"Slap Shot" is a very, very adult sports film. It features LOTS of profanity, lots of politically incorrect language, references to masturbation, nudity and LOTS and LOTS of violence. Even by today's standards (which, admittedly are pretty low),it's a very adult film. But, it also is very funny and, like a terrible traffic accident, it's something you may not want to watch...but you keep on watching! The Charlestown Chiefs are a lousy minor league hockey team in a lousy city. Their fans don't care and the team seems imminently in danger of either being sold or folding completely. However, the player-manager of the club (Paul Newman) is a bit crazy and has come up with a plan to POSSIBLY save the team and his career--get his players to play as dirty as possible to create fan spirit. And, after playing like a squad of nothing but goons, the team starts to win and fans come pouring into the stadium. And, to further excite his team, he begins spreading false rumors about a buyer for the team. It all culminates in an incredibly stupid finale at the championship game. Unfortunately, it's no longer a sport--just a punch of thugs hittin' folks!

The bottom line is that "Slap Shot" is a funny and distasteful film. My wife even enjoyed it--and she normally doesn't like sports films. It's also pretty wild seeing Newman and some of the other actors on skates--as well as those Hanson brothers...who are kind of like Napoleon Dynamite combined with three Tasmanian Devils! Crazy fun.

One of the knocks that has always been given to Paul Newman was that he was not right for comedy. When you're talking about stuff like A New Kind of Love or Rally Round the Flag Boys that's probably true. But Slapshot shows that what Paul Newman needed to be good for comedy was something not quite so sophisticated.

Slapshot ain't Oscar Wilde, but it's not quite to the level of the Police Academy movies. It's just right for Paul Newman as the veteran player/coach with a team of misfits from one of hockey's minor leagues who's forever looking for a break from the majors.

The Charlestown Chiefs who seem to be the hockey equivalent of the New York Mets are having a perennial losing season. The town itself is one flush away from despondency with a mill that was the main employer in the town shutting down. That means the paltry attendance the Chiefs already have will diminish more. It's an uncertain future.

So with nothing to lose, Newman's boys turn the sport into a hockey facsimile of the World Wrestling Federation. In no other sport are fights among the players so accepted. But Newman ratchets it up to an exponential level.

And his team actually starts to win and the Charlestown Chiefs become a gate attraction.

There's a lot more to the resolution of the team's problems, but that championship game is unforgettable.

All Hail the Brothers Hanson.

The Charlestown Chiefs is a hopeless losing hockey team in fifth place. The team has to do ridiculous events to make extra cash. Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman) is a player/coach with a rag tag team with the latest being the goonish Hanson brothers. Their best player Ned Braden (Michael Ontkean) has a jealous wife (Lindsay Crouse) who hates the small town. With the town's mill closing, the team has to close at the end of the season. Reggie Dunlop decides to pump up the team and attendance by planting a story of the team moving to Florida and starts playing goon hockey.

This is an inappropriate movie and it's all the more funnier because of it. It is possibly the funniest hockey movie of all times. Director George Roy Hill rejoins Paul Newman after the success of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting. It is more fun and more hilarious than either one. However you have to prepare for the language, the homophobia, and the goon hockey. It's certainly not a pretty movie.