User Reviews

...what Youngblood attempts, which is to tell the story of an up and coming star at a crucial point in his hockey career. Of all the hockey movies I've seen, including Slap Shot, The Mighty Ducks movies, The Cutting Edge (which focuses on hockey for only the beginning of the film) and the Van-Damme action-film Sudden Death, (which in my opinion is the absolute worst hockey-related movie ever made) the plot of Youngblood is the most reasonable to me. I have not seen Mystery Alaska, but from a friend of mine's description, it sounds quite far-fetched. (although I suppose a group of Alaskans probably would have a chance against the Rangers :)

I was born late in 1979, and first saw Youngblood when I was quite young. In fact, it was the first hockey movie I ever saw, and to date the only one I own. Part of my fascination with this film resulted from my passion for the sport of ice hockey, which I began playing at the age of 4 and maintained competitively through the collegiate level.

What I like most about Youngblood is that the story is centered around one player (Dean) and his struggles to advance his career, despite his talent. The obstacles he faces in the film: lack of toughness, and clashing with the coach, and knowing his chances to go pro are running slim, are typical themes hockey players share as they advance toward the ultimate goal of one day playing in the NHL. While Slapshot is hockey's cult classic, it is more like Animal House on Ice than a realistic attempt to portray ice hockey, which Youngblood attempts, and quite honestly a film of such nature should be produced for the avid hockey fans around the world.

Without a doubt, Youngblood fails to portray skillful hockey, and the off-ice action only mildly captures the life of a junior hockey player, but had the proper research been done and certain changes made pre-production, Youngblood could have joined Slapshot in hockey fans' movie collections. The games needed to be faster, the dialogue snappier, (especially the Keanu Reeves brainbusters) and the Rocky-ish training diminished the quality of the film, because not only would Dean not go from being the weakest in the league to kicking the toughest guy's butt in a week, but most wannabe professionals and junior teams have regimented training programs to follow on a regular basis, and do not begin two days before the championship game of the league they're in.

Cutting that scene could have made room for a far more realistic side of the game, such as Dean being contacted by prospective coaches, agents and other interested parties to notify him they'd be coming to watch his games. (like most prospects with hopes of going pro have to deal with)

Dean simply mentions that he wants to go pro and needs to play juniors if he's going to get a contract, but that is the last we hear about him playing pro, aside from mentioning it to Jessie, coach Chadwick's sexy daughter, and Dean's love interest. From my experiences, any player in junior hockey who did not receive a fair amount of attention from scouts was quite likely not going anywhere, so there should have been some effort to include them to advance the plot of his odds of making it, because scouts would have certainly had more influence on Dean playing tougher than anyone in the film does, although in reality his teammates should have been getting on him too.

As for character interplay, Dean's relationship with Chadwick's daughter is entertaining, if far-fetched. Perhaps the most realistic relationship between characters in the film is the one between Sutton and Youngblood, as the top talents of hockey teams often have an appreciation for one another and pal-up off the ice. Not to mention, the Hollywood impact on the film is the only logical explanation for Youngblood leaving the team after Sutton's injury. In all my years as a player, I'd never heard of that one, although, I suppose it just explains Dean's irrational behavior resulting from his conflicts with coach Chadwick and his nemesis, Racki.

On the whole, I appreciate this movie, but I certainly wish it had more of an advanced pace and that it better explored and explained some of the typical stereotypes of hockey players that it shows (star player chases and gets the girl everyone wants, the bar scene, the initiation, the opposing team's heckling fans, etc.)

As a long-time hockey player and fan who now studies Scriptwriting at Ithaca College, I feel somewhat obligated to pen a true-to-life hockey film for the die-hard lovers of the game out there. Somebody needs to!! Youngblood, if nothing else, at least will make a decent reference.

Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) is a skilled teen hockey player in upstate New York. He gets a tryout for a junior league team in Hamilton. His father refuses but his older brother Kelly convinces him otherwise. Kelly had tried but got injured. Dean's speed beats out the brute Racki in the eyes of coach Chadwick. The team led by captain Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze) hazes the rookie. The coach's daughter Jessie (Cynthia Gibb) is intrigued. His landlady Miss McGill (Fionnula Flanagan) has boarded and seduced many hockey players in the past.

This is a pretty average coming-of-age movie. Rob Lowe is a charming young guy. Gibb is winsome. Swayze plays a good older mentor like he does in Dirty Dancing. Keanu Reeves gets a small role early in his career. It has a couple of memorable scenes like the hazing. It's not particularly outstanding but it does the job.

It was with some trepidation that I watched this movie, I loved it as a kid, like I did "Crocodile Dundee" and it's sequel, both of which disappointed me, upon rewatching them recently.

