Such a frustrating disappointment

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Best movie ever!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Like "Bull Durham," the sport takes second fiddle to a bunch of intrigue. It's about aging players, greedy owners, manipulation, on and on. Paul Newman decides he has to take action to make sure his team manages to draw. In the small city where they play, there is a mill. The people who work at the mill are the fans. The mill is going to close, which will render the place a ghost town. This moves into an anything-for-a-laugh hockey movie with some totally unforgettable characters. When the Carlson brothers show up and goon hockey starts, we are amazed at the way the whole game becomes nearly surreal. Don't take this seriously.

Slapshot from 1977 is one of the best hockey movies ever. It strikes a chord with me because I associate hockey with tremendous skill and excitement as well as respect and community spirit. At heart, Slapshot is about those same values. The storyline is a team's struggle to survive when the closure of a steel mill threatens the existence of the town and its hockey team. The 1970's obsession with goon style hockey offers the players hope that they can use such tactics to save their team and their jobs. The team leader Michael Ontkean and the player-coach Paul Newman are at odds with each other over the strategy. Both have strained relationships with their wives because of hockey. There are Canadian elements with games against Canadian teams and stereotypes of French Canadian hockey players. Paul Newman drinks Canadian Club. The Canuck touches are clearly to draw interest and chuckles from Canadian audiences. I thought the Hanson brothers were great with their thick horn-rimmed glasses and geeky behaviour, who are treated as "retards" but inspire everyone with their skill and enthusiasm. Other touches are the surprise scene at the end by Michael Ontkean. The plaid clothes and hair rugs herald back to 1970's fashions. The whole thing is totally dated but this snapshot movie from the 1970's is part of its charm.

Hockey is my favourite sport to watch, pretty much the only sport i really watch and am into. I love reading and watching movies about it.Slap Shot is the classic hockey comedy. Directed by George Roy Hill and starring Paul Newman, the film follows a minor league hockey team known as the Charlestown Chiefs who after hearing they will be folded by the end of the season decide to play more violently/dirty in order to attract more popularity.The film has some very funny moments, great performances and is a must-watch if you're a fan of ice hockey or even a fan of sports films in general.This film, Goon and Puck Hogs are the only R-rated comedies about ice hockey I can think of.The sequel to this film is nowhere near as good and I haven't even bothered watching the third film as its Rated PG and seems to be more like mighty ducks, even though I do love the Hanson Brothers.9/10

A minor league hockey team tries to salvage its losing season while dealing with the possibility of being sold. It is not clear what this film is meant to be. It's advertised as a comedy, but there's hardly anything funny here. There are endless scenes of home and road games that do little to propel the narrative. Newman is the player-coach, although he's too old to be playing and is not shown doing any coaching. The characters are undeveloped and uninteresting. This is inexplicably regarded as one of the best sports films. Director Hill is reunited with Newman, but the magic of "Butch Cassidy" and "The Sting" is missing here; perhaps if Robert Redford played Newman's teammate...