Film #125 - Slap Shot (1977)
Slap Shot is part of the great 1970s sports film tradition of showing the seedy underbelly of the sports world, this time through small-town hockey.
It stars Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, player/coach for the Charleston Chiefs, a minor league team that is down on its luck, as factory closings have diminished attendance. When he gets wind of the fact that the team is going to be shut down at the end of the season, he pulls out all the stops to try and save the team. (Of course, it’s the 1970s, so he fails.)
The main focus of Reggie’s plan (and one of the themes of the film) is violence. Reggie unleashes the Chiefs’ three new players, the Hanson Brothers (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson & David Hanson)*, on an unsuspecting public. Their peculiar blend of skill and extreme violence energizes the fan base. On top of that, they start actually winning games. This doesn’t please star player Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) who thinks everything is degenerating into a circus. Things come to a head as the Chiefs play for the championship against a who’s who of minor league hockey’s biggest thugs.
As I referred to earlier, sports films of the 1970s tended to focus on the negative side. From North Dallas Forty to Rollerball, there was little in the way of the joy of competition on display. I mean, if The Bad News Bears is what passes for a feel-good sports film, things have gone off-kilter. (Caddyshack would turn the tide in 1980.) Anyway, Slap Shot is very much in this vein. The players are mostly self-centered boobs who only care about getting in hits and scoring with groupies. Their personal lives are a mess of drugs, booze and infidelity and a hockey wife is shown to only have a shot at happiness once she gleefully tramps herself up.
But that stuff would only hurt the film if you took it all seriously, and you can’t. It’s all so over-the-top that it is impossible to take any of its social commentary to heart. But once you accept the fact that you aren’t watching reality, just an approximation, Slap Shot is immensely entertaining.
There’s certainly fun to be had from the team’s antics, particularly the Hansons, who revel in their calling to such a degree it almost seems inappropriate to criticize their violence. Reggie’s relentless pursuit of redemption is sad, but also inspiring in a sad way. You feel for him and want his pathetic little dreams to come true, even if just a little bit.
And regardless of the believability of the storyline, the actors invest it with all they’ve got. Newman is always trustworthy, but it’s still impressive the way he can get you to back the otherwise unlikeable Reggie. Michael Ontkean isn’t given enough to do, but plays the straight man well. And kudos to all the actors in smaller parts who populate the world and sell it so completely.
In the end, it’s not surprising that of all the 1970s sports films, Slap Shot is one of the few to still resonate today. The issues of the hardship of the sports life and the nature of fandom are still valid (although its sad how nasty things have gotten in the hihest levels compared to the minors depicted here). On top of its relevance, it is still very funny and entertaining. It’s just too bad the film’s owners had to sully its reputation with Slap Shot 2. I mean, a Baldwin? So sad. So sad.
* The plan apparently was for the Hansons to be played by three real-life brothers, Jeff, Steve & Jack, while Dave “Killer” Carlson would be played by Dave Hanson. See, Hanson plays Carlson, Carlsons play Hansons… Anyway, Jack got called up to play real hockey and Dave Hanson got moved over.