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Slap Shot
Four years after collaborating on the Best Picture Oscar winner The Sting, Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill reunited for Slap Shot, a gloriously raunchy 1977 comedy that combines seriously black humor , over the top slapstick, and surprisingly three-dimensional characters, delivering consistently delicious entertainment executed by a winning cast.
Newman stars as Reggie Dunlop, the aging player/coach of a fourth rate Federal League hockey team called the Charlestown Chiefs who haven't been filling arenas for quite awhile and are in danger of being disbanded. In an effort to save the team and his own career, Reggie decides that the way to get fans back in the seats is for the team to get down and dirty on the ice, which puts Reggie in direct conflict with an idealistic rookie named Ned (Michel Ontkean). Reggie also decides the way to boost the morale of the team is by starting a rumor that the team might be purchased for a franchise in Florida.
Off the ice, Reggie is still desperately in love with his wife (Jennifer Warren), who he is separated from because she loves him but hates hockey. Ned is also having marital troubles with his icy and bitter spouse (Lindsey Crouse), who actually begins to catch Reggie's eye. This complicated triangle actually is the inspired hook to the outrageous finale of this one of a kind comedy.
Oscar winning screenwriter Nancy Dowd (Coming Home) has provided a rowdy and sexy story that's rich with outrageous characters, sexual debauchery and enough cinematic testosterone to fill three or four sports-themed movies. This movie provides consistent hilarity throughout without ever straying from realism, thanks primarily to characters who are funny because they are so human.
George Roy Hills's direction supplies just the right amount of breeziness that the comedy requires while providing a semblance of discipline to his cast. Paul Newman embraces a very welcome change of pace here and seems to have a ball doing it. I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed watching Newman this much. Strother Martin, who starred with Newman in Cool Hand Luke, also takes advantage of a change of pace as the Chiefs' greasy manager. A minor comedy classic that has never really gotten the attention it deserved.
Four years after collaborating on the Best Picture Oscar winner The Sting, Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill reunited for Slap Shot, a gloriously raunchy 1977 comedy that combines seriously black humor , over the top slapstick, and surprisingly three-dimensional characters, delivering consistently delicious entertainment executed by a winning cast.
Newman stars as Reggie Dunlop, the aging player/coach of a fourth rate Federal League hockey team called the Charlestown Chiefs who haven't been filling arenas for quite awhile and are in danger of being disbanded. In an effort to save the team and his own career, Reggie decides that the way to get fans back in the seats is for the team to get down and dirty on the ice, which puts Reggie in direct conflict with an idealistic rookie named Ned (Michel Ontkean). Reggie also decides the way to boost the morale of the team is by starting a rumor that the team might be purchased for a franchise in Florida.
Off the ice, Reggie is still desperately in love with his wife (Jennifer Warren), who he is separated from because she loves him but hates hockey. Ned is also having marital troubles with his icy and bitter spouse (Lindsey Crouse), who actually begins to catch Reggie's eye. This complicated triangle actually is the inspired hook to the outrageous finale of this one of a kind comedy.
Oscar winning screenwriter Nancy Dowd (Coming Home) has provided a rowdy and sexy story that's rich with outrageous characters, sexual debauchery and enough cinematic testosterone to fill three or four sports-themed movies. This movie provides consistent hilarity throughout without ever straying from realism, thanks primarily to characters who are funny because they are so human.
George Roy Hills's direction supplies just the right amount of breeziness that the comedy requires while providing a semblance of discipline to his cast. Paul Newman embraces a very welcome change of pace here and seems to have a ball doing it. I can't remember the last time I've enjoyed watching Newman this much. Strother Martin, who starred with Newman in Cool Hand Luke, also takes advantage of a change of pace as the Chiefs' greasy manager. A minor comedy classic that has never really gotten the attention it deserved.