love hockey movies, especially comedic kind. And watching Slap Shot was a match made in heaven in my books. It had hockey, humour and Paul Newman, so I couldn’t wait to see this. Click more to read all the details.

The story centralizes around Reggie Dunlop (Newman) who is both the coach and the lead player on the Charlestown Chiefs. He struggles to keep the team alive when the local mill is shut down. But in the middle of a terrible season, the Chiefs pick up the three Hanson Brothers, who have the goofiest glasses and act very childish. The first game ends in a blood bath by the Hanson brothers, this strikes an idea with Reg. He takes the recent playing style and encourages the rest of the team to be as violent, but a few including Ned (Michael Ontkean) disagrees with this. After winning the rest of the games of the season they make it to the finals. But not without personal troubles with both Reg and Ned, the two need to work together to win the championship and save the team.

The Hanson brothers, beaten and bruised after another 'regular' game.

Though the story is very tacky, the characters make the movie shine. I felt a huge hatred for Reggie; he was disgusting, a liar and the perfect con man. Not sure if I was supposed to be cheering for him, but I saw Newman in a way I have never seen him before. A lot of the characters were brute, loud and extremely violent. Especially the Hanson Brothers, and by far the best to watch just with the sheer comedy they bring. I guess the reason I really liked the team as a whole was because how similar they were to the Broad Street Bullies from the 70’s. By far my favourite era of the Flyer’s history, this just adds to my enjoyment of the movie.

But with the brothers aside, I really found this movie to be funny as a whole. Yes, the humour was crude, revolting and even primal by respectable standards. But I guess this is why I liked it so much, it wasn’t witty just plain ol’ funny. A lot of homophobic, sexist and francophone jokes were shot, but it was the 70’s, everyone was a bit insensitive. I assure you, if this was filmed in modern times it would be called distasteful … or South Park.

I can get used to the fact that Newman played an amazing hockey player.

Yes I am a bit biased when I say Hockey movies are awesome, even if the movies themselves aren’t really all that great. I just see all these hockey movies like a little simple minded kid. I want to see bodies flying, goals being scored and a lot of players heckling. By far, this is not the best hockey movie but it is one of the funniest. If you are a hockey fan, or even a fan of crude humour this is a definitely a movie to check out.