Plot In A Paragraph: Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) a 17-year-old farmhand from New York, has dreams of playing in the National Hockey League. He is granted the chance to travel to Canada to try out for the Hamilton Mustangs. At the try-outs, Youngblood displays the talent which got him "92 goals in the New York League" but also displays a lack of physical toughness that is so prized in Canadian hockey. This weakness is pounced upon by a brutish player, Carl Racki (George J. Finn), who is also trying out for the team and engages him in a fight. Youngblood quickly learns that flashiness and pure athletic ability will not be enough to be successful in this league. Despite being beat up by by Racki, the coach opts to select Youngblood for a spot on the team. He ingratiates himself to the other players and particularly Captain Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze) and the coach's daughter Jessie (Cynthia Gibb), its not long before Racki reappears playing for a rival team.

Rob Lowe is good as Dean Youngblood, he is pretty enough for the "pretty boy" tag and looks in good shape. Cynthia Gibb is very attractive as Jessie Chadwick, and what an ass she has!! I loved it!! Ed Lauter is a lot of fun as Coach Murray Chadwick and George J. Finn is imposing and does a good job as Carl Racki. However Patrick Swayze steals this movie (yes even away from Cynthia Gibb's wonderful ass) as Derek Sutton. He is brilliant, and a reminder of what a talent we have lost.

Keanu Reeves had a small role as Heaver, one of Lowe and Swayze's team mates.

While there have been many posts stating that this movie is a poor representation of what hockey is really like, I must disagree. I have played hockey up to the college level, and I have had more than one occasion to tryout or play for junior teams in Canada. While many specifics in the movie are exagerated, the parts that people seem to be most offended by are the parts that are true. There is something to be said for rinks that have chain link fencing in stead of glass, every tryout has one or two guys that trip over the blue line untouched, fighting at tryouts, and yes, there are Canadian towns which are old and run down. The social aspects of the movie are definately true: the woman that every guy has been with, the initiating of the rookie, silly girls at the local bar, and of course, the unruley fans. While the movie does take some creative liscence, it is an accurate representation of what life is like for a hockey player trying to make it in junior hockey. I love this movie. It is a must see for anyone who plays the game.

I love this film. It's about Ice Hockey (alwasys a good start), and an up and coming US player who goes over the border to Canada to play having been scouted, in the hope of making a career for himself. Starring Rob Lowe as the titular Dean Youngblood, Patrick Swayze as Derek Sutton the Team Captain and Cythia Gibb as the love interest, it's a typical 80's star vehicle when Rob Lowe as a member of the Brat Pack and seemed to be in everything (The Outsiders, St Elmo's Fire, About Last Night etc). Everything about it screams 80s and I'm not entirely sure it's aged well, it's shot very simply but some nice "set pieces" such as Lowe working out or skate-training sessions. The chemistry between Lowe and Swayze is brotherly, a "bromance", after the initiation at least, and they had played brothers only a few years before in The Outsiders - Darry and Sodapop Curtis.

Whilst this is a an underdog-does-good sports film, it isn't so Hollywood and without drama and it's not a typical happy ending. The skating scenes are really good, Swayze throws himself into the physicality of the role in typical fashion. I'm sure some stunt skaters were used but possibly the actors were ice-familiar anyway. Keanu Reeves has a minor (comedic, and with some great one liners) role and was a goalie at school and he plays Heaver, the goalie with the Mustangs. Much of the story is predictable but there's also a few twists, and whilst the acting isn't stunning, Gibb is the weakest link, the skating and the comedy makes this a fab film - especially the bar scene when Dean first joins the team. The love scene is a little cringeworthy (more so when I first saw this) especially in connection with the wonderful Miss McGill (Fionnula Flanagan). I guarantee you'll never hear the phrase "Room Service?" without smiling, and you'll never look at a cup of tea the same way again. LOL.

The story is a little silly, but this is not a bad sports movie. Rob Lowe can't play a hockey player that well, but his stand in does a nice job. They try to pull of a couple of Rocky work out scenes, but Lowe appears too scrawny to believe that he can fight a goon.

Movie can't live up to Slap Shot, the best hockey movie that I have seen, but is not a bad rent.

Rob Lowe is way too much the matinée idol type to ever be believable as a hockey player. In fact that's the story of Youngblood, that of a player who values his looks a lot more than mixing it up on the ice to help win a game.

Try as I might I just can't see Rob Lowe as a hockey player, even one who won't get down and dirty. He's a speedy fellow on the ice and it's his speed that gets him a berth on a Canadian minor league hockey team, on which he has teammates like Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.

The best scene in the film is where Rob Lowe gets literally raped by the unofficial landlady of the team, Fionula Flannagan. Apparently she gets first dibs on all the new hockey players in helping them keep their equipment in working order. Considering before Lowe, she had both Swayze and Reeves, I'd say she's quite the mechanic.

