Caddyshack

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Caddyshack
movie poster for Caddyshack
Directed by	Harold Ramis
Produced by	Douglas Kenney
Written by	Douglas Kenney Harold Ramis Brian Doyle-Murray
Starring	Chevy Chase Rodney Dangerfield Ted Knight Michael O'Keefe Bill Murray
Music by	Johnny Mandel
