Newman often cited the role of Dunlop as one of his favorites; the performance, in all its wicked, foul-mouthed glory, is freeing to watch. No wonder Newman loved the experience.

| Aug 1, 2024

What holds the picture together is the warmth supplied by Paul Newman. As Reggie, the player-coach of the Chiefs, a minor-league ice-hockey team, he gives the performance of his life -- to date.

| Sep 13, 2023

Newman’s breeziest, most waggishly charming role.

| Jul 23, 2023

Believe it or not, this leads to a moral ending, and provides a lot of laughs along the way, mostly involving foul play or foul language.

| May 9, 2023

Its the best movie ever made about its sport; you can have your Miracle. (45th anniversary)

| Original Score: B+ | Mar 4, 2022

A rough-housing comedy where any resulting penalty minutes for poor conduct are unabashed and even heralded.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 17, 2021

Director George Roy Hill has contrived to keep the cameras and players in almost constant motion in the funny and energetic film.

| Nov 4, 2019

Nancy Dowd's (first) script is so clear and chockfull of realities in the sports world that it makes me want to stand up and cheer:

| Oct 25, 2019

A comedy that is at times entertaining and occasionally sentimental. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Jul 25, 2019

Slap Shot remains the greatest sports flick of the 1970s.

| Sep 21, 2017

Easily the greatest hockey film ever made.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 21, 2017

One of the film's unexpected bonanzas is a clutch of beautifully realized female roles.

| Sep 21, 2017

Newman is literally a diamond in the rough, and it requires a certain forebearance to separate his quality from the surrounding raunch.

| Dec 18, 2015

Its moral pretenses left me cold.

| Original Score: C+ | Jan 2, 2014

Often raucously funny and subversive, Slap Shot is one of the few sports movies that is openly contemptuous of its sport, or at least the modern state of it.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | May 2, 2013

[VIDEO ESSAY] "Slap Shot" is a sports movie that revels in details of milieu, plot and character. Smokestacks billow white plumes from a perpetually overcast industrial skyline. Everything is old and weather beaten. Every victory is tainted.

| Original Score: A | Apr 22, 2013

Slap Shot may have done a lot of fast skating and some solid body checking, but in the last period it makes a final costly slip -- and misses its goal.

| Aug 1, 2008

An unsually abrasive sporting drama from director Hill.

| Aug 1, 2008

Raw, raunchy, and absolutely hilarious.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 26, 2007

There are still some nice touches of absurdist satirical wit hanging out along the sidelines, given extra bite by Dede Allen's superbly pacy editing.

| Mar 14, 2007