Slap Shot (1977)
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A struggling minor league hockey team resorts to extreme violence to gain popularity in a declining factory town.
The story
In the fictional Rust Belt city of Charlestown, Pennsylvania, the impending closure of a steel mill threatens the town's minor league ice hockey team, the Charlestown Chiefs. The team is struggling with a losing season, incompetent players, and hostile spectators. Player-coach Reggie Dunlop and his players have no other employment prospects. To save money, the team's manager signs the young, immature Hanson Brothers. After noticing that fans respond positively to violence, Dunlop unleashes the Hansons to brutalize opposing teams with on-ice brawling. He also leaks a fabricated story about a potential sale to motivate the team, causing games to devolve into bench-clearing brawls.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In Charlestown, Pennsylvania, the Charlestown Chiefs face a losing season and a town in economic decline due to a steel mill closure. Manager Joe McGrath signs the immature Hanson Brothers, whom player-coach Reggie Dunlop uses to initiate a strategy of extreme on-ice violence and brawling to boost attendance. While the strategy works, top scorer Ned Braden refuses to participate in the violence. Dunlop attempts to manipulate Braden by exploiting his marital issues, even encouraging his wife Lily to leave him. Dunlop eventually learns that the team owner, Anita McCambridge, intends to fold the team as a tax write-off. Believing it to be his last chance, Dunlop decides to abandon the violence for the championship game, but the team is crushed in the first period. When McGrath reveals that NHL scouts are watching, the team switches back to brawling. During the final game, Braden performs a striptease on the ice to break up a fight, leading to the Syracuse team's disqualification and the Chiefs' victory. In the aftermath, Dunlop finds out his wife Francine is leaving for New York, but he eventually secures a move to Minnesota with his team, where Lily joins him.
- First release year
- 1977
- Runtime (minutes)
- 123
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- George Roy Hill
- Writers
- Nancy Dowd · writer
- Cast and characters
- Paul Newman · Reggie Dunlop; Michael Ontkean · Ned Braden; Lindsay Crouse · Lily; Jerry Houser · Killer Carlson; Jennifer Warren · Francine; Strother Martin · Joe McGrath
- Genres
- sports comedy
- Themes
- violence in sports; economic decline; masculinity
- Tone and mood
- violent; cynical; sentimental; boisterous
- Premise and plot tags
- sports; comedy; minor league hockey; factory town
- Source material / true-story basis
- Experiences of Nancy Dowd's brother Ned Dowd playing minor league hockey in the 1970s.
- Reception
- Mixed reviews upon release, but later became a cult classic and received positive critical reevaluation.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 87% · review count: 38; Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: 100 · review count: 9
- Awards and nominations
- Hochi Film Award · Best International Film · win
- Production trivia
- The Hanson Brothers are based on three actual brothers: Jeff, Steve, and Jack Carlson.; The character of Dave 'Killer' Carlson is based on then-Jets player Dave "Killer" Hanson.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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