Slap Shot

When you talk about sports films the best ones are usually comedies, that's not to say that there aren't any sports dramas that are good, it's just that the comedies are better. Then when you break it down there isn't that many hockey films, but the few that there is this one tops the list. In an age where the paying audience covets brutality over skill, we are shown that with a little blood the world could be your oyster. When a fifth rate hockey team finds their future in question, their coach changes the game plan and turns the hometown and the sport on its ear. Paul Newman as the ageing coach works so well you believe that he has been playing the sport for years. Even with Newman's name as the draw, the true stars of this film are the Hanson brothers. Once the Hanson's are introduced you know there is going to be trouble, but when they take to the ice the real fun begins. Some of the action is so fast paced you have to watch it a second time just to see it again just to be sure of yourself of what happened.
This is one of those films from the seventies that looks a little dated with the cloths and cars, but once the action starts and the fun begins you completely forget how old the movie is. The fight scenes are the way I remember hockey from the seventies, some skill but a lot of blood. I know there are other hockey films out there but when you put them all together Slap Shot rises to the top like cream from churned milk. So in this new season of sharpened blades lets sit back and enjoy at least one good game on the ice.