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May 30, 2011 When Reg (Paul Newman) tries to whip The Chiefs up with a pep talk, the Hanson Brothers prove to be the ultimate Hype Men. FILM DESCRIPTION: Paul Newman plays Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a.
You have reached a degraded version of ESPN.com because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.For a complete ESPN.com experience, please upgrade or use aJoe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer3yForty years later, the Hanson brothers from 'Slap Shot' are still putting on the foilIt's fitting how the cult classic 'Slap Shot' will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its release on Feb. 25.Trying to capture the spirit of the thing, Steve Carlson, Jeff Carlson and Dave Hanson, better known as the Hanson brothers, will host the 'Boys are Back in Town' celebration on the original site of the film in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.Part of the celebration are original cast members, artifacts from the film, a special showing of the movie and, of course, dinner at the Aces.In preparation for the iconic anniversary, we've damaged a few Coke machines, taken a sledgehammer to a bus and hired an ambulance driver to ride around town. Oh, and we asked Steve Carlson, who played Steve Hanson in the iconic 1977 movie, to join us for a Q&A.ESPN.com: What does it mean to you that it's been 40 years since the release of the movie?Steve Carlson: We've been back together for over 25 years now.
I was coaching in Memphis, and I brought the boys in because we weren't drawing very well in the Central League. Dave was the general manager of the Capital District Islanders, and he wasn't drawing very well. We brought the Hansons into Memphis, no long hair, just mustaches, and we sold out the place. Dave did the same thing in Albany, New York. It has been just an unbelievable ride. We've been all over Canada and all over the United States.
We've been to Germany four times, London, England, and Dave made a trip to Australia last year. Everyone has their same lines, everyone has their favorite lines, everyone has their favorite scenes, and it doesn't get old. The only thing that gets old is the travel because, unfortunately, we travel during the worst months of the season. It's a whirlwind. It's fun once we get into town and once we get on the ice, we do our scenes. We do our skits on the ice. We spend more time in the penalty box than we do on the ice nowadays.
We love playing between the periods of the pro hockey games, or the junior and college games. We love playing against the little mini mites, the 5- and 6-year-olds that chase the puck all over the place. The skit we do is, off the opening faceoff, we have the mascot in our net, and the little ones push the puck through my legs and he goes on a lone break, and I trip him up at the top of the circle.
'You're not making it.' Then we've got the little ones, and we're holding them up against the glass and banging them against the glass and all that stuff. Probably with 30 seconds left in the game between periods, the little ones all drop their gloves and sticks and chase us off the ice. It's a combination of the ankle-biters all the way up to the grandmas and grandpas that have watched it.
Granted, we tell the parents they're bad parents because they let the kids watch 'Slap Shot,' but it's a whirlwind and we're just enjoying it.ESPN.com: What will the 'Boys are Back in Town' celebration involve?Carlson: Well, we've got Yvon Barrette who played Denis Lemieux, the goaltender, coming in. We've got our captain, Johnny Upton played by Allan F. Nicholls, coming in. We've got Dave 'Killer' Carlson played by Jerry Houser coming in. We've got the Hanson brothers coming in. We've got Guido Tenesi Billy Charlebois, the pretty boy with the Sparkle Twins. Unfortunately, the Sparkle Twins can't make it, one had passed.
It's going to be bringing back old-time hockey again back to Johnstown, where it all started. We filmed 40 years ago on the same ice surface, and it's going to bring back a lot of memories - a lot of great memories. Dave, Jeff and myself all had professional careers as players, but doing 'Slap Shot' was a memorable thing we've done in our lives.
It's one of the classic movies in all sports movies, so it's going to be pretty emotional. It's going to be fun.ESPN.com: How do you think the movie would resonate if it were filmed in 2017?Carlson: Actually, the game has changed so much.
When the movie came out, it was during the Broad Street Bullies era. It's kind of funny, when we go up and do a lot of shows in Canada, people will ask, 'What part of Canada are you from?' Then we say, 'We're all Americans. We're from Minnesota.'
Then fans will go, 'Oh!' Laughs.Dave and Jeff were the fighters. The movie is based on the three Carlson brothers - my brother Jeff, my brother Jack and myself.
We had long hair and black glasses, and Dave 'Killer' Hanson was on our team also. The three Carlson brothers were going to be the Hanson brothers, and Dave was going to be 'Killer' Carlson in the movie. That's how they played. I was more of a skilled player, I was fifth in the league in scoring and I led our team in scoring. I was more of a scorer, but when you have brother Jeff and brother Jack on your wing, I would dump it in their corner and sit in the deep slot.
I felt like Phil Esposito out there. 'You go get the puck for me and I'll just sit in the deep slot and score.' The game has changed so much now with skill, speed, and I still think we could play because Jeff scored a goal once laughs. People think we use the foil because of fighting, but no, it helps our offensive skills.
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Plus, we've got the foil for our baked potato on Sunday for our barbecue.But the game has changed so much, it's more skill, more skating, more passing, more shooting, and I like to see more physical action. I love watching a great fight. I just watched on video Clark Gillies going to town. I just watched Bob Probert going to town the other day, and it just brings back memories of how the game used to be played by intimidation.
