Tomorrow night at 9:15 p.m., BAM is showing one of my favorite movies from the 1970s, George Roy Hill’s Slap Shot (1977), starring Paul Newman as Reggie Dunlop, an almost-over-the-hill hockey player toiling as player-manager for a minor league team, the Charlestown Chiefs. With the Chiefs on the verge of being sold and relocated, Dunlop looks for a way to turn the team’s fortunes around to block the sale, or at least get the players a better deal. Enter the Hanson Brothers, a trio long-haired, glasses-wearing, seemingly mild-mannered players who come cheap. But the Hansons aren’t skilled players: they’re goons . . . and that gives Dunlop an idea.
The film features supporting performances from Michael Ontkean as a cynical, Ivy League-educated forward who is the team’s best player and Strother Martin as the crotchety general manager. It’s hilarious and ribald and manages to make good use of a typically deadpan performance from Lindsay Crouse. The Hanson Brothers became minor celebrities as a result of the film, and they still make cameo appearances at professional hockey games and on late night TV. (Dennis Miller had them on last Wednesday.)
If you can’t make it to see BAM’s new print of the film tomorrow, you can always check out the 25th Anniversary DVD.
Slap Shot is being being shown as part of BAMcin
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