Slap Shot is a 1977 film starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean and is directed by George Roy Hill. It depicts a minor league hockey team who discover that violent play makes them heroes to their declining factory town.
Plot
The movie focuses on a fictional team called the Charlestown Chiefs , who are members of the fictional Federal League. The team, a perennial loser and in financial trouble due to mill closings in the town, is due to be folded at season's end. Reggie Dunlop, the veteran player-coach (played by Newman), has no idea who the owner of the team is.
Through the course of regular business, the team picks up the Hanson Brothers, violent goons with child-like mentalities. Coach Dunlop, perceiving them to be eccentric and unreliable, initially chooses not to play them. Finally, in a moment of desperation and passiveness, he brings the trio of thugs into the game to see what they can do. Their big open-ice hits and overly aggressive - bordering on homicidal - style of play is greatly praised by the fans in desperate need of something for which to cheer.
Dunlop, seeing the potential in this style of play, retools the team in the Hansons' image. Most of the other players - including Dave "Killer" Carlson (Jerry Houser) - take a liking to this, with the exception of Ned Braden (Ontkean), used to a clean, flashy style of play from his college days. Meanwhile, Braden's wife, Lily (Lindsay Crouse), has difficulty adjusting to the life of a hockey wife and finds a sympathizer in Reggie Dunlop's long-estranged wife Francine (played by Jennifer Warren).
As a means of keeping his team motivated, Dunlop plants a story (which is an outright lie) that the Chiefs are being sold to a prospective buyer in Florida, who would move the team out of Charlestown. Finally, Dunlop blackmails the team's stingy General Manager Joe McGrath (played by Strother Martin) to tell him who the Chiefs' owner is. After finally meeting the owner (a widow living in a comfy suburb), she reveals to Reggie that she could easily sell the team now that he's turned them into winners, but that she won't, because she can make out better by folding the franchise and taking a tax write-off.
The whole idea turns around in the final playoff game when Reggie reveals to the players that he had been conning them; there is no buyer in Florida, the team is indeed folding, and most are about to play their last game. Reggie tells the players that if this is to be his last hockey game, he wants to go out with dignity and not like a goon. They all vow to play the game clean, going out playing good old-time hockey. However their vicious style of play down the stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs has provoked their final game opponents - the Syracuse Bulldogs - to put together the most infamous set of enforcers ever to disgrace a hockey rink, made up of legendary Federal League brawlers and a dreaded rookie goon, Ogie Ogilthorpe.
The clean playing Chiefs are out-matched and brutally battered by the Syracuse Bulldogs in first period, and in the locker room a furious McGrath tells the losing Chiefs that there are NHL scouts in the stands. The game then quickly degenerates into an on-ice slugfest. Suddenly, Ned Braden, who has been benched by Reggie Dunlop for not wanting to fight, spies his estranged wife Lily in the crowd, who has undergone a complete makeover by Francine and is wearing a sexy new dress and hairdo. He skates out to center ice and strips off his uniform - with the arena band getting into the act by playing "The Stripper". Suddenly, the teams stop fighting and stare in amazement at Braden's striptease. Syracuse captain Tim "Dr Hook" McCracken demands that the referee stop Braden. When the official refuses, McCracken sucker-punches the ref, causing the referee to declare a forfeit by the Bulldogs, giving the game - and the Federal League championship - to the Chiefs. The team celebrates by parading around the ice with the championship trophy, carried by a jockstrap-only-clad Braden.
It is revealed during a championship parade in Charlestown the following day that Reggie Dunlop has accepted a job as the coach of a new team, the Minnesota Nighthawks—and that he intends to bring all his Chief players with him to Minnesota. The film ends on this note, but given Reggie's past lies, viewers are left wondering if the Minnesota job is indeed real, or yet another Dunlop lie.
Cast
- Paul Newman - Reggie Dunlop (Charlestown Chiefs player/coach)
- Strother Martin - Joe McGrath (Chiefs GM)
- Michael Ontkean - Ned Braden (Chiefs player)
- Jennifer Warren - Francine Dunlop (Reggie's estranged wife)
- Lindsay Crouse - Lily Braden (Ned's wife)
- Jerry Houser - Dave 'Killer' Carlson (Chiefs player)
- Andrew Duncan - Jim Carr (Charlestown sportscaster)
- Jeff Carlson - Jeff Hanson (Chiefs player)
- Steve Carlson - Steve Hanson (Chiefs player)
- David Hanson - Jack Hanson (Chiefs player)
- Yvon Barrette - Denis Lemieux (Chiefs goalie)
- Allan F. Nicholls - Johnny Upton (Chiefs captain)
- Brad Sullivan - Morris Wanchuk (Chiefs player)
- Stephen Mendillo - Jim Ahern (Charlestown player)
- Yvan Ponton - Jean Guy Drouin (Chiefs player)
- Matthew Cowles - Charlie
- Kathryn Walker - Anita McCambridge (Chiefs owner)
- Melinda Dillon - Suzanne Hanrahan (Tommy Hanrahan's wife)
- M. Emmet Walsh - Dickie Dunn (Charlestown sportswriter)
- Swoosie Kurtz - Shirley Upton (Johnny's wife)
- Paul D'Amato - Tim "Dr. Hook" McCracken (Syracuse Bulldogs captain)
- Ronald L. Docken - Lebrun
- Guido Tenesi - Billy Charlebois (Chiefs player)
- Jean Rosario Tetreault - Bergeron
- Christopher Murney - Tommy Hanrahan (Long Island Ducks goalie)
- Myron Odegaard - Final Game Referee
- Blake Ball - Gilmore Tuttle (legendary Federal League goon)
- Ned Dowd - Ogie Ogilthorpe (notorious rookie Federal League goon)
- Gracie Head - Pam
- Nancy N. Dowd - Andrea
- Barbara L. Shorts - Bluebird
- Larry Block - Peterboro Referee
- Paul Dooley - Hyannisport Announcer
- Bruce Boudreau - Hyannisport player
- Mark Bousquet - Andre "Poodle" Lussier (legendary Federal League goon)
- Connie Madigan - Ross "Mad Dog" Madison (legendary Federal League goon)
- Joe Nolan - Clarence "Screaming Buffalo" Swamptown (legendary Federal League goon)
- Cliff Thompson - Walt Comisky (Chiefs' bus driver)
- Dan Belisle, Jr. - Stickboy
Development
The screenplay, by Nancy Dowd, is based in part on her brother Ned Dowd's experiences playing minor league hockey in the United States in the 1970s, during which time violence, especially in the low minors, was the selling point of the game.