Rob has a more serious involvement with Cynthia Gibb who is the daughter of Coach Ed Lauter. But she's also daddy's little girl which doesn't help matters.

Our Canadian reviewers say that Youngblood is a gross distortion of Canadian hockey. I'm in no position to comment, but I've seen enough to know that it's a sport where violence is the norm and if you can't mix it up and are not willing to risk your good looks, you won't last too long.

Youngblood is now 23 years old and assuming Rob Lowe's character had a decent sized playing career, I guarantee that Rob today would not look like the fellow who worked for President Martin Sheen in the West Wing.

Maybe it's because I neither follow hockey nor care for it, or maybe it's because I'm a 15-year-old female teenager, but I liked this movie. Sure, it's nothing special or extraordinary, in fact its plot has been done a million times. But I just liked it. It's virtually impossible not to like Dean Youngblood (and it's got nothing to do with the fact that Rob Lowe is hot) and to cheer for him when he finally learns how to hit a guy. The romance between Dean and Jessie actually doesn't seem forced; the two of them have a certain chemistry that is quite obvious to viewers like myself. Cynthia Gibb is all-natural in her role as Jessie, and Patrick Swayze evokes empathy in the viewer as the high-school drop-out who is *this close* to being a pro hockey player. But it is Rob Lowe who basically carried the whole movie, and once again, it has got nothing to do with the fact that he is hot.

Overall, this is a feel-good hockey movie that I liked. I usually can't stand sports movies, as I hate sports with an intense passion, but this one is just...well, it's just nice. And then there's Rob Lowe...

I really cant see why people think this film isnt at least worthy of a 8-10 rating.

This movie is in my top 10 mivies of all time along with Casino, T2, Aliens, Goodfellas, Die Hard, Braveheart, Pulp Fiction ,Reservoir Dogs and The Real McCoy which is a film about a bank robbery.

Youngblood is such a great film. It is the best Ice Hockey movie i have ever seen and he also gets a hot babe in the film too. When he is taught how to fight u know its a predictable ending but at the same time u just really want to see him kick that bad guys ass.

My advice is watch it enjoy it and as long as u dont over hype it the film will be most enjoyable

One of my favorite underdog sports films. Swayze and Lowe are phenomenal

I found myself bored by this movie. Firstly, I did not like Rob Lowe or Cynthia Gibb in this movie. I found their characters predictable and cliché and their romance even more so. I did like Patrick Swayze, I though he gave a good performance. But I have to say in a movie like this it isn't good to judge performances as the material isn't very hard to act.

My main problem was as I said, it doesn't capture your attention and i'm mostly talking about the hockey games. I felt like their wasn't even an effort to make the action interesting. I should have been cheering the characters on at that last hockey game but I bored. I guess my opinion is a bit biased after watching the Maurice Richard movie whose hockey sequences were rivaled by no one else in their excitement and joy.

I certainly would not recommend this movie to hockey fans. Maybe the lingering Rob Lowe fans would enjoy it but i found this to be a boring and unmoving film even for a teen movie.

There are a lot of angry Canadian people expressing hatred for this movie. I can totally understand where they are coming from. I play the game of hockey, and I find it hard to believe that every time a player touches the ice, he's scoring goals. Added to that, how he learns to fight, and works out for a week, and all of a sudden beats up a guy that kicked his butt a couple of weeks before. BUT.... You also have to understand something else. Since Slap Shot, an undoubtedly awesome classic to all hockey fans around the world, there had not been an attempt at a movie that mainly focused on hockey. The makers of this movie had to be creative to attract attention for the sport. For example, the stick fight, the constant beautiful goals, the way he won the fight. It had some reality to it like the jokes played on the rookie in the bar and when they shave him, you know, down there. The way he was put up in someones house. The most impressive thing about the movie, was the beginning and how it set up the rest of the movie. It starts with a home video of Dean(Rob Lowe) when he was very young playing with his older brother and their friends. It shows how clearly dominant he was and that leads into the present time with him saying, "I've been offered a tryout with the Hamilton Mustangs." And to Canadians who feel like this movie disrespected your great sport (yes, i mean GREAT sport), remember this. When they are on their way to Canada, Deans older brother who is driving him says you are gonna have to learn, "Oh, Canada" and also when Dean says, "They'll never catch me" showing cockiness like he's superior to anyone in the league, his brother says, "Oh, they'll catch you." I love hockey, I loved this movie. Did it have it's flaws? Yeah, plenty of them. But if you're looking for an inspiring, action filled drama, give this movie a whirl.

I loved it in terms of hockey. But at times found it quite cheesy and poorly written, but in terms of hockey I liked it but defiantly could've been better. I find most hockey movies to appeal an American audience tends to always need to include fighting and violence -- although I do agree the fighting adds emotion, but I'm the one hockey fan that can live without the fighting.

