50 Best Sports Movies Ever

7. Slap Shot

Year: 1977
Sport: Hockey
Starring: Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Michael Ontkean, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse
Director: George Roy Hill

Aside from the surface it’s played on, there’s one thing that separates hockey from the other major American sports: the fighting. The sport features an unusual amount of violence, which is part of the appeal to many fans both in the United States and around the world.

Led by the immaculate acting of the legendary Paul Newman, Slap Shot takes that hockey stereotype to an entirely new level.

The basic summary of Slap Shot is that a hockey team doesn’t have the skill to win games, so it resorts to overt physicality. There are scenes where the fighting is comical, and others where it’s a chilling display of the tortured nature of their style of play.

There’s no better illustration of the team’s orientation than the pre-game fight that leads to a famously bloody national anthem.

Warning: NSFW.

There’s a reasonably large legion of people who will argue that Slap Shot deserves to own the No. 1 spot on this list.

Hockey films can be tremendous or lackluster, and the sequels to this film serve as the latter. The original, however, was a fun film with a realistic tone and an absolutely vital flare for the dramatic.

This may not have struck gold during award season, but George Roy Hill directed a classic in Slap Shot.

Next: 6. Brian's Song