Jolly hockey sticks

Film: Youngblood
Certificate: 15
Duration: 110 mins
Year of Release: 1986
Genre: Drama, Romance, Sports
Director(s): Peter Markle
Writer(s): Peter Markle, John Whitman
Cast: Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Cynthia Gibb, Ed Lauter, Jim Youngs, Eric Nesterenko, George J. Finn, Fionnula Flanagan, Keanu Reeves, Martin Donlevy


Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) longs to fulfill his dream of becoming a professional ice hockey star, and break away from his life on the family farm. Although he has the ability, he worries that he may not succeed and end up back on the farm like his brother Kelly (Kim Youngs), who had also tried to become a professional ice hockey star, only to return to the farm a broken man after loosing the sight in one eye. So after some cajoling and encouragement from Kelly, Dean tries out for a small team in the Canadian league, earning his position after beating Racki (George Finn) a huge violent player into the final team slot.

After suffering an embarrassing initiation from his new 'jock' team mates and an eye opening experience with his land lady, Youngblood soon provides his worth and settles into the team. All but briefly, as he finds himself on the wrong side of the team's coach, when he is caught romancing his daughter and is unfairly dumped on the bench. After he sees his friend and mentor Derek (Patrick Swayze) seriously injured by an opposing player, Youngblood looses his nerve and flees back to the farm. Where he is given a stern talking too by his brother and given a lesson in toughening up by his father, before he is sent back to the hockey team to try and make things right.

More often than not, sports movies follow the same predictable storyline that the lead role tries to make good, comes up against a seemingly unmovable opponent, feels that they're doomed never to win and then comes back to beat the opposition and be the hero of the piece. Sad to say, but Youngblood is no different to any of the other hundreds of sport based movies which fill the shelves of the shops, but saying that, I love this film. Prior to this, the only real film of any notoriety, based around the sport of Ice Hockey, was Slapshot, which focused more on the brutal side of the sport, where as Youngblood focuses on the story of a player rising to victory and conquering his fears. Along with this you have the casting of 2 Hollywood stars in lead roles before they got sucked in to making main stay Hollywood crowd pleasers.

As I have already mentioned, the main part of the plot follows a tried and tested formula which any fans of sports orientated movies such as Rocky and Cinderella Man will be more than familiar with, but as the saying goes "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". So with a predictable plot, is there anything extra in the story to hold your attention? Well yes, there is a romance between Youngblood and the coach's daughter, which although not entirely original, gives the film some extra depth. Plus you get the funny storyline of Youngblood getting an initiation from not only his team mates but also his randy land lady. Okay, so there is nothing breathtakingly new in any part of the story line, but fans of succeed over adversity style movies will enjoy this.

In the lead role of Dean Youngblood is a young Rob Lowe (St Elmo's Fire) who has been brilliantly cast as the young hockey star. I say brilliantly cast, because part of Youngblood's character is that he is not a rough player, who fears being seriously hurt and that is demonstrated not only by Lowe's good looks, but through some very good acting skill. Opposite him is Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing) as Derek his friend and ice hockey mentor. This film came in what I would call a transitional phase for Swayze, as he was moving out of low budget action flicks and the year before he reached stardom with Dirty Dancing. Although there is no serious depth to the character of Derek, Swayze comes over very convincingly not only as a sports 'jock' but also as a hockey player, as did Rob Lowe. Out of all the supporting cast, there are two which deserve a mention. Firstly there is the team's coach, Murray Chadwick played by Ed Lauter (Seabiscuit) who plays the snarling coach down to a tee. Along with this you have his daughter, Jessie, played by Cynthia Gibb (Fame - TV series) who provides the love interest for Dean, and you can honestly see the chemistry between them. Other notable appearances in the film come from Fionnula Flanagan (Waking Ned) and a very young Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) in only his third movie role.

Youngblood is directed by Peter Markle who more recently has directed episodes of CSI and Numb3rs. Although he hasn't done anything remarkable to lift this above any other similar sports film, he has delivered a film with some very good sports action sequences and some very moody effects. What is quite surprising is that the dialogue is not full of the cliché comments which usually litter sports movies, and the delivery of the dialogue comes over as very real. As the film was made in the mid 80s, it is no surprise that the soundtrack has songs from prominent bands such as Starship and Mr. Mister, which for anyone who has fond memories of the 80s is an additional bonus.


Youngblood may follow the same plot that many other more popular sports movies have followed, but it is still a very enjoyable watch. With the emphasis being on the story rather than the sports action, it has some nice touches of humour to accompany the drama. I feel that this is a much overlooked gem that is easily comparable to the much more popular sports films such as the acclaimed Rocky and the recently released The Cinderella Man. Of course this will appeal to fans of sports movies but will also appeal to fans of both Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze, as you get to see them before they really hit it big.