X
- 1977
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
- 1977
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
Summary A failing ice hockey team finds success using constant fighting and violence during games.
Directed By: George Roy Hill
Written By: Nancy Dowd
- 1977
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
- 1977
- R
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 3 m
Slap Shot
61
8.3
Where to Watch
Summary A failing ice hockey team finds success using constant fighting and violence during games.
Directed By: George Roy Hill
Written By: Nancy Dowd
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
61
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
11% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 9 Critic Reviews
61
44% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
11% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Rowdy, raunchy, hilarious, absurd, deeply depressing and profoundly human – often all at the same time – Slap Shot is refreshingly devoid of phony uplift or showy monologues. There's no jerking of tears or pulling of heartstrings, no big lessons to be learned beyond the harsh reminder that sports is a business; the passion of its fans and the heroics of its players are ultimately less important than the clang of the cash register. It's the rare combination of both team-spirit uplift and period-appropriate downer.
The performances—which have a lot to do with the right casting, particularly in the smaller roles—are impeccable. Paul Newman maintains an easy balance between star and character-actor. The leading-man authority is there, but it's given comic perspective by the intensity of the character and by its tackiness, evident even in the clothes he wears.
It had to happen. The most foulmouthed movie of all time has been written by a woman. Nancy Dowd's original screen-play for SLAP SHOT is a landmark. Like female jockeys, lesbian ministers and distaff sportscasters, this sharp-eared, engagingly impudent young writer has struck a blow for equal rights, a field that stretches from realms of the spirit to jock itch. The first in a coming avalanche of sports-oriented movies, this strenuously irreverent film about a minor-league hockey team in Middle America will set tongues wagging over every sports buff's beer glass, every culture-vulture's wine goblet, every pundit's brandy snifter. [7 Mar 1977, p.68]
Hill lacks the conviction or the temperament for all this brutal buffoonishness, and he can't hold the picture together; what does is the warmth supplied by Paul Newman.
It's really just an old-fashioned piece of wish fulfilment, rather duplicitously dressed up in foul language and sexual references in a cynical attempt to look modern. That said, there are still some nice touches of absurdist satirical wit hanging out along the sidelines, given extra bite by Dede Allen's superbly pacy editing.
Slap Shot comes at you like a boisterous drunk. At first glance it appears harmlessly funny, in an extravagantly foul-mouthed sort of way. However, there's a mean streak beneath the cartoon surface tha makes one feel uneasy about humoring this particular durnk for too long.
There is nothing in the history of movies to compare with Slap Shot for consistent, low-level obscenity of expression...Its problem is an ending that abruptly transports the audience from heightened realism to broad satire. It is a defect that Slap Shot shares with the current hit Network—a desire to present an editorial so corrosive that aesthetics, questions of form and proportion simply dissolve.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 User Ratings
8.3
93% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
7% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 15 User Ratings
8.3
93% Positive
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
7% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Kings Road Entertainment,
Pan Arts,
Universal Pictures
Release Date Feb 25, 1977
Duration 2 h 3 m
Rating R
Tagline Certain Language May Be Too Strong For Children
Awards
Hochi Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Writers Guild of America, USA
• 1 Nomination
Awards of the Japanese Academy
• 1 Nomination
