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Last week's Movie Quiz winners

Talk about type-casting-- Jeff and Steve Carlson, of Virginia, Minnesota, have a movie career that spans three decades, with a total of two films to their credit: Slap Shot (1977), where they play two of the three murderous, brain-damaged hockey players, The Hanson Brothers, and Slap Shot 2, a so-called sequel that came out 25 years later. (The other brother in both films, whose name is actually David Hanson, has several BBC TV appearances in between hockey movies.) The scene where team captain Paul Newman tells them to "Show me what you've got" is unlike any moment in sports cinema (they go on an unexpected bone-breaking rampage), and is one reason it's one of my few favorite sports movies, as is the moment Newman finds them in their room having a Hot Wheels orgy. "They brought their fuckin' toys with 'em!"

The last comment is another reason I still like Slap Shot, and why it was such a surprise when it came out-- this was a foul-mouthed Paul Newman like we'd never seen before. In interviews, he admitted that the character of broke-down hockey lifer Reggie Dunlap was closer to his real personality than any role he'd ever played. (It must be the part of Newman that inspired him to once have dozens of rolls of toilet paper made with a picture of Robert Redford's face on every sheet.) He has a great time with both the hockey scenes (which are fun even for non-fans, especially once the Hansons come in) and the dialogue, which had him saying things like, "That kid of yours looks like a fag to me-- mark my words, he'll have a cock in his mouth quicker'n you can say Jack Robinson."

(Odd yet telling memory of yours truly: When I first saw this in the theater, during the scene where Newman repeatedly tries and fails to catch a nap, at one point when he hops out of bed in his boxer shorts, my companion said, "Oh, no! Paul's got shiny old man legs!" As it turns out, Newman was 52 when he made Slap Shot, the age I'll turn next month.)

The movie's not perfect, but the high points are many. The script gets points for having more to its story than a losing team, and the subplot about the team being sold because its town is losing its industry gave the laughs some sting. The director, George Roy Hill, was at the top of his career, and the cast was, overall, terrific. True, the second male lead is the ultra-vanilla Michael Ontkean (he does a strip on ice at the end-- how'd he gets his pants over his skates?), but it also has the great Strother Martin as the sleazy team owner. The female lead is Lindsay Crouse, and David Mamet claims that he became "smitten" with her when he saw the movie, and he didn't rest until he married her.

Still, what most people seem to remember are The Hansons, and it's true, film debuts like theirs don't occur every day. Or faces. Thank goodness.

(Pic is from an article about the boys and the sequel-- read it here.)

So congratulations to the following quiz winners: Wayne Palmer, Leab, E. Yarber, Ryan Backman, Rick Cummings, Jon McDowell, Joe Rosenberg, Vincent Tuss, Bill Hearne, Corey Anderson, Nick Caster, Kevin Musolino, and Hank Parmer.

Posted by Steve Monaco at January 30, 2006 12:28 AM

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