Shoot Yourself Some Golf

Shoot Yourself Some Golf (1941)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Charming short from Warner has Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman hanging out at the golf course and growing frustrated by their lack of quality. Soon Reagan goes to get some tips from Jimmy Thompson, the record holder for the longest drive, while Wyman heads over to Jack Redmond who just happens to be the best trick golfer. This short certainly isn't going to change your life but I think film buffs should enjoy it as well as those interested in seeing these old golfer. Much like Warner's Bobby Jones series, this one here is basically just giving people some golf tips so I'm sure fans of the sport will enjoy getting to see both Thompson and Redmond. The camera-work certainly doesn't compare to anything that we have today but we get some slow motion shots of the golf clubs doing their things. Another major benefit is that this was shot in Technicolor and this really brings the course to life as well as other things including Wyman's lipstick. At just 11-minutes there's certainly nothing too special here but the short remained entertaining.

When he wasn't busy making the world safe for democracy by making training films during the Second World War, Reagan took the time out to appear in this movie with then-wife Jane Wyman, each playing themselves, in which they get impromptu golf lessons from a couple of golf experts: he gets his lesson from Jimmy Thomson, 'the World's Longest Driver' who drones on and on.... this looks like a color version of the series that George Marshall directed of Bobby Jones ten years before, but not so amusing. Jane gets her lesson from Jack Redmond, who is a bit of a tummeler, one of the pratfall comedians who used to inhabit the Catskills, making some amusing jokes along the way.

In sum, the effect is not particularly interesting, although golfers might care.

Not being a golf enthusiast, I can only say this one is a real yawner with RONALD REAGAN and JANE WYMAN (then happily married) getting golf tips from professionals Jimmy Thompson and Jack Redmond, showing them how to make long drives and trick shots, respectively.

Photographed in color, it shows Reagan and Wyman looking healthy and sporting California tans but other than whatever interest fans might have in gaping at them on the golf course, there's nothing special here to keep the interest from waning.

Definitely a short subject that must have bored a lot of theater fans back in '42. Uninspired.