What’s Aged the Best?
Opening-credits 1970s history lesson; real hockey players in the roles; Bill Ranford in goal; Al Michaels re-recording his call; Michaels' game intro; keeping O.C. on the team; the Russians' style of play; Noah Emmerich; the BUM stuff; "He doesn't know what to do"; Dream On
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:13Read transcript
- The opening credits history lesson on the 1970s (Watergate, the gas shortage) is liked, though it asks whether the fall of Saigon relates to a hockey game; the Carter malaise speech is an important piece.
- Casting hockey players instead of actors, because it is easier to teach hockey players to act, makes you believe you are watching them really do it.
- Bill Ranford, a longtime goalie who played for the Bruins, is essentially Jim Craig under the equipment, the one organic place to cheat.
- Realism is not always needed (Teen Wolf, Stallone as an arm wrestler), but it helped here.
- Having Al Michaels redo his audio so he narrates the third act is an incredible wrinkle; the last seconds use his real, higher-pitched call.
- Michaels' underrated intro to the game ("two teams on a sheet of frozen ice in Lake Placid") would have signaled history was about to happen.
- The decision to let O.C. play is both a great scene and a good job by Herb Brooks, since there were only 20 spots and most coaches probably would have cut him.
- The Russians played like a different sport in their use of space, and Herb wanted a hybrid of Russian and Canadian styles and to go right at them.
- Noah Emmerich as Craig Patrick is added; this and Beautiful Girls are called his Apex Mountain combo, though for most of the movie he seems like a glorified water guy.
- The BUM stuff was awesome, and a favorite little moment is late in the third period when Herb Brooks does not know what to do.
- Dream On in the closing credits is recalled as something that belonged in the aged-best category.