The Golf Specialist

This is an early Fields treasure. While it lacked any sort of finish, it has moments that are very funny. We are first introduced to an attractive but lunkheaded woman who goes after every man she sees. She ends up on the links with Fields and we get a series of funny moments. But what has always cracked me up is the guy who plays the caddy, with his giant hat and his total cluelessness. What we have here is one pratfall after another. We must ask, "Will he ever hit the ball?"

This is an amusing short feature, and it holds up well for its time. You can tell at times that it is from the very early sound era, when they still did not quite have the pacing down, but W.C. Fields makes up for it with his usual skill at both sight gags and dialogue jokes. There have been few comedians as good as Fields was at getting good mileage out of a recurring line of dialogue ("keep your eye on the ball ... "), and here as "The Golf Specialist" he also gets quite a bit out of his peculiar caddie. The result is an entertaining trifle that is light on plot but that has some good laughs.

In this primitive early talkie W. C. Fields plays J. Effingham Bellweather, wanted by the authorities for eating spaghetti in public, explaining the facts of life to an Indian and other heinous crimes. Bewitched by the flirtatious wife of the detective in his hotel, Bellweather offers to display his prowess on the golf course to her with unexpected results.

Some of the early scenes in this film look like something from a spoof of badly-made films. There are some glaring continuity errors in the opening scene, and I'm sure I could hear a wind machine in operation in one scene on the golf course. Nevertheless this is quite a funny effort from Fields, whose performance benefits dramatically from the use of sound. I especially liked the scene in which he reads a note from an aggrieved debtor in front of the receptionist to whom the note was dictated. After reading it, Fields slowly and deliberately tears the note into pieces and, as he discards it, comments wryly "silly little girl." He also does battle with a smart little girl who literally screams all her lines with gusto, and makes good use of a number of props: exploding cigarette lighters, warped golf clubs, sheets of paper, squeaky shoes. The routine on the golf course wears a little thin, but is enlivened by the presence of a strange caddy who almost manages to upstage Fields on a number of occasions.

W.C. Fields brightened up anything he was a part of. this twenty minute shortie is like a vaudeville bit. The house detective's wife flirts with the paying guests, and then waits for hubby to come along and chase him off. One of the hotel guests is J. Effington Bellweather (Fields). even his name is a naughty joke. wearing his typical straw hat, he apparently owes someone a ton of money, and tries to stay one step ahead. the women and girls in this bit all screech and scream... yeegods. then Fields goes into his physical comedy... slapstick humor with things sticking to shoes, shoes that squeak, and accidentally hitting things with a club. Gotta say, this is one of the more annoying bits by Fields... i usually LOVE his antics, but with the yelling, screaming, and un-inspired bits, can't rate this one as high as I usually do for Fields. Although the list of crimes he has committed is pretty funny, as the camera pans down the list. the opening music and picture are pretty messed up, since the tape is so old, but it clears up after a few minutes. this one is just SO-SO. Extra interesting as a bit of W.C. Fields' history, but some of the slapstick humor is a pretty dated at this point in time.

Even though this film suffers from staginess in its filming, and even in the acting of much of the supporting cast, THE GOLF SPECIALIST can still be fun to watch. Fields is brilliant as always, finding much humor in the simplest situations. This is more or less a filmed record of his "golf routine" in which he keeps stalling so he does not have to hit the ball and prove what a bad golfer he really is. He lets every little possible thing stand in his way. This film may be more of historical interest now, as the golf routine was put on film later in YOU'RE TELLING ME, but it still manages to remain entertaining.