Movie Sunday: Slap Shot

You may wonder how I pick movies for my Movie Sunday series. A lot of it has to do with whether I can find two decent clips on Youtube; that's not always possible. Earlier in the week I had watched Brian's Song, the 2001 TV remake. I had never seen the 1971 original, but I knew the story, bawled like a baby, and said, "Gotta use this for Sunday." Except, there are very few video clips of either version available.

While looking for those clips, I came across clips for "The Longest Yard," thinking that this would be a nice way to show something from both movies (the 1974 original and the 2005 remake). Except that, once again, there are no clips from the original I want to use.

But now I'm thinking about sports comedies and Slap Shot comes to mind. This is another great movie, probably the best hockey movie ever made (at least IMO), and my only regret is that I couldn't find a clip (in English) of Michael Ontkean's strip-tease at the end. ;)

Trivia:

Nancy Dowd, the writer of the screenplay, originally intended for the movie to be a documentary; her brother, Ned Dowd (whom the character Ned Braden is named after) was a player on the Johnstown Jets, whom the Charlestown Chiefs are based upon. The director, George Roy Hill, convinced Nancy to rewrite the movie as a comedy.

Ned Dowd served as stunt coordinator and technical adviser as well as playing the role of "Ogie Ogilthorpe." Since Ned Dowd's introduction to film-making with Slap Shot, he's had a very successful career as a director and producer of a number of A-list movies.

Steve Carlson, who plays Steve Hanson in the movie, played for two seasons with the Johnstown Jets, then returned to coach the Johnstown Chiefs in the late '80s-early '90s.

The championship trophy presented at the end of the movie was, in reality, the Lockhart Cup, which was representative of the North American Hockey League championship. It now sits in the basement recreation room of actor Danny Belisle, where it has become a flower pot.

Oh this young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country's refusal to accept him, well, I guess that's more than most 21-year-olds can handle. Number six, Ogie Oglethorpe.

The fans are standing up to them! The security guards are standing up to them! The peanut vendors are standing up to them! And by golly, if I could get down there, I'd be standing up to them!