Old-time hockey: as "Slap Shot" and the Hanson Brothers celebrate their 25th anniversary with a brand new sequel, we look back at the making of the greatest hockey movie ever

Hockey Digest, May, 2002 by Randy Williams

LOST PERHAPS IN THE MIDST of all the Olympic hoopla in mid-February, was the fact that the month also marked the 25th anniversary hockey movie ever made.

Slap Shot," released by Universal Pictures in U.S. theaters on February 17, 1977, to little fan fair, has grown in stature over the years attracting new generations of fans through cable broadcasts, home videos, and numerous appearances by its stars at hockey arenas around North America.

Most hockey fan are familiar with the story of aging player-coach Reggie Dunlop (Paul Newman in his pre-salad dressing days), who will do anything--lie, brawl, cheat, and even romance the wives of his opponents--to save the Charlestown Chiefs from folding. The team is on its last legs when three new players show up and infuse the Chiefs with a new attitude. They begin to violently overpower their opponents and not coincidentally draw record crowds. The Chiefs' aggressive play doesn't sit well with its most talented player and meanwhile a conflict also arises in Dunlop's home life. All of this takes place within the backdrop of a blue-collar Pennsylvania community that is reeling from the recession.

What is less known is how the idea for the movie came about. How was it that a woman screenwriter so aptly captured this raucous, macho world of minor league hockey? Where did the Hanson Brothers come from? Were the players all actors or did the filmmakers use college and pros in the game action? What went on during the production of the film? Why is "Slap Shot" so popular and why are so many NHL players among its biggest fans?

Back in the mid-'70s, future Hollywood movie producer, Ned Dowd ("Shanghai Noon, "Wonder Boys"), was a minor league hockey player for the Johnstown Jets in Pennsylvania.

Dowd would regale his family with colorful anecdotes about his rowdy teammates and the brutal truth of the game. One Of his siblings at the dinner table listening intently happened to be an aspiring screenwriter, his sister Nancy, who would go on to win an Academy Award for her "Coming Home" screenplay in 1979.

The more stories she heard from her brother, the more Nancy became mesmerized by the rawness of the events taking place, and she soon traveled with the team on a few road trips.

It turns out the rowdy teammates Ned usually referred to were Steve, Jack, and Jeff Carlson, and Dave Hanson. She spent a month with her brother's team, researching and interviewing the players. She even had Ned make tape recordings of the salty locker room conversations, bus talk, and bar room discussions to get a feel for the language and dialogue the players used. With all of that ammunition, Nancy was able to create a true-to-life script that captured the violence, crude humor, and spartan realities of minor league hockey.

Nancy's finished script caught the attention of actor Paul Newman and director George Roy Hill, who had directed Newman in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "The Sting." They bought the script

"There was a certain rawness to the script which I liked," Hill says. "So many films, including some of mine like `The Sting,' present a view of life that is a fantasy. This is real. The harsh language in it has provoked criticism, but it is essential to the presentation of this culture. Anything else would be dishonest."

With the script, director, and star in place, casting began. It wasn't smooth as most actors couldn't skate well enough to be credible hockey players. As a result, the filmmakers decided to let real hockey players try out for a few of the roles. A few minor league players and one of the players' wives landed parts.

Ned Dowd, the inspiration for actor Michael Ontkean's character, played the role of the "legendary" goon Ogie Ogilthorpe. Ontkean was in reality a very good hockey player. He attended the University of New Hampshire on a hockey scholarship and went on to play in the Toronto Maple Leafs farm system and on semi-pro teams in Quebec and Vancouver.

Steve, Jack, and Jeff Carlson were cast as themselves but re-named the Hansons, with Dave Hanson cast as Dave "Killer" Carlson. However when Jack was called up to play for the Edmonton Oilers in the WHA playoffs, Dave took his place as the third Hanson Brother.

Those colorful thugs who beat up vending machines, played with toy cars, and wrapped their knuckles with tin foil to have greater impact in their brawling, caused mayhem on the screen. However, their almost innocent joy, enthusiasm, and pure love of the game were infectious and they stole the film. Hockey fans loved them. So did the Hollywood movie moguls.

Universal Pictures offered Steve, Jeff, and Dave a multi-picture deal, but the studio was unable to accommodate shooting in the offseason, and the dedicated athletes turned down the deal.

"We were hockey players, not actors," Steve recalls. "We lived our lives to play the game. The choice was very easy and I wouldn't have changed it for the world."

Adds Dave: "We were young guys and our focus was to get to the highest level in hockey."