slap shot the movie reviewAnyone else play ice hockey when they were a kid? I couldn’t resist doing a Slap Shot the movie review, as I was an ice hockey goalie back in the day!

Let’s face it, any movie with Paul Newman in is usually worth watching! My all-time favorite Newman movies are Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and The Sting.  Slap Shot comes in as a totally tongue-in-cheek look at ice hockey and has some hilarious bits in it!  Interestingly, George Roy Hill directed all of them!

Slap Shot the Movie Review

For starters, here’s the original, official trailer for this 1977 movie:

Slap Shot had mixed reviews on release, but it also became a cult classic and loved by many sports fans.

The film was written by Nancy Dowd and she based it on her brother’s brief career in a minor league hockey team.  In fact, her brother is even given a cameo role as the dreaded enforcer Ogie Ogilthorpe.  In his playing days Ned Dowd was a player on the Johnstown Jets of the North American Hockey League.

The movie is full of choice language, which apparently is what Dowd heard while following her brother in the minor leagues.  This is what gave it the “R” rating and is very probably why you’ll never see it, in it’s uncut version, on TV.  Dowd even asked her brother to go as far as setting up a tape recorder in the Jets’ locker room and on team bus rides!

Slap Shot the Movie Review Extra Facts

  • All the violent scenes were based on actual incidents involving the Jets.  In the mid-’70s, there were some brutal teams, eg, the Philadelphia Flyers were known as the “Broad Street Bullies”
  • The movie also accurately depicts the boredom and monotony of being a minor league player
  • And how bored the wives were too, as Swoozie Furtz said  “I only drink in the afternoon. Or before a game. Or when Johnny’s away.”
  • The audience of the ’70s wasn’t ready for Slap Shot, but many of the parts of the movie the initial audience took exception to, are the parts we love today!
  • Hill was insistent on the stars of the movie being able to skate, which meant that Al Pacino, Nick Nolte, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Tommy Lee Jones, Kurt Russell and Richard Gere did not pass their auditions.
  • Rolling Stone describes Slap Shot as rowdy, raunchy, hilarious, absurd, deeply depressing and profoundly human.  Which sums it up to be honest!
  • Slap Shot comes in at #7 in the Rolling Stone Top 30 sports movies of all time

If you used to play hockey as a kid and you have room in your man cave, check out Tim’s post on the Super Chexx Hockey game!

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Lewis Gordon is a successful businessman living in Boston, Massachusetts. When he’s not working, he enjoys travelling – especially tasting other cuisines, scuba diving, watching and playing soccer. Lewis also has a love of dogs and is the proud owner of an English Setter.

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