Dated, but still a good watch.

Rating: Null/10 (26 July 2002)

In the history of cinema, there has been a lot of movies based on the sports of football and baseball. It wasn't until 1977 when a hockey movie came into existence. Although hockey movies are still a rarity, you can't fault this one for that reason; after all, one of Hollywood's greatest actors is the star.
Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the player-coach of a low minor league hockey team called the Charlestown Chiefs. His team is in danger of folding because the owner is cheap, attendance is low, and the local mill in the city is closing down. Also, there's some apathy on his squad (unhappy marriages, despair, unhappiness with the management) as well. Along with a poor record, the team decides to change its image by relying on a violent, brutal, bloody brand of hockey that would make the Broad Street Bullies proud and scare off the Jaromir Jagrs of the world.
There are plenty of colorful characters here, such as Denis the goalie, a French-Canadian who speaks in hilarious broken English, and Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean), a Princeton graduate who's on the team so he can still play hockey despite the objections of his wife. Of course, the most famous of the outcasts are The Hanson brothers, three goons who introduce that brand of hockey that turns around the fortunes of The Chiefs.
The acting is very good and the story is interesting. However, the humour isn't as good as it was in 1977, it hasn't dated well; but there are still some good bits, especially the hockey games, It's a bit more darker, but a feel-good movie all the same. The movie was the first to have an script with liberal profanity used normally, sexually, and scatalogically, which made the movie unpopular with critics, but it didn't deter people at the box office. Still, not bad.
The 25th anniversary edition of Slap Shot has commentary with The Hanson brothers, a special scenes section that features sections of the movies that feature the Hansons, as well as the normal one found on DVDs, a trailer, and a short interview featuring the Hanson brothers. There's a sequel that I might never bother to see, but at least it didn't tone down its content the way Major League did for its sequels; it's rated R by the MPAA.