50 Fun Facts About Slap Shot

Who plays player-coach Reggie Dunlop?

He called it the most fun he ever had making a movie, and said his language never recovered from the locker room.

What is the name of the minor-league team at the centre of Slap Shot?

The fictional Chiefs were closely modelled on a real Johnstown club, whose players filled out the cast.

Who directed Slap Shot?

He had already directed Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.

Who wrote the screenplay for Slap Shot?

She was paid $50,000 for a script that took four months, built from her brother's locker-room tape recordings.

Whose real minor-league experiences was the script largely based on?

Ned Dowd phoned his sister from Utica and Syracuse to describe being beaten up and having his teeth knocked out.

What kind of eyewear do the Hanson Brothers wear on the ice?

Jeff and Steve Carlson really did wear that style, and their coach recalled rivals mocking it before a 30-minute brawl.

Which real hockey brothers were the Hansons based on?

Jeff, Steve and Jack all played with Ned Dowd in Johnstown.

Why did Jack Carlson not appear in the film as the third Hanson brother?

Dave Hanson slid into the role of Jack Hanson, and Jerry Houser was hired to play Dave 'Killer' Carlson instead.

Who plays Ned Braden, the college-educated top scorer who refuses to fight?

Ontkean really had played college hockey, at the University of New Hampshire, though he is Canadian rather than the American citizen the announcer trumpets.

What is Reggie Dunlop's jersey number?

Newman had played hockey as a young man and said he was fascinated by the players around him.

Who plays Joe McGrath, the Chiefs' penny-pinching general manager?

Martin and Newman had famously squared off a decade earlier in Cool Hand Luke.

What is the name of the Chiefs' play-by-play announcer, played by Andrew Duncan?

He is the one who marvels that Ned Braden is a college graduate and an American citizen.

Roughly how many workers face layoffs when the town's steel mill closes?

The looming closure is what makes the team's survival, and Dunlop's, feel so desperate.

Where does Dunlop claim the team might be sold to, in order to motivate his players?

The story is a total fabrication; at the end he actually lands a player-coach job elsewhere.

How much is the bounty Dunlop puts on Syracuse player-coach Tim McCracken?

McCracken, nicknamed Dr. Hook, is played by Paul D'Amato.

What is the nickname of Syracuse's Tim McCracken?

His sucker punch on the referee in the final gets Syracuse disqualified and hands the Chiefs the title.

Why does owner Anita McCambridge plan to fold the Chiefs despite the sold-out crowds?

Kathryn Walker plays the reclusive owner who deflates Dunlop's whole scheme in one conversation.

What does Ned Braden do on the ice that ends the brawl in the championship game?

Time's critic Richard Schickel disliked the gag, calling it a broader, cheaper kind of comic response.

How do the Chiefs end up being declared champions?

McCracken calls the display obscene, hits the referee, and the title goes to the Chiefs.

What does McGrath tell the losing Chiefs during the final to get them brawling again?

The invented scouts do the trick, and everyone but Braden goes back to fighting.

Which real team's players filled out the cast as Chiefs and opponents?

By coincidence both the Jets and their league, the NAHL, folded in 1977, the year the film came out.

Who plays Ogie Ogilthorpe, the feared Syracuse goon talked about all film but only seen at the end?

He used the role to launch a career as a character actor, assistant director and line producer.

Which real minor-league enforcer inspired Ogie Ogilthorpe?

As a Syracuse Blazers rookie in 1973 he racked up 25 major fighting penalties before Christmas.

Which real player-coach was Reggie Dunlop partly based on?

His surname is borrowed for the drunken Hyannisport centre; he later coached Dave Hanson with the Birmingham Bulls.

What do the Hansons do during warm-ups against the Peterborough Patriots?

It was based on a real Johnstown brawl against the Buffalo Norsemen that ended in a forfeit.

What hits Jeff Hanson in the face, sending the brothers into the stands and to jail?

In real life it was a cup of ice thrown by a Utica fan, and Dave Hanson gathered the bail money for his teammates.

Which real-life event inspired the Hansons fighting right after the opening faceoff?

Binghamton's players came out in plastic glasses and big noses; the resulting fight went about 30 minutes.

Which real team were the film's Broome County Blades based on?

The Dusters were the Jets' bitter rivals in the North American Hockey League.

What is notable about the film's dub for Quebec audiences?

Two Quebec cast members dubbed their own lines, and phrases like 'Dave est magane' became catchphrases in Quebec.

Which two Quebec-born cast members dubbed their own voices for the French version?

They play a forward and the goaltender.

Which star wanted to play Reggie Dunlop before the part went to Newman?

Newman spent the last decades of his life calling Reggie one of his favourite roles.

Roughly how much did Slap Shot gross in its theatrical run?

It ranked 21st for 1977, far behind Newman's previous three films, which each topped $100 million.

Which critic called Slap Shot 'violent, bloody and thoroughly revolting'?

Kael was mixed but said Newman gave the performance of his life to date; Siskel came around after a second viewing.

What did Gene Siskel say after seeing Slap Shot a second time?

He had given it two and a half stars, then put it among his runners-up for the best films of 1977.

Which magazine named Slap Shot the 'Best Guy Movie of All Time' in 1998?

It beat The Godfather, Raging Bull and Newman's own Cool Hand Luke.

Which honour did Slap Shot actually win, despite the mixed reviews?

The Japanese newspaper prize was its lone major honour at the time.

How many direct-to-video sequels followed Slap Shot?

Only three of the original cast members returned; Newman sat both out.

Who wrote the novelization of Slap Shot released alongside the film?

Berkley Books put it out in 1977; Dan Jenkins later called the film the best sports movie of the past 50 years in GQ.

What is the name of the Chiefs' Quebecois goaltender who explains penalties to the camera?

He is played by Yvon Barrette, who also voiced himself in the Quebec French dub.

Who plays Reggie's estranged wife, Francine?

Francine wants a divorce and a job on Long Island, and drives off without answering Reggie's last pitch.

Who plays Lily Braden, Ned's unhappy wife?

Dunlop encourages her to leave Ned, hoping marital misery will finally make him fight.

Which future Stanley Cup-winning coach appears as an unnamed Hyannisport player?

He wore number 7 for the Presidents decades before coaching Anaheim, Washington and Vancouver.

Which Boston hardcore band took its name directly from the film?

A Canadian punk band went further and named itself after the film's bespectacled trio, glasses included.

In which state is Johnstown, the city where most of the film was shot?

Other rinks in Utica, Clinton, Hamilton and Syracuse in upstate New York stood in for the road arenas.

Where does Dunlop say he is headed as player-coach at the end of the film?

He plans to bring his teammates from the folded Chiefs with him and invites Francine to follow.

What sombre item was found at the site of the 2018 Humboldt Broncos bus crash?

The film is standard road-trip viewing for young hockey players; Steve Carlson later met some of the survivors.

Michael Ontkean, who plays Ned Braden, really did play college hockey for which school?

Unlike his character, Ontkean is Canadian; he graduated in 1970.

In which year did the real Johnstown Jets and their league fold, coincidentally the year the film came out?

Several Jets players appear in the film as extras, and the Carlson brothers and Dave Hanson played for them.

Paul Newman told Time in 1984 that since Slap Shot his language was 'right out of' where?

Newman said the film was the most fun he ever had making a movie and often called Reg Dunlop a favourite role.

The real warm-up brawl with the Buffalo Norsemen, recreated in the film, was payback for what?

The Norsemen refused to come out of the dressing room afterwards, handing Johnstown the game and the series by forfeit.