Caddyshack Review

This is one of the crudest comedies that I have seen from the 80s. The late Harold Ramis really flexed his comedic chops when directing this one. This is actually my first time viewing the film. A couple years back, I got this movie from a discount rack at Wal-Mart. It's been on my Blu-Ray shelf mostly collecting dust. I felt bad since I could have watched it back then, but I’m easily absolved of that now. As always SPOILERS in the review.

As the title suggests, it involves golf. Although not in the way one would think when seeing the movie like I did. It's about this young caddie named Danny who has the job at the country club since he's saving up to go to college. He's a relatable character since in the beginning he lives in a small two-story house with tons of siblings. My favorite moment is when he is cycling to go to the country club. He sees the rows of fancy houses on the street, each one different and giving him a choice of options. It is communicating to us what Danny wants for himself and who could blame him.

With that happening, we see how everything works at the caddie station. It seems as though there is a power hierarchy among the young caddies. Loomis played by Bill Murray's older brother Brian Doyle-Murray is a gambling man who bets on baseball games. He is the one that keeps tabs on every caddie and occasionally helps out Danny. Such as when he gets bullied by another caddie and Loomis grabs him and forces him to read the rules on a sign. One tidbit I like is that the owner of the club says that the property does not allow for bets. Which is a callback to what Loomis did just minutes earlier.

Danny caddies for a wealthy man named Ty Webb played by Chevy Chase. He is a relaxed golfer who has a belief of everything falling into place. Danny asks Webb on the idea of going to college and Ty brushes him off. By stating to him that a higher power will show Danny a better way. He then decides to gain a favor from the owner Judge Smails played by Ted Knight who tells Danny that there is a scholarship for caddies. This is the key thing that really makes this film work for me. The focus isn’t really on the older golfers because it would be boring but the main framing story is on Danny and how he is being influenced by the affluent golfers.

When we aren’t following Danny, Bill Murray steals the show. He plays the groundskeeper Carl Spackler who is assigned by his overseer to get rid of a gopher who is ruining the golf course. It feels like a Looney Tunes bit involving the Coyote and Road Runner. So much so that the animal leaves a trail like Bugs Bunny. The Gopher is animated with animatronics, and I think is one of the problems I had with the film. It could have been played straight with Spackler trying to use various outrageous ways to kill one gopher and not working. I was laughing but thinking about it more, it took me out of the movie.

As I mentioned, Spackler steals the movie because he is so insane. He mumbles and stalks the female golfers like a crazy man. He goes on tangents that involves having a rough military past. That’s really all I got to say about him because another comedian steals the show as well. Rodney Dangerfield plays the eccentric millionaire Al Czervik. He is the one that causes the most damage in the country club. It gets to a point that Judge Smails wants him out of his club since Al damaged the judge’s boat. As well as being a massive pain in the ass.

From there, Webb suggests that there be a competition between Judge Smails and Czervik on if Al gets to be a member of the club or not. There is a caveat since Danny is chosen to be the caddie. This is the part that I liked. Earlier in the film, Danny actually wins a golfing match between the other caddies to win the scholarship. Now the stakes are high when he has to tee off against the judge when Al gets injured by his own tee. Meanwhile, Spackler devised a plan to kill the Gopher. The tension is really heightened since Spackler intends to blow the gopher up and Danny trying to win. I was anxious when Danny’s ball stopped at the very edge of the hole. Regardless, the entire golf course blows up and Danny wins.

This film is fun and the most interesting bit is that half of the movie was improvised. The talent that was being presented by the comedians is just a miracle. Chevy and Bill had been on Saturday Night Live prior to this film and manage to have a comedic synergy. More so on Dangerfield since he just was roasting everyone and had a different one liner. That’s the thing with comedy films that have some improvisation. There needs to be basic direction to have the comedians be lightning fast with their wits and it pays off.

My favorite moment doesn’t necessarily involve golf but a swimming pool at the country club. Dozens of the young caddies swarm the pool and start to have fun. Especially when the lifeguard post gets knocked down. There are three teens hanging by the pool, one of the is about to eat a Baby Ruth bar, and one of them tosses it to the pool. The kids start freaking out and believe that the candy bar is a floating turd. Judge Smails order the pool to be drained and to be cleaned. The real kisser is when Murray’s character eats the bar and the judge and his wife is disgusted. Now, that’s crude humor.

Overall, this one of the few comedic sports movies that I have ever seen. Maybe its because it’s the fear that people don’t know the sport to failure to catch the jokes, when really its to have the sport be the background with characters worth caring. Caddyshack does it well and should be viewed more as a classic gem.

Caddyshack gets a 4 out of 5.