"That's a nice-a donut."
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Slap Shot (1977)
In the opening scene of George Roy Hill's Slap Shot, a hockey player gives a TV interview in which he demonstrates several dangerous, penalty-enforced actions in the game of hockey such as high-sticking, hooking, slashing, and spearing. The humorous display gives just a brief taste of things to come in a wild, often outrageous, satire about the world of professional ice hockey and its dedicated fans. One might imagine the movie as sort of a redheaded stepchild cross between Caddyshack and Major League, though both later films surely drew some inspiration from this cult hit.
Paul Newman teamed up with his favorite director once again as Reggie Dunlop, an aging player-coach of the small-town minor league hockey Charleston Chiefs. The team is horrible, attendance is abysmal, and the owner is threatening to disband the team after the season. Eventually a threesome of nerdy eyeglass wearing, look-alike brothers (who literally packed their suitcases with toys) join the team. They are the Hanson brothers and what they know and love is hockey. More to the point, they love playing dirty hockey. Soon enough Reggie is encouraging the Hansons and other players on the team to play aggressive and rough and attendance begins to skyrocket. And the team starts winning. Not a game goes by without bloodied noses and uniforms, and we even witness a crowd brouhaha that bested the infamous Ron Artest incident by more than 25 years. The amazing thing is that many elements in the movie are based on actual events.
The Hanson brothers steal every scene they are in. Their raw, unabashed passion for the game is a shameless delight to watch and shows how someone could get so caught up in the sport. They, along with the many funny-looking villains on opposing teams that the Chiefs play, perfectly exemplify your stereotypical hockey goons. These are the brutes that are often on the teams not so much for their puck handling, passing, shooting, or perhaps defensive skills, but solely to give beatings and to scare the living daylights out of other players.
For better or worse though, other than Reggie, there is very little character development in Slap Shot. Most of the players and bloodthirsty fans are little more than vulgar, soulless cretins. The language spewing out of mouths would make a sailor blush, and the putdowns and trash talk come fast and furious. Make no mistake, this is not intended to be a muckraking indictment on hockey. Rather it serves as a fun, crowd-pleasing joyride where nobody in the game is left unmarred by jokes - not the players, the management, the fans, the reporters, or even the players' significant others. Just think of the title: Slap Shot or slap stick? Even the soundtrack seems to be a joke. It starts off with a then-current array of 70s pop hits, and then dovetails into a curious, repetitive use of "Right Back Where We Started From" by Maxine Nightingale, which seems to be totally out of sync with the theme of hockey and violence.
But this isn't supposed to be serious, this is hockey. Oldtime hockey. And it could almost make a non-Canuck take interest in it.
The Verdict: B-.
Michael Bentley 9:07 AM
Archives
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
|
|
|
|
