I might be perpetuating a stereotype here, but Canadians love hockey. Especially French Canadians. It’s always cold as hell up here in the winter, so there’s precious little else for our young ones to do but to go out in the street and play hockey. I’ve never played hockey aside from our usual street hockey games, so I missed out on stuff like over-inflated egos, copious amounts of beer while on the road and watching Slap Shot. The cult that the film has generated here in one province is probably larger than the cult it has in all of the US. Of course, most people here who like Slap Shot don’t give a crap who Paul Newman is… and certainly no one cares that George Roy Hill directed it. A friend of mine quoted this movie endlessly; I just nodded along as if I knew what he was saying, because it’s practically considered taboo not to have seen this movie around here. I eventually had to check it out for myself… and it didn’t disappoint. For all the times that French Canadians are wrong (Celine Dion, for example), they can also be surprisingly right.

Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) is coach/player for a pitiful little minor league hockey team called the Charlestown Chiefs. The Chiefs are constantly losing their games and their fans, and the unscrupulous manager of the team (Strother Martin) is even thinking of selling the team ever since it was announced that the local plant is closing down. The Chiefs decide to pick themselves up and turn things around, beginning with the recruiting of a trio of players/brothers, the Hansons. The Hanson have thick glasses and plays with toy cars; Dunlop loses all hope for them until he actually makes them play and sees that they are savages on the ice. He instructs the team to act like the Hanson; punch, kick, crosscheck and generally beat the living crap out of the other team.

The film sounds and sometimes unfolds like very other sports movie ever made; it’s true that there are clichés here, but clichés and sports movies go hand in hand. Besides, the movie avoids the biggest cliché of them all; it’s the final game, it’s tied 2-2… when suddenly the best player gets hurt. Who’ll save the game? Why, the fat/anti-social/clumsy/etc. guy no one suspected was even able to skate! It’s refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t pander to the lowest common denominator in the way the story unfolds.

The script is another thing; it’s cheerfully, realistically lowbrow macho stuff. The film is packed with profanity and misogynistic comments, which is all the more surprising considering that a woman wrote the film! It’s never crude or tasteless, however; you get the feeling that this is really the way it happens. The female characters, although spoken of in a condescending manner by the macho characters, are actually much better developed than usual. The dialogue is the real star of this film, however, with quotable lines galore.

What’s even more interesting about the film is the atmosphere conveyed. The fact that the film was made smack-dab in the middle of the cheesiest part of the cheesiest decade helps, but the film has this distinct feeling of dinginess that works completely in favor of the film. You can almost smell the hockey gloves (and anyone who’s smelled a pair of hockey gloves that’s been stewing for three weeks in sweat can tell you that it’s a smell that’s hard to forget), feel the cheap arena benches and generally convey the feelings well.

Another contributing factor to this atmosphere is the cast. It’s composed of seasoned Hollywood veterans (Newman, Martin), actually hockey players (Guido Tenesi, Michael Ontkean who by the time Slap Shot came around was a full-blown actor, however) and people who’d never acted before and never acted much after (the Hanson Brothers). This whole motley crew attitude dispels many of the genre stereotypes. Newman (in a performance Pauline Kael called his best ever) is superb here; he ably weaves pathos and scoundrel charm into the character. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Newman; he has plenty of charm but seemed to be playing the same role for much of the 60’s and 70’s. This performance differs, perhaps because Newman is cast in a bit of a loser part. The supporting cast is superb as well; although it’s mostly populated with unknown faces and character actors, there’s no one here that doesn’t fit right in. I was especially surprised to see actor/improv judge/tennis commentator/Québec entertainer extraordinaire Yvan Ponton as one of the players.

As far as hockey movies go, Slap Shot is probably the best one out there (though, to be honest, the competition is pretty lame… Mystery, Alaska anyone?). That doesn’t mean that clichés are going to vanish, however; since nearly all sports film are built solely on clichés, it’s rather easy to see what works and what doesn’t. The entire subplot about the selling of the team is terrible; it even culminates with an evil rich woman who owns the team and doesn’t care about the love of the game and blah blah blah…

Slap Shot is a staple of ‘best sports movie’ lists; you’d think that with all the hicks and crotch-scratching, beer-bellied construction workers who worship the flick, it’d be much more stupid. It turns out the movie is a hilarious and entertaining flick that has its heart in the right place. Who’da thunk it?



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening