Slapshot: Humor in Hockey

Slapshot ranks as one of the all-time greatest sports movies. It is the perfect mix of humor, hockey brutality on ice, and Paul Newman's signature charm of course. George Roy Hill, director of the brilliant con-artist tale The Sting, crafts a memorable piece of hockey drama with this side-splitting romp.

Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the player-coach of a failing minor league hockey team. In the face of abysmal attendance at the games and the fact that the local steel mill is closing, it is clear that something needs to be done or the hockey team will fold. Management brings in three goons to ramp up the violence and draw a larger audience, launching the team higher than they would have thought possible. However, as the players soon discover, the game itself has followed their momentum and become a sideshow act of thugs battling it out under the organ music. Dunlop realizes too late that he has created a mockery of the "old time hockey" he played throughout his career.

The casting is done with tact and the resemblance of the actors to actual hockey players is uncanny. The gruff, hairy, foul-mouthed group deals out hilarious banter both on and off the ice and creates a whimsical unity. There's the perverted defenseman who can't keep quiet about "jugs," the goalie who's allergic to the very air in the rink, and the handsome goal-scorer who can't stand the violent direction the game is taking. Memorable dialogue ensues, especially at one golden moment when a defenseman shouts "I'm gonna flash 'em Joe!" The stars of Slapshot however, are the three biggest goons of them all. The Hanson brothers are a fury and a joy to behold, as the bespectacled, long-haired goofballs crush any hapless player in their path.

The situational comedy bits in Slapshot are laugh-out-loud funny, particularly when Newman's character tries to incite violence on the ice to get the crowd going. Blood hits the ice, goalies' wives are called lesbians, and a hilariously brutal hockey final is our dessert at the end. It's a highly enjoyable ride as we cruise on the old "iron lung" of a bus with the team while they drink beer and play poker. All throughout, we're treated to the odd family of a team as they go from pathetic to notorious in the space of an hour. Fun, silly, and endearing, Slapshot is a sports film for the ages.