Charlestown Chiefs
| Slap Shot | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Craig Nelson
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| Directed by | George Roy Hill |
| Produced by | Robert J. Wunsch Stephen J. Friedman |
| Written by | Nancy Dowd |
| Starring |
Paul Newman Strother Martin Michael Ontkean Jennifer Warren |
| Cinematography | Victor J. Kemper |
| Edited by | Dede Allen |
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Production
company |
Pan Arts
Kings Road Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $28,000,000 |
Slap Shot is a 1977 comedy film directed by George Roy Hill, written by Nancy Dowd and starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean. It depicts a minor league hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declining factory town.
Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) is the aging player-coach of the Charlestown Chiefs hockey team in the fictional Federal League. A perennial loser for years, the team's manager Joe McGrath (Strother Martin) has resorted to extreme cost-cutting techniques and embarrassing promotional antics to keep local interest alive. During a hopeless season, the Chiefs pick up the Hanson Brothers, bespectacled violent goons with childlike mentalities, complete with toys in their luggage. Horrified at being given players who seem stupid, immature, and unreliable, Dunlop initially chooses not to play them.
When the local mill announces its imminent closure, making 10,000 workers unemployed, Dunlop makes several attempts to learn the identity of the team's anonymous owner, but is deftly deflected by McGrath each time. When McGrath accompanies them on an away game, top scorer Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) overhears him attempting to get a job with another team. Dunlop confronts McGrath, who confirms that the Chiefs will fold at the end of the season.
Determined to save the team, Dunlop starts provoking fights at games and the Chiefs start to win games. In a moment of desperation, he lets the Hansons play and discovers that their aggressive fighting style enthralls the fans. He begins retooling the Chiefs as a team of goons, and attendance quickly increases. Capitalizing on this growing interest, he plants a false story with eccentric sports news writer Dickie Dunn (M. Emmet Walsh) that a Florida retirement community is interested in purchasing the team, in order to bolster the confidence of the players and to hopefully inspire an actual sale.
Most of the players, such as Dave "Killer" Carlson (Jerry Houser) embrace the shift, but Braden, a college-educated player with a clean style, resists every chance to fight. Braden's failing relationship with his bored wife Lily (Lindsay Crouse), puts further strain on him, and Dunlop feigns interest in her to provoke Braden. After realizing that she is truly depressed and falling into alcoholism, Dunlop establishes a friendship between Lily and Francine (Jennifer Warren), Dunlop's ex-wife.
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