Slap Shot

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Dunlop: You cheap son-of-a-bitch, those guys [The Hansen Brothers] are retards!
McGrath: Now, now, I got a good price on those boys.
Dunlop: They brought their fuckin' toys!
McGrath: I'd rather have them playing with their toys then playing with themselves.
Dunlop: They're too dumb to play with themselves!
McGrath: (snickering) That reminds me. I was coachin' in Omaha when Eddie Shore sends me this guy who's a terrible masturbator, couldn't keep his hands to himself. He would get deliberate penalties so he could be in the penalty box by himself, and damn! if he wouldn't (makes hand motions of masturbation) na-na-nana-na-na...
Dunlop: You sick fuck! (Walks away in disgust)
McGrath: (snickering, continues to make hand motions) na-na-nana-na-na


Slap Shot is a comedy movie released in 1977 that has earned a sort of cult status among hockey fans and is recognized as the best hockey movie of all time by no less an authority than The Hockey News.

The Charlestown Chiefs are a minor league hockey team in the Federal League. With a losing record, a lack of popularity, and the fact that the town's mill - a main local job provider - is closing, the team seems doomed to be folded after the season. But then the team picks up the Hanson Brothers, three child-like young men that play the roughest hockey the team has ever seen. Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman), a veteran player and the team's coach decides to retool the team after the brothers after their fighting and overly aggressive style of play excites the Chiefs' fans. This decision splits the team between players who enjoy some good rough-housing on the ice, and those that prefer the "clean" style of playing.

Despite their slow rise in popularity, the team is still meant to be folded, and in order to keep his players' spirits up, Dunlop starts a rumor that the team has a buyer somewhere in Florida. As the Chiefs continue winning and gaining fans, Dunlop blackmails the team's stingy GM, Joe McGrath (Strother Martin) to tell him who the Chiefs' mysteriously unknown owner is, in order to convince them not to fold the team.

The script was written by Nancy Dowd, whose brother Ned played for the Johnstown Jets, a team that included the guys who would play the Hanson Brothers in the movie. The director, George Roy Hill, also directed Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Tropes used in Slap Shot include:
  • Beware the Nice and Silly Ones: The Hanson Brothers have child like personalities, are fans of Speed Racer and treat their coach and team with respect. Much of it even convinces Dunlop that their team is doomed to fail and even bench them. However when out of options, Dunlop tells them "Show us what you got." They perform the Catholic Cross and go out demonstrating their rough enforcer skills, both impressing and terrifying the team. This trope actually pays off when Dunlop suggests they retool their team based on the brothers.
  • Big Game: For the league championship. Subverted by the very unusual ending to the Big Game.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: The F word itself is mentioned at least 60 times throughout the movie, among other swears. Hey, it's the language of the locker room.
  • Fan Service: A topless scene with Melinda Dillon for no particular reason.
  • Man Child: The Hanson Brothers (Reggie to the General Manager: "You cheap bastard, those guys are retards!")
  • Mooning: The entire team plus their followers do this out the windows of their vehicles when they get to one town that objects to their presence, and manage to stun the crowd to silence.
  • Music at Sporting Events: "Don't ever play 'Lady of Spain' again!"
  • Noodle Incident: One of the notorious players returning to hockey for the final "has been living in semi-seclusion in Moosejaw, Saskachewan ever since the famed Denny Pratt Tragedy."
  • Opposing Sports Team: Inverted in that the protagonists are a down-and-out hockey team who suddenly hit the big time when they recruit three brothers who teach them the value of violent tactics deliberately designed to hurt the other team. This ends with them facing a team that's a conglomeration of all the most violent players their opponents can find, with no one making any attempt to play the game as they just try to kick each others' asses instead.
  • Outdated Outfit: The outfits in this film are very, very 1970s, to an embarrassing extent.
  • Precision F-Strike: Though the Hanson Brothers are brutal, they at least know when to shut up and when others should too. One referee thought that the singing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" was the perfect opportunity to berate them for the brawl that had happened during the warmups.

Referee:I got my eye on the three of you. You pull one thing, you're out of this game. I run a clean game here. I have any trouble here, I'll suspend ya.
Steve Hanson: I'm listening to the FUCKING SONG!!!!

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