Some more observations I made when rewatching HG1 and HG2 recently:
The hockey team Happy tries out for at the beginning is the "Waterbury Wolverines". Waterbury seems to be a real town in Connecticut, but that's not a hockey team they have. Very apt for Happy though
At Chubbs' funeral the sash says his first name was either "Derick" or "Roderick" - personally, I think it's Roderick
I love that the films act like there's some sort of telepathic link between the characters, from the first film to the second. If Shooter was committed right after the second film, and stayed locked up with no outside news for 29 years, he had no particular reason to think Happy's wife was Virginia. Unless he just really believed in their love. But he guessed right. And the "go back to your shanties" line is something Shooter says almost under his breath, walking away from a shot - there's no reason to think it was on camera, or even caught by cameras, or that anyone heard it other than Shooter. But Happy just knows that's the thing to say to get the 'old' Shooter McGavin back (unless, by sheer coincidence, he came up with it on the fly)
I do think if Happy didn't get a clue about Shooter at the end of the second film, John Daly would be the one to have a word with him about it, like he did about golf. And he'd enjoy it. It'd be just like watching Love Island in real life. Also I think he'd say "and if you're not going to take your shot, do you mind if I hit?"
In Happy's dream where Virginia shows up, she tells him to lead their kids by example and 'show them the Happy I fell in love with', and he says 'that guy's gone'. And she tells him that guy's still in there. And then at the Maxi tournament, Happy tells Shooter he's got the old Shooter McGavin in him, and Shooter says 'that guy's long gone'. And his wife talks to him, and tells him that guy's still in there <3
It kills me that Shooter's chained up for his mental health assessment. Not very effectively, but chained up.
When he has his breakdown, he's crying and saying 'It's my tour - it's Shooter's tour!". When Happy gives him the pep talk at the end, getting him to say "It's Shooter's tour" is what brings him back to himself. And I love that. Like - it just needed to be a different way.
It's kind of crazy that Happy only got into golf for the sake of getting his grandma's house back, showed almost no signs of enjoying it for its own sake, then when Shooter bought the house and offered it back to him in exchange for him quitting golf, he only tried to stick with it because Virginia said him being successful in a sport he's good at would make his grandma happy. Then at the end of the film, she says she actually only cares that Happy's happy - but there's nothing to suggest golf makes him happy. He says he's having fun, which is nice - and golf gave him a good living, and led him to meeting his wife and having his kids and making his golf friends. But all he ever wanted to be, according to him, was a hockey player. And he's still obsessed with hockey in the second film - always wearing the Bruins gear, and he has a Bruins-themed alarm clock. And they really go back on forth on whether he "is" a golfer, or has "the spirit of a hockey player in him". Like, I guess it's better than being miserable and getting nowhere with hockey - but I do kind of wonder if either Happy or Shooter really ended up in a good place because Happy started playing golf.
It struck me, on a rewatch, the way Happy told Vienna 'when I was young all I wanted was to join the Bruins, but I was no good. [Ballet] is your Bruins, and you are good, we just don't have the money'. Because in a way that applies to Shooter too - he wasn't good enough to beat Happy, or to achieve the gold jacket when he wanted to, but everything suggests he loved golf, and he was good enough to be professional with it, which seemed to be something he also wanted. It's something Happy could even, hypothetically, be jealous of him for - he's got the skill at the sport he loves the most, and Happy doesn't have that, even if he has magic golf abilities.
