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.

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.

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.