Slap Shot (1977)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Reggie Dunlop	Paul Newman
Joe McGrath	Strother Martin	½
Ned Braden	Michael Ontkean
Francine Dunlop	Jennifer Warren
Lily Braden	Lindsay Crouse
Suzanne Hanrahan	Melinda Dillon
Dickie Dunn	M. Emmet Walsh
Shirley	Swoosie Kurtz

Review

Paul Newman is vibrantly charming as an aged jock stuck in minor league ice-hockey. Director George Roy Hill can't quite keep up with the pace he sets forth, and the comedy is mostly primitive and unsophisticated, but the film has warmth and empathy and cares about its characters - even though many of them are underwritten and stereotypical. The portrait of the sport itself is (as often with films like these) a bit unfair, however. It is largely limited to presenting a phenomena and a notion of the sport seen from the outside rather than actually presenting the many aspects of ice hockey. The issues discussed seem somewhat shallow, but the film's wrap-up is very pleasant. The Newman character is an altogether interesting study, and Newman himself manages to bring many layers to a potentially flat role.