At the time, Dowd was living in Los Angeles, when she got a call from her brother Ned, a member of the Johnstown Jets hockey team. Her brother gave her the bad news that the team was for sale. Dowd would move to the area and be inspired to write Slap Shot . It was filmed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and upstate New York (Utica Auditorium and the Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium in Syracuse).
Nancy Dowd (who also produced the film) used her brother Ned and a number of his Johnstown Jets teammates in Slap Shot , with Ned Dowd portraying Syracuse goon "Ogie Ogilthorpe". He later used the role to launch a career as a Hollywood character actor and producer. The characters of the "Hanson Brothers" are in fact based on three actual brothers, Jeff, Steve and Jack Carlson, who played with Ned Dowd on the Jets. The character of "Dave 'Killer' Carlson" is based on then-Jets player Dave "Killer" Hanson. Steve and Jeff Carlson played their Hanson brother counterparts in the film. Jack Carlson was originally scripted to appear in the film as the third brother, Jack, with Dave Hanson playing his film counterpart, "Dave 'Killer' Carlson". However by the time filming began, Jack Carlson had been called up by the Edmonton Oilers, then of the WHA to play in the WHA playoffs, so Dave Hanson moved into the role of "Jack Hanson", and actor Jerry Houser was hired for the role of "Killer Carlson".
Paul Newman, claiming that he swore very little in real life before the making of Slap Shot , said to Time magazine in 1984:
Newman also stated publicly that the most fun he ever had making a movie was on Slap Shot, as he had played the sport while young and was fascinated by the real players around him. He also said that playing Reggie Dunlop was one of his favorite roles.
Production notes
Washington Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau appears as an opposing player in one scene.
Slap Shot was translated in French as "Lancé Frappé" and is one of very few movies translated in the Quebec dialect and not in France or using a more 'international' French (although the film was also dubbed in France for French-speaking European audiences). Yvan Ponton and Yvon Barette (who played forward Jean-Guy Drouin and goaltender Denis Lemieux, the two French-Canadian players in the film) did their own translations. Heavy use of Quebec dialect and foul language has made this version of the film a cult classic in French Canada, where lines from the movie such as "Dave est magané" (Dave's a mess) and "Du hockey comme dans le temps" (Old Time Hockey) are common catch phrases.
The movie was filmed in (and loosely based around) Johnstown, Pennsylvania and utilized several players from the then-active North American Hockey League Johnstown Jets (the team for w
Hockey Canada - WAYNE GRETZKY FOUNDATION/FUTURE TEAM CANADA PROGRAM
• Team Canada jerseys and hockey bags bearing the Wayne Gretzky Foundation logo • Sticks • $1,999 to be used for team development activities (e.g. ice costs, special instruction ...
Hockey Canada - NR.016
Every player on each of the 13 teams will receive a Team Canada jersey, stick and a hockey bag bearing the Wayne Gretzky Foundation and Hockey Canada logos.
Coach-mate board and Bag Special - Hockey Clipboards / Tableaux de ...
Team Canada Jerseys / Chandails d'Équipe Canada (4) Hockey Clipboards / Tableaux de hockey (8) ... Purchase the Coach-mate board AND carrying bag for the ...
Hockey - Bags - Hespeler Junior Team Canada Bag 08 -SportChek.ca
Hockey equipment - Buy brand name hockey equipment, hockey apparel and hockey accessories at Sport Chek. Browse through a large selection of hockey skates, hockey apparel, hockey ...
Hockey Bags | Canadian Tire
Team Canada Wheeled Hockey Bag, Junior Product #83-0202-2. Read all reviews ... My Canadian Tire Store: Please provide your postal code to receive the best ...
Hockey Canada Headlines - News & Archives
• Team Canada jerseys and hockey bags bearing the Wayne Gretzky Foundation logo • Gloves • Sticks • $1,000 to be used for team development
Team Canada Wheeled Hockey Bag, Junior | Canadian Tire
Junior hockey equipment bag | Canadian Tire
eBay – Hockey-Team Canada, Fan Apparel Souvenirs and Sports Mem ...
Find Hockey-Team Canada, Fan Apparel Souvenirs and Sports Mem Cards Fan Shop items on eBay. ... NEW Team Canada Small Gym Sports Travel Duffel Bag
Hockey New Brunswick - Hockey Nouveau-Brunswick - Future Team Canada ...
• Team Canada jerseys and hockey bags bearing the Wayne Gretzky Foundation logo • Sticks • $1,999 to be used for team development activities (e.g. ice costs, special ...
Hockey Northwestern Ontario (HNO) - EMO PW A Team wins Future Team ...
Each player on each of the 13 winning teams will receive a Team Canada jersey, gloves, stick and a hockey bag bearing the Wayne Gretzky Foundation and Hockey Canada logos.