What I found cheesy was before I watched the movie I thought the title was deemed towards the premise being a young hockey player hoping to go pro, but making Youngblood the character's last name. I think what they should've done was given him a true last name that hockey fans would take seriously. But the other thing was should've done the whole junior thing a lot differently because it's not a tryout for juniors, you get drafted or invited. Also, trading in sports always makes the story better as I wish they traded Racki away or Youngblood is traded away because the team didn't believe in him or a team gave him a second chance because they saw what he could do.

Other than that, it's a good hockey movie. I just think the movie would be a lot more relevant had they done things right in a genuine hockey perspective.

Being Canadian and playing competitive hockey for most of my life, I have to say there are a lot of realism's to the movie but the premise is one of the things that is lacking. In my experience Major Junior teams that are going into the league final do not have try-outs the week before. A player as skilled as Youngblood would most certainly have been noticed earlier and should already been playing, especially with an older brother that played before him. All in all this is probably my favorite all time movie and the little things that aren't realistic really don't matter. Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves and the rest of the cast did an excellent job learning and portraying hockey players.

Hockey is passion. I know it even though I'm in the "other side" of the world. I watched lots of games. I like hockey. That's why I wanted to see the movie. Is it a good and realistic hockey film? I really don't know that so far. But passion and personality is needed in order to play the game. I really would like to know if this movie is accorded to the reality of hockey. Times had passed. This movie was made 18 years ago and it was released here in Argentina. Even though we shouldn't know what hockey is about. When I find a hockey game in cable TV I want to see it.

Rob Lowe portrays a hockey ace in advance. His father is a farmer who works with his older brother (a former player). Youngblood wants to play in New York but first he must increase his level of hockey and personality because hockey is a rude sport. He falls in love with the coach's daughter and tries to get the friendship of the star of the team name is Derek Sutton (Patrick Swayze). We are not naive, he'll be a star (I wonder if he'll play in Madison Square Garden) scoring a hat-trick in the final game. I liked both performances (Lowe and Swayze) but I recognized a great work of Cinthia Gibb (as Youngblood's girl). Like Maradona in soccer from a simple home to a star. I liked this movie. I really want to know why it doesn't portray hockey's reality. I rate this movie 6 out of 10. Andres.

Youngblood is a derivative sports film starring Rob Lowe as an American farm boy who travels to Canada to play junior Ice Hockey.

It is a kind of story that features his new team mates humiliating him in an initiation ceremony but they all later bond as they frequently indulge in puerile humour. Youngblood quickly gets seduced by the cougar landlady who does this with all the ice hockey players staying with her, he also flirts with the hard nosed coach's daughter, clashes with a brutish player of an opposing team, which leads to a team mate getting a serious injury leading to a crisis of confidence and conscience among our hero. Youngblood runs back to his farm where he is toughened up by his family and he returns just in time to the important end of season game.

The film is a slice of mid 1980s cheese with lots of Rockyesque overtones. It features some rising talent such as Patrick Swayze as well Keanu Reeves, who would one day jump out of a plane together and fight for a parachute.

It is a shame that the film lacks heart and conviction. Lowe also appears to be too bland, cast more for his sex appeal which must be the only reason for that jockstrap scene.

I have happy memories of watching this movie, a go to film as most sport stories have Rob Lowe as Dean Youngblood the hero, up against the odds of a brutal opponent.Raki, Ed Lauder and Cynthia Gibb supporting,

Make this a feel good film.

Patrick Swayze, and Keanu Reeves also star, its not just about winning its winning in the right way.

Dean Youngblood (Rob Lowe) wants to join a Canadian ice hockey team...BUT he has to prove he can fight back when challenged on the ice. Naturally he falls in love with the coach's daughter (Cynthia Gibb). And Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze are guys on the team!

Totally predictable and pretty dull in terms of story but this film has some redeeming moments. The scenes on the ice are well done and filmed--I heard they actually consulted a retired ice hockey player on how to shot them. They DO work. Also Swayze has a few good moments too. Reeves never could act and this movie doesn't change my opinion. But my reason for seeing this was Rob Lowe. He never was much of an actor but I think he was one of the best-looking men I've ever seen. He pumped up for the movie (it shows) and there's a sequence which is just in there to show Lowe in a jockstrap. Nice to see a guy being the sexual object and not the women. Gibb is cute too.

But, unless you're interested in seeing Lowe practically nude or have a huge interest in ice hockey, you'll probably be bored. I give it a 6.

This film goes into my "Worst Films Ever Made" file. I have a copy of this film which I watch when I want a good laugh, and this isn't even a comedy. I am disappointed that such great actors agreed to be in such a piece of garbage. This film is inaccurate (in its portrayal of hockey), offensive (to Canadians), and I wasn't even all that impressed with the acting. Even the story was a bit weak. If you have never seen this film, you're lucky. If you have, I'm sorry.