I think it is finally safe to say that spring is in the air. For me, this time of year brings to mind two things in the realm of sports: the NHL playoffs and the beginning of the golf season. I was lucky enough to run into John Lu at a Montreal Canadiens game recently and we started to talk movies. Lu, who reports on all things sports in Montreal, Habs and beyond, for TSN, was quick to name a classic sports film – Caddyshack, as his favourite comedy of all-time. For him, it was the superb cast and their talents at improvising that placed this movie a notch above the rest.
The 1980 film, directed by Harold Ramis (creator of Groundhog Day and writer/actor in Ghostbusters who recently passed away), follows Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe), a youth from a poor family who caddies at the exclusive Bushwood Country Club – hoping to earn enough money to go to college. He often club-carries for the easy going, free-spirited playboy Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), but has also set his sights on impressing the powerful Judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight – The Mary Tyler Moore Show); a co-founder of the club and head of the Caddy Scholarship program.
We then meet the bizarre groundskeeper Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) and the wise-cracking, loose-mouthed, obnoxious newcomer to the golf club Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield). It is the latter who drives the elitist member crazy, goading him on the course – which leads to the Judge throwing his putter and injuring a club member. Danny decides to take the blame in order to gain favour with the powerful man.
To complicate things further, Danny (who already has a girlfriend) falls for the Judge’s attractive niece Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan). After they are caught having a fling, the Judge surprisingly forgives Danny as long as he keeps the affair a secret – so that no further embarrassment would fall on the family.
Czervik continues to infuriate the Judge (from damaging his boat to saying that he will buy the club and turn it into condos) until a compromise is reached: a team golf match between the Judge and his friend (Dr. Beeper) versus Czervik and Webb – with a twenty thousand dollar wager on the match to boot. In the end, Danny is going to have to choose between the smug Judge who holds the key to his future or helping his friend Webb.
It would be hard to find a comedy that has a better cast than Caddyshack. Every actor brings forth a premium performance that in any other movie would steal the show. Dangerfield is a hoot in his first major role onscreen. His lively and expressive humour is second to none (his entrance to the clubhouse is just one of many examples). Chase is excellent as the rich playboy. Murray is perfect as the offbeat groundskeeper with an interesting speech pattern. His ongoing battle with a gopher is priceless. The scene where he destroys the flowerbeds as he imagines winning at Augusta (or as he coins it – a Cinderella story) is magnificent. As for Ted Knight, all I can say is that there may never be another man who can play a rich, infuriated snob better than him. Simply put, hilarious! Brian Doyle-Murray (co-writer of this film) is also entertaining as the course official. He has made a career out of playing small roles like this in movies such as National Lampoon’s Vacation/Christmas Vacation and Wayne’s World. Other lesser known actors like O’Keefe, Morgan and John F. Barmon Jr. (who plays Smails’ annoying nephew Spaulding) are all very good in their roles as well.
Caddyshack is an excellent movie that will make you laugh out loud every time you watch it. The story is strong, the jokes are funny and the acting is superlative. It never seems to grow old. So bring out your inner gopher, I mean golfer, and watch this cult comedy classic; it will be sure to have you feeling alright.