Los locos del golf

Caddyshack has some uniquely funny moments. Carl's (Bill Murray) war with the gopher is hilarious. The gopher is cheaply made, not even close to taking advantage of the special effects available at the time, but, even that seems to add to his charm.

Rodney Dangerfield has one of his best performances in this film. I don't particularly enjoy his brand of humor, but, he fit in perfectly with the rest of the cast.

It is a campy, goofy, sometimes vulgar movie, but that is what was intended. I have fond memories of this movie from when I was younger, and it seems to get better with each viewing.

The sequel was made 8 years later. Unfortunately, it didn't even begin to live up to the standards of the first. Here are my suggestions for other films you may enjoy from this genre and time frame: Stripes, One Crazy Summer, and Animal House.

I highly recommend this movie, as well as the others listed.

Parental caution: Nudity, vulgar humor, and sexual references.

When you watch Caddyshack, you think to yourself that this is rather lowbrow. Then you disregard that part of your brain and settle down for some lowbrow fun. Chevy Chase has top billing, and he's very good. He's very calm, very funny, and quick witted. But the ones who nearly steal the show are Ted Knight and Bill Murray. Ted Knight and Rodney Dangerfield play off each other nicely. Knight gets flustered and starts stammering, and you can see every vein on his neck! Dangerfield counters with a crack at Knight's expense and it gets better from there. Bill Murray is great as Carl, the groundskeeper with a vendetta against that gopher. He mumbles things to himself, watches old ladies play golf and develops his own grass that can be smoked after playing golf on it. And always remember Ty Webb's words of wisdom: "A flute with no holes is not a flute, and a donut with no holes is a danish."

CADDYSHACK could very well be the ultimate comedy.

The ultra-crass zillionaire (Rodney Dangerfield) is the perfect foil for the stiff, humorless, snobby Judge (Ted Knight). The sneaky, animatronic gopher is the perfect nemesis for the hopelessly inept, shell-shocked Assistant greenskeeper (Bill Murray).

The central theme of class warfare is represented by the working class caddies set against the backdrop of the exclusive golf course / club and its highbrow members. Young Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) is vying for a college scholarship, and taking useless, pseudo-spiritual counsel from golf pro, Ty Webb (Chevy Chase). Don't worry, none of it is taken the least bit seriously. At all.

Memorable scenes abound, including the "Water Ballet" and "Baby Ruth bar incident" scenes at the pool. Of course, any scenes with Dangerfield, Knight, Murray, or Chase are hilarious classics!

Director Harold Ramis caught comic lightning in a bottle here! A comedic masterpiece from beginning to -explosive- end!

CADDYSHACK is on a very short list of movies that I will drop everything to watch!...

The film has some great moments and is possibly one of the most ad-libbed pictures of all time. Chevy Chase, in one of his first film roles, gives us a taste of his great comic turn in 'Fletch'(1985) with the off-beat portrayal of club pro Tye Webb. Chase is really untouchable when it comes to playing funny-straight characters. Bill Murray is hilarious as grounds keeper Carl Spackler. Murray has improvised just about all of his dialogue and it really is superb. His 'Cinderella Story' scene, followed by caddying for the Bishop in the thunder storm is one of the funniest things i've seen on screen.

Rodney Dangerfield is somewhat hit and miss. All of his dialogue is quick fire one-liners so the chances are that when he does crack a funny joke you'll be so busy laughing that you'll miss the next one. The funniest one in my book is his retort to caddy Tony D'Annunzio: 'Hey kid, when are you due back in boy's town?' For me Ted Knight steals the picture as Judge Smails. He is such an energetic over the top character. His constant put downs of grandson Spallding , 'You'll get nothing and like it!', and random acts of frustrated violence supplied constant entertainment.

The question is...why didn't the film just focus completely on these guys? Instead it kept on harping back to Danny Noonan. Michael O'Keefe is a fine actor but he was always going to struggle in a comedy which featured the above cast members and characters. Another handicap is that in a comedy he gets few comedic lines. His character's relationship with his girlfriend Maggie, played inexplicably with a terrible Irish accent, and with his own family are highly under developed. Cindy Morgan is also given an extremely under written character who's motives are never explained and who randomly comes in and out of the film. Harold Ramis's direction is at times sloppy and echoes his then inexperience. He did go on to do 'Groundhog Day'(1993) though so he obviously learned his lessons.

To sum up this is a good film to get you in the mood for the summer. Lots of beautiful weather covering some splendid golf course scenery. There are plenty of likable characters and some very funny set pieces. Its also interesting to see the launch pad for some of the 80s biggest comedic stars. But be warned if you don't like Chase, Murray or Dangerfield then don't waste your time on this. Along with Knight, the film really is their show. For further evidence to support the final sentence just look at the poster.

Yes, this one does hold up, perhaps because the action centers on the almost surreal (for a comedy) subject of golf, a topic that had not perhaps been so successfully spoofed since Eddie Cantor starred in "Kid Boots" (am I getting that one right?).

In the comedy contest between Murray, Chase, and Dangerfield, let me just say that Chase does not win. Dangerfield is at his best, delivering his classic lines ("this meat's so tough you can see where the jockey was riding it") with ultimate panache and actually playing his crazy character (reminiscent of Peter Sellars in "The Party") to the hilt. Murray is really the show-stopper, though, muttering his lines to give them emphasis (?) and racing around the course with what appears to be real mania.

A lot of the jokes fall flat, but when this movie is on, it's so on, that you can't help but call it a classic.