Best movie of this year hands down!

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Fierce and unapologetic, helmed by a tough mother like George Roy Hill and scripted by a woman (yeah!), this is a hockey movie for those who love hockey and also those who have no idea what hockey is much about aside from the fights- and believe me there are lots and lots and lots of fights here. When it ended my wife (who has become a hockey fanatic over the past few years) commented on how it's a movie where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: it's not a terribly quotable film, but you leave having gone through a full experience.Slap shot is grimy and sometimes very sleazy, and with the exception of Harry S Truman from Twin speaks, the Chiefs follow coach/player Paul Newmans lead: we got to get people seeing this team again and win some (bleep) games, so he goes for a sort of nihilistic approach: screw it! Get in fights! Rile up the refs! Get the audience involved! Then maybe the team won't be folded and shut down by the owner but rather sold to some Floridian.There even is an arc for Newmans character somewhere in the midst of what is a precursor to Animal House, a raucously anarchic studio comedy, only they're out of college and working class dudes who don't mind getting some teeth knocked out or getting a lip sewn up post (or dying) game-play. It's extremely slight though and if anything the players overall desire to get the hell out of their current state (i.e. they try to play 'old fashioned' hockey without uh violence and then when they hear from blustery p'd-off old Strother Martin there are NHL scouts in the stands, that's all that registers from the managers motivational speech so BACK TO THE CREAMING THOSE BASTARDS!) makes it that much funnier.There are stretches here where the laughs aren't plenty - it's much a 70s movie that way - but much of this is so hysterically spot on because it is all about behavior. Sure, the players on their bus (plus some local girls following on another bus) mooning some angry rival team onlookers is one thing, and that can be funny. But Hill is smart as a director to let so much of it be about the personalities of these players - those three brother goons who play with their electric train set and seem more like one entity with three heads and pairs of glasses are a prime example - and also how Newman does a lot with just a look or a reaction, how he interacts with his friends girlfriend as she drives at top speeds in her van, how he is both 'don't give a f***' but giving a f*** at the same time for what counts.Did I mention how wonderful Newman is here? Kind of? I must say again that he is the heart and soul of this movie, a true star who continues (maybe at this point caps off) a career of anti establishment I-do-things-my-way forces of nature like the Hustler and Cool Hand Luke. He can be brash and crude as this guy, but damn is he charming and clever and a character only a complete stiff upper lipped being couldn't get behind.Slap Shot is a great comedy for the reason that we as the audience see all the truth that is there, in this case the dirty, foul mother and scabrous lives of (semi) professional hockey players, and that they are not in on the joke of themselves. And if my wife was somewhat correct that on a first viewing its not the most quotable thing ever, there's a constant energy to nearly every scene where the comedy is big and bold and brutal and unapologetic. I love that kind of comedy, and in a blue collar 70s milieu that is deep down, at the end of it all, political too (working class vs the rich, a town closing a plant so jobs gone, how will they go to hockey games, etc).

I recommend people read "Hilarious, oddly influential dark sports comedy" (ggh6; 27 July 2001). Also, "Funny, cynical and irreverent" (JohnRouseMerriottChard, 27 September 2008); "Enjoyable romp" (Big Neil-2, 20 July 2002) and "...a hockey game broke out (Gary M. James; 8 May 2001)."Slap Shot" is a very complex movie. It works very well as a sports comedy that that can seen in a party setting. For many people, that is all it needs to be.I really like how it looks. The extensive use of natural lighting, the grainy quality of the film is appealing. I also admire George Roy Hill's visual style. There are a number of interesting compositions.The opening credits begin in a cutaway section of what was previously the blue square of an American flag. The finish concludes with a parade for the Charleston Chiefs. The Chiefs win using disreputable tactics. It is hard to deny that Slap Shot is making a statement about the falsity of American life; i.e., Americana.Then there is the homophobic quality (which Gary James mentions in his 8 May 2001 review). If one reads between the lines, Slap Shot can be viewed as an out-of-the-closet statement for Paul Newman. (If not Newman, then his character, Reg Dunlap.) Contrary to what many have written, Newman's Reg Dunlap does not originate the idea that if the Chiefs become a goon-squad it will bring in a financially depressed crowd. Reg Dunlap is a classic weather vane. What he thinks this minute is determined by who is around him. He cannot decide which woman he wants. He also repeatedly contradicts himself about what style of hockey he wants his team to play. (He even tells the police he thinks the Hanson brothers should be locked up, then works for their release.) Given the transient nature of Reg Dunlap's opinions, and the clearly identifiable scenes where Dunlap encounters the subject of homosexuality, it seems easy enough to interpret these scenes as Newman (or Dunlap) acknowledging that he has a gay impulse, regardless of what Dunlap says about homosexuality in scenes where he is more in control.Slap Shot depicts not not just the corruption of hockey, but also with American society. We are made to believe both are acceptable. Like the team's fanatical boosters, we are rooting for the Chiefs to win by using disreputable tactics.There is a powerful sense of indoctrination in Slap Shot. It does make the audience welcome thuggishness and the breakdown of civil society. (If the CIA made it that would explain why.) I laughed from start to finish, and the introduction of the Hanson brothers to ice is a riot. Slap Shot is amusing. There are many layers of interest beyond the mirth.

This profane comedy sport classic, is really a slap in the face, if you happen to be in the warring path of the Charleston Chiefs, a loser ice hockey team. Newman again owns the movie as Reggie Dunlop, the coach of the team, a true supporters who'd back any of his players, if in a rut. Only out there on the cold rink, there's more pucks hitting the skin of faces of the opposing team, instead of disks. Newman loves to provoke the opposing players with personal insults, one of them, involving doing one of the player's wives. The chiefs will use any violent or under the belt tactic to win. One of them, Brandon (Michael Ontkeon) Newman's right hand man, isn't comfortable with this play either, describing one of their shots as "A bulls..t win". Yes, it's dirty out there on the playing field, more blood, than victory. Slapshot is a lot of fun, but also the film, has a really good script working for it. The opening scene with a nervous Iranian player, being interviewed, yes one of the chiefs, will crack you up, for starters. The real stealers of the film come later, a twin brother trio, who you don't want to judge by the electric car set they bring, giving an angry Newman some great lines. Basically this team is being sold down the river. They're on the way out, hey but the bad news bears quit. No. Same moral applies here. I loved the scene with Newman confronting a woman sponsor, who has a change of heart, telling him, the games too violent. You should see how Newman responds, which makes for one of the great savoring moments of the film. Newman even has a player on his team, named killer, (Jerry Houser) a lot of fun. Incidentally Houser played Marsha Brady's husband in The Brady's Comeback Reunion, only here, he's another player, you don't want to rub up the wrong way. We also have two young twin groupies with big, you know, an older randy player, another of the chiefs eating them up with his eyes, behind stinking beer breath. Another player that's a plus here, was Ontkeon's wife, who's pi...d off at hubby, cause he's sticking his, you know what, in every woman. You should see her in a rage, especially when she's behind the wheel. Her and her bigger shaggy dog, end up crashing at Newman's. One thing certain, I could see a mile off, was that Ontkeon was eventually gonna slug mate, Newman, who ends up smiling, glad he took the initiative. Another Mitchell confession: Slapshot is my favorite sport movie. Why they brought a sequel out over thirty years later I'll never know, even though I've never seen it. It even marks the return of that same deadly trio. Believe it. This film was just so enjoyable for some reason. Newman, as well as being such a fine actor, has one of the most killer handsome smiles, I've ever seen, a smile that launched such an acting great, who like many other greats, are no longer with us. Highly recommended for any sport movie fan. Almost a must see.

Despite getting up in years, foul-mouthed ice hockey coach Paul Newman (as Reggie "Reg" Dunlop) still plays with his young team. Unfortunately, the "Charlestown Chiefs" are big losers. Then, they start to play rough. Violent antics end their losing streak and Mr. Newman's brawling icemen are suddenly bruising for the championship. They're also filling the stands with blood-thirsty fans...With outrageous comedy, writer Nancy Dowd and director George Roy Hill capture the sport well; there is a lot of truth here, satirical and otherwise. Newman receives his main support (more or less) from closet exhibitionist Michael Ontkean (as Ned Braden) and their possibly gay manager Strother Martin (as Joe McGrath). As a boozing neglected wife, Lindsay Crouse (as Lily) is a stand out. Especially noteworthy are the hilarious "Hansons" (Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson & David Hanson).******** Slap Shot (2/25/77) George Roy Hill ~ Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Strother Martin, Lindsay Crouse