Possibly the first of many golf-based comedies (preceding Happy Gilmore by a decade and a half), Caddyshack is still the go-to comedy for most film buffs, featuring some of the funniest actors of the baby boomer generation. Where else could one find Chevy Chase, Ted Knight, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray AND a dancing gopher on the same greens?
Caddyshack Synopsis (As if Anyone Didn't Know the Story)
If by some fluke you've never even once been exposed to this marvelous comedy, here are the main points to keep track of: Danny (Michael O'Keefe) works as a caddy at the prestigious Bushwood Country Club, hoping to amass enough money to go off to college.
Though Danny usually works as caddy for the eccentric former pro golfer Ty Webb (Chevy Chase, Hot Tub Time Machine), he tries to offer his services to the pompous yet powerful co-founder of the club, Judge Smails (Ted Knight, TV's The Mary Tyler Moore Show). As it turns out, a scholarship is offered at the club each year, and the Judge is a strong swaying voice in the selection process.
Meanwhile, a tricky gopher has been slowly destroying the resort's luscious greens, and must be stopped. The task is assigned to Carl Spackler (Bill Murray, in his breakthrough role), a greenskeeper with a feeble grasp on reality.
When a disruptive millionaire real estate slob named Al Czervick (Rodney Dangerfield) arrives at the club for some loud good-natured fun, Judge Smails finds himself infuriated with this nuisance, and hopes to get rid of him as soon as possible.
Danny goes on to win a Caddy Tournament, earning him the scholarship he's worked so hard to obtain. He also catches the eye of the Judge's niece Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan, TRON). Danny's girlfriend Maggie (Sarah Holcomb) gets furious, especially after discovering she is pregnant with Danny's child. Oy.
The feud between Judge Smails and Al Czervick reaches a boiling point when the latter opts to buy the club, potentially killing any prestige the resort may offer. Ty offers an alternative. A round of golf with a money bet of 20,000$.
The resulting challenge goes down as one of the funniest in movie history, and nothing is ever the same at Bushwood Country Club.
Caddyshack Overall Analysis
If this movie is remembered for anything, let it be for the incredible amount of brilliant improvisation the cast (mostly composed of Second City and SNL alums) achieved, much to the chagrin of seasoned actor Ted Knight.
Indeed, by watching the impressively detailed anniversary featurette included on the bluray, fans can discover how an extremely long original script by Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney and Brian Doyle-Murray all but disappeared by the time the cameras rolled. This was mostly due to the participation of notables such as Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, who'd go off-script so often that the resulting footage ended up funnier each time.
This is also impressive, given that Chase and Murray had had a falling out on the set of SNL years prior. To add to this sense of mayhem and unscripted goofs, the studio in charge of production was uncomfortable with having a first-time director (Ramis, who went on to play Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters) at the helm.
With reputed off-set parties fueled by unlimited amounts of drugs and booze, it's a miracle the movie ever saw a release, but most were happy it did: given that we're talking 1980 money, the film grossed 46 million dollars in its initial release. Not a bad chunk of change for an unorthodox comedy centered around golf.
Who can forget Chase's infamous nuggets of wisdom imparted to Danny ("Be the ball"), Dangerfield's classic one-liners ("Hey everybody, we're all gonna get laid!") and Murray's vendetta against a cute furry gopher ("I smell varmint poontang")? All of these, along with the gopher puppet, make Caddyshack the kind of film one can revisit with friends.
Caddyshack 30th Anniversary Bluray Features
Go ahead an skip the short retrospective, and set your sights on the aforementioned feature-length inside-story documentary, which features some of the actors from the film (minus Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield, who passed on in 1986 and 2004, respectively) and their views on some of the goings-on during production. Dare it be said that the docu is easily as fun to watch as the feature film.
The Final Word on Caddyshack
It's a genuine fact that this movie belongs on that revered shelf of timeless comedies, up there with Airplane!, Blazing Saddles, Slap Shot and Young Frankenstein. Rarely has a film so entertained crowds, with its script-gone-errant and impeccable chemistry between comedic geniuses.
Caddyshack 30th Anniversary Bluray: 3 out of 5
Dominic Messier - Dominic Messier is a Toronto-based Film & TV writer, Sci-Fi TV and Film Dramas Topic Editor, and creator of PopCultureLandscape.com
