Slap Shot: Secretly Feminist, pro-LGBTQ & pro-Labor?

As a young hockey player that skated with guys from both North and South of the Canadian-United States border, Slap Shot was required viewing. The 1977 film about a failing minor-league ice hockey team, directed by George Roy Hill and written by Nancy Dowd, was essentially a cult classic among hockey dudes like myself -mostly, for the fighting, and the brutal hits. 

The Charlestown Chiefs

Now, Slap Shot may not be a film suitable for a young child; and, if you're particularly sensitive, it may not be suitable for you either. The film depicts, in my view, a very accurate representation of what a hockey locker room in 1977 might have looked and sounded like. To give you a hint, there is a lot of language that would be considered beyond-the-pale today: lots of "f***s," "d***s", "c***s" and other words we'd never want to utter to someone public in these days. But, before anyone gets too worried about the message of the film, it's very much the opposite of the hyper-violent, hyper-masculine and somewhat bigoted stories of its characters. Slap Shot is actually, secretly, about women, sexual identity and labor in a capitalist society. 

The first hint that the film might be deeper than a simple montage of fighting matches between washed-up pro hockey players, is in the first act when Ned Braden (played by Michael Ontkean) tells coach Reggie Dunlop (played brilliantly by Paul Newman), that the steel mill in Charlestown (the fictional home of the team), is shuttering, and leaving tens of thousands of workers without jobs or income. The writing is on the wall, when the factory goes, the town goes... and so go the Chiefs, Charlestown's hockey team. "These people aren't going to have money to spend on hockey games," Ned says. 

From that point forward Newman's character, Dunlop, hatched scheme after scheme to try to save the team from bankruptcy by using violent antics to bring in frothing crowds of frustrated, angry, blue-collar fans who just want to see their Chiefs kick butt! If the Chiefs can fill the seats, they may just have a chance to stay in business, and the boys on Dunlop's team can continue their careers in the sport they love. Dunlop goes pretty far too; he even goads an opposing player into a fight by suggesting that his wife may prefer women to men -though don't get too mad at him, because that player was very likely abusive to his wife in the first place. If you don't watch and listen carefully, this may all sound a bit crude. However, you must consider that this was a film depicting hockey goons in the 1970's -people weren't as sophisticated back then. And, very importantly, our hero Reggie Dunlop never suggests he has any issue with homosexuality or the LGBTQ community. He just used some language we wouldn't use today. 

Lily (Lindsay Crouse) attempting to cope

One of the most important plot lines of Slap Shot is the story of the women who, despite everything, stand by and tolerate their terrible hockey playing boyfriends and husbands -and, at least one woman who broke free of her marriage and went on to create a wonderful life for herself! If you get the chance to watch this beautiful film, pay close attention to the women. They are more than half of the story. They go through hell to support their partners, showing up in the middle of the night to greet their men when they return, win or lose. One in particular, Lily (played by Lindsay Crouse) has a particularly difficult time dealing with her hockey player partner. Who could blame her?

When I watched the movie as an adult, it made so much sense that the screenplay itself was written by a woman, Nancy Dowd. She had written the script, in part, to tell the story of her own brother's trials in the brutal world of pro hockey. But, she didn't simply succeed in creating a film about hockey. She captured a very broad working class North American experience involving the beauty of the sport, as well as the violence. But, more-than-that, she captured a slice of American and Canadian life that involves the challenges every low-life, good-for-nothing, steel town faces when the big-money company pulls-up anchor and moves out, leaving the workers holding the tab. 

Roy Hill, George. Slap Shot, Universal Pictures, Universal City, California. 1977.