Caddyshack: The Inside Story

Caddyshack came out when I was 20 years old (please don't do the math). Tavm's review pretty much covers the contents of the documentary. What I want to cover is how good it made me feel- I felt like I was 20 years old again. When hearing most of comments of the cast members, I kept saying, yep, yep, yep. I remembered and I agreed.

Some of the stories, I knew; some I did not. It gave us a pretty good insight as to what went on during production. This inside story was a good-feeling story. I enjoyed it immensely.

A comment by John F Barmon Jr (Spaulding Smails) really hit home. He said it was a movie fathers show to their sons, who then show it to their sons. I couldn't agree more. Last year (2023), I showed it to my son when he was 21. Let's just say he enjoyed it as much as I did.

Having just watched the extra-Caddyshack: The 19th Hole-on the Blu-ray disc, I then switched to a much longer one-in fact, it's about 90 minutes-called Caddyshack: The Inside Story. With the exception of stars Chevy Chase and Bill Murray, just about many other surviving cast members were interviewed. Among them: Cindy Morgan, Scott Colomby, Ann Ryerson, Hamilton Mitchell, Peter Berkrot, John F. Barmon Jr., Minerva Scelza, Marcus Breece, Dr. Dow, and, the only member of the Murray family to appear, John Murray. He played a caddy and was production assistant. We also hear from writer/director Harold Ramis, producer Jon Peters, Orion head Mike Medavoy, special effects head John Dykstra, composer Johnny Mandel, and singer/songwriter Kenny Loggins. Unlike the previous extra which I mentioned at the beginning, this one has a lot more detail concerning the behind-the-scenes action which was one big party at night of many drugs and alcohol. You also get the now-familiar stories of many of the scenes like the only one that features Murray and Chase together or the many added gopher scenes that replaced many more dramatic moments. Oh, and after revealing in the previous extra that she couldn't eat another candy bar after the infamous pool scene, here Ms. Ryerson does sink her teeth into a Baby Ruth bar! So on that note, Caddyshack: The Inside Story is well worth seeing.

Pretty decent documentary, but the whole smug attitude about the drugs and culture of the seventies is kind of boring after a while. The actors basically said they can't share what "really happened" but then they do share some things... Why even bring up that you can't talk about something and then half-talk it... There are still drugs on movie sets today, but it's just not as cool, I guess... Had this SNL/SCTV generation done less drugs, their reign would have lasted more than six or seven years...

Michael O'Keefe seems fun and loose, but for many years he hated everything about Caddyshack, and felt it ruined his entire career, a grouchy Buddhist actor but he's fun here, as is Cindy Morgan, and Hamilton Mitchell, who I have interviewed, RIP...

The one thing I disagree with is that Michael's central part stopped being central once the big four, Chevy, Bill, Rodney and Ted became the stars... No matter what, Danny Noonan is STILL the main character, and he has plenty of screen-time... It's HIS story from beginning to end...

Anyhow, these docs should either tell everything or just talk about filmmaking instead of letting us know we missed out on some big secret... it gets old.