It's not intimidating no more.You know, the Boston Bruins in the old Boston Garden, they didn't have the best players out there. They had Stan Jonathan, John Wensink and Terry O'Reilly. They weren't the best skaters out there, but they had a rink that accommodated their ability in a small rink, in a small atmosphere.
When they got into Toronto or Montreal, where the rinks are bigger, they got spanked a little bit, but you couldn't hide in Boston Garden because it was so darn small.Unfortunately, all the rinks are the same nowadays and there's no home-ice advantage no more. You go into Montreal Forum a long time ago, you're down 2-0 before you even get your skates on by just the history of it. The same with Maple Leaf Gardens, just the history of the arenas. Unfortunately, all rinks are the same nowadays.
I've been on the ice in those big arenas, and you don't hear the crowd at all, you don't hear nothing. When you used to go into the old Chicago Stadium, fans were actually sitting over the ice and you would have to walk up 15 steps to get to the rink and the cockroaches are flying all over the place and the rats are running all over the place - that's old-time hockey laughs. Those are the glory days.ESPN.com: And the press boxes would hang over the ice and you could hear what the players were saying during the game.Carlson: Right, right. There's no character no more. It's all generic. But that's OK. They're doing a great job.
I think they're doing too many outdoor classic games. It's getting old. I thought one a year would be great, but now they have four or five outdoor classic games and that's too many.ESPN.com: No doubt the Hansons could still play themselves, but who would play Reggie Dunlop and Joe McGrath if the movie were released today?Carlson: Oh, Reggie Dunlop. I would probably say. I'm not into the actors nowadays. George Clooney.ESPN.com: He would be good playing Reggie Dunlop.
McGrath?Carlson: I don't know laughs. It's hard to say.
I don't think you could possibly do another one because the characters that they had. Strother Martin was a master.
Paul Newman was a master. George Roy Hill, the director, c'mon, you don't get any better than that.What bothered us a lot, we were hockey players and we were in our own environment and we would help Newman. He would ask, 'What would a player or coach do in this scene?
What would they say in this place?' He would come to us and say, 'OK, as actors, you do it this way, or say it this way.' We would help each other out on our profession. What bothered us about Newman is, he would take 15 or 20 takes because he would like it one time, George Roy wouldn't. George Roy would like it one time, Newman wouldn't. We didn't give a s-. 'Let's just get it over with and let's go drink laughs.'
If you like it, we're done. We're 21, 22, 23 years old, and we didn't give a s-.
It was cutting into our summer fishing up in northern Minnesota. Let's just get it over with.A lot of people don't realize, halfway through filming, we quit.ESPN.com: Really? Why?Carlson: A few of the players went to Washington, D.C., others went on vacation and I stayed in Johnstown and the producers called me and said, 'If you guys don't get back on set tomorrow' - we didn't realize how much money it cost them with the union and all that stuff - and they said, 'If you don't get back on set tomorrow, we're suing you.' Everyone came back and we finished it up, but c'mon, you get your equipment on at 7 in the morning and your scene doesn't happen until 5 in the afternoon. It gets old after three months of filming. The technology has changed so much.
It took three months to film 'Slap Shot.' It took six weeks to film 'Slap Shot 2,' and it took 28 days to do 'Slap Shot 3.' It's boring as s-.After we did 'Slap Shot,' they wanted to sign us to a seven-year deal and at that time we're hockey players and they said they could make a film any time during the season and we said we couldn't do it during the winter because we're playing. Then they said, 'Well, we can't do it then.' How many bus trips going up to Fredericton I kicked myself in the ass, I could be living in Malibu instead of going up to Moncton and Nova Scotia on a bus in the middle of the winter.OK, what's your worst line of the movie?ESPN.com: The worst one is when 'Killer' Carlson tells Barclay Donaldson, 'Take that sentence back.'
Carlson: Ha, ha, you got it. Jerry Houser. That is the worst line in hockey, during the faceoff scene with Barclay Donaldson. 'Take that sentence back.' You're not going to say that.
We give him s- every time we see him.© 2020 ESPN Internet Ventures. And are applicable to you. All rights reserved.More From ESPN:.
The Hanson Brothers are fictional characters in the 1977 movie Slap Shot. The characters are based on the Carlson brothers, who were actual hockey players.
The movie, which stars Paul Newman, was written by Nancy Dowd. The story was based in part upon the experiences of her brother, Ned Dowd (who appears in the film as notorious hockey player Ogie Ogelthorpe), when he played for the North American Hockey League club in Johnstown, Pennsylvania called the Johnstown Jets of the North American Hockey League (NAHL). In the film, the fictional Charlestown Chiefs of the fictional Federal League are fashioned on the Jets and the NAHL.
The Hanson Brothers provide several humorous moments in the film and are best remembered for:
- starting fights
- interrupting the coach in the locker room during pre-game speeches with overzealous shouting
- wearing extremely thick nerd glasses
- childishly playing with toy cars and trucks in their hotel room, although the brothers range in age from 18 to 20
In the film, The Hansons are brought in by the front office as part of an inexpensive deal, also as enforcers for the Charlestown Chiefs during the team's 1975–76 (and final) season. They are, in order of their numbers:
- Jack Hanson (portrayed by David Hanson) – #16 Left Wing, age 19
- Steve Hanson (portrayed by Steve Carlson) – #17 Center, age 20
- Jeff Hanson (portrayed by Jeff Carlson) – #18 Right Wing, age 18
Biography[edit]
The film used many actual players from the Johnstown Jets, with filming commencing a few weeks after the Jets ended their 1975-76 season. The original plan was for the Hanson Brothers to be played by the Jets' trio of the real-life Carlson brothers – Jack, Steve and Jeff Carlson. However, just prior to shooting, brother Jack was called up by the Edmonton Oilers for their run in the 1976 World Hockey Association (WHA) playoffs. In his place, Jets player Dave Hanson filled the role.
While the film's 'Hanson Brothers' were based on the real Carlson Brothers, the character of 'Killer Carlson' in the film (played by professional actor Jerry Houser) is based on Dave Hanson-whose real hockey nickname was 'Killer' Hanson. Thus, Dave Hanson filled in for Jack Carlson as one of the fictional Hanson Brothers - while another actor played a character modeled after Dave Hanson. Jack Carlson, the man Dave 'played' in the movie, was also very well known throughout his career as an enforcer, and did pick up the real hockey nickname 'Killer' Carlson.
In the movie, the Hanson Brothers speak with a typical North Central American accent, owing to their hometowns, in areas where hockey is prevalent. The United States Hockey Hall of Fame is located in Eveleth, Minnesota, only a few miles from the city of Virginia, home of the real Carlsons. The Iron League, from which the Hansons are supposedly bought, is a reference to the Iron Range, a hockey hotbed in Northern Minnesota.
Along with their time on minor professional teams like those depicted in the film, all three of the actors playing the Hanson Brothers played in the major leagues. At the end of the film, Paul Newman’s character gets a job as player-coach for a team in Minnesota for the 1976–77 season, intending to bring players from the defunct Chiefs with him; in real life, Dave Hanson, with Steve and Jack Carlson, played some games with the major league Minnesota Fighting Saints in the 1976–77 WHA season. Steve Carlson played in 225 games, in both the National Hockey League (NHL) and the WHA. Dave Hanson played in 136 games in the NHL and WHA. Jeff Carlson played 7 games in the WHA. Like their characters, both Dave Hanson and Jeff Carlson were known for a willingness to 'drop the gloves'. Steve Carlson did have some fights in his professional career, but was known more as a finesse player.
Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson and Dave Hanson continue to make personal appearances as the Hanson Brothers, typically at minor league hockey games as of 2018. The brothers appeared at the first Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Alumni Game in Wilkes-Barre, PA on April 4, 2009. The brothers played in a charity game March 23, 2013 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada for the benefit of Autism Kingston and the International Hockey Hall of Fame. They made an appearance in Johnstown, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, September 29, 2015, as they took part in the NHL & Kraft's Hockeyville USA, at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena, where all of the home game scenes in the movie were filmed. As the winner of Hockeyville USA contest, the Cambria County War Memorial Arena received $150,000 to renovate its scoreboard, lighting, and boards.[1]
In popular culture[edit]
- The Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League employ a trio of Hanson lookalikes known as the Mullet Brothers, who sport long black hair and black-rimmed glasses. The 'brothers' shovel snow out of the net area during breaks in full uniform and pads.[2]
- Extreme Championship Wrestling characters The Dudley Brothers were based on the Hanson brothers. Two members of this stable, Bubba Ray & D-Von, would later shed the comedic elements of the gimmick and go on to become the Dudley Boyz tag team.
- At the June 2011 NHL Awards, the Hanson Brothers appeared in a spoof sketch based on the popular television series Pawn Stars, in which they try to sell the Stanley Cup to proprietor Rick Harrison at his pawn shop.[3]
- In 2015 the Hanson Brothers were inducted into the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame.[4]
- In addition to the original film, Slap Shot (1977), all three actors reprised their roles as the Hanson Brothers in two sequels, Slap Shot 2 (2002) and Slap Shot 3 (2008).
References[edit]
- ^http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=780872
- ^Tim Warsinskey (2014-10-02). ''Slap Shot' movie descendant Christian Hanson loses role with Lake Erie Monsters'. The Plain Dealer. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
- ^'Bruins Highlights From the NHL Awards'. Boston Bruins. Retrieved January 15, 2012.
- ^Wallace, Fred (January 4, 2016). 'Hansons Headline Hall Inductees'. Bayshore Broadcasting. Bayshore Broadcasting.
External links[edit]
- http://www.hansonbrothers.net/ - Official site for the Hanson Brothers
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hanson_Brothers&oldid=940876607'
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