Title: Slap Shot
Release Date: 25 February 1977
Director: George Roy Hill
Production Co: Kings Road Entertainment
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Sport
Rating: ****
Another classic comedy that I never got around to seeing until now. With the closing of the local factory, the Charlestown Chiefs are likely to fold at the end of the season. Aging player-coach Reg Dunlop (Paul Newman) carries out a series of Machiavellian schemes to increase the teams value so that it will be sold to another owner. This primarily involves having his team use goon tactics, which successfully draws in the crowds and helps them win games. Concurrently, Reg also plots to reunite with his ex-wife and reconcile the strained relationship of the Chiefs’ top scorer and his alcoholic wife.
This movie exudes the 1970s in the clothing, music, sexual liberation, and a carefree attitude in a world falling apart. There are a lot of great gags and lines with much of the humor coming from silly characters like the Quebecois goalkeeper and the uber-violent (and extremely dumb) Hanson brothers. But there’s also a gravitas underlining the film that keeps it from being just a screwball comedy although not enough to turn it into a “dramedy.” The ending of the film is utterly bizarre, but it it’s appropriate to the movie.
Panorama of the Mountains 