This may be a tad outdated, with its catchy soundtrack
and music by Kenny Loggins, but it still shows the talent for amazing comedic
timing. Mike Massie said in his review, “Director Harold Ramis would write,
direct, produce, and even star in several influential, important comedy works
of the ‘80s, but it’s this envelope-pushing laugh-fest that kicked off his
directing career.” Although the late amazing one-liner comedian Rodney Dangerfield,
Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray could definitely use more screen time (their
involvement was originally meant to be simply cameos), especially seeing how
much of the film is improvised, “Caddyshack” still intelligently utilizes its
cast. Succeeding on so many ways, this film is also highly quotable, often
being called one of the all-time funniest comedies, with a handful of lines of
dialogue ranking among the most memorable in cinema. Who knew golf could be so
much fun?
Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe), a member of an
incredibly large family (Ron Frank, Patricia Wilcox, Debi Frank, and Dennis
McCormack), is preparing to disappoint his parents (Elaine Aiken and Albert
Saimi) with news of failed scholarship opportunities. He’s faced on finding a
career at the laborious lumberyard, but currently spends his time as a caddie
at the exclusive Bushwood Country Club, fighting with old people, drugs,
fighting, his girlfriend Maggie (Sarah Holcomb), a desperate newcomer (Cindy
Morgan), crazy partiers, and generally debaucherous activities. When he hears
of a caddie scholarship that could change his future, he wants to win a golf
tournament and to kiss up to Judge Smails, played by Ted Knight from the “Mary
Tyler Moore Show,” the man who can recommend him for the scholarship. As events
develop, a $40,000 illegal game of golf and a plastic-explosive-obsessed
maintenance man raise the climax.
Assistant greenskeeper Carl Spackler, played by Bill
Murray, is a solitary crazy man with an obsession for older women, constantly
saying nasty things silently, charged with taking care of a destructive gopher
haunting the golf course (he’s got a six-year plan for eventually becoming head
greenskeeper). Massie said, “Treating the rodent like the Vietcong, he wages a
personal war that’s sure to cause more damage than an entire army of critters
could unleash.” Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) is a millionaire golfer who never keeps
score and a philosopher with odd advice and random comments, and Al Czervik
(Rodney Dangerfield) is a wealthy invest with one-liner jokes and crude sarcasm
always ready to be said. For these strange people, it’s just an average day on
the golf course.
Massie noted, “The story itself is rather disjointed,
with three characters all trying to achieve separate goals. The gags appear to
have been written first, with the plot formed around various witty setups, much
like every “Saturday Night Live” movie adaptation. The premise is simple,
rarely interfering with the delivery of humor, as if in place just to get the
actors to cross paths – the oddball characters are the constituents that quickly
become the best parts of the pervasive nonsense. It’s infrequent for three
vastly different comedians to have such fitting performances together without
trampling on each other’s skits; here, they pull it off admirably. Complete
with an iconic dancing gopher, hilarious dialogue, and edgy elements that would
lead the way for raunchy teen comedies of the future, “Caddyshack” proves that
irreverence toward everything can be gut-busting and that golf doesn’t have to
be just for the elderly (though predominantly for the rich).”
This movie is a must for everyone to see. It doesn’t matter
if you like golf or not, this movie will make everyone bust out laughing. See
it, especially to hear some of the funniest lines from Rodney Dangerfield. This
movie is famous for the line, “Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former
greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a
mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!” Do not miss your
chance to see this.
Look out next week when I review another classic
comedy in “Chevy Chase Month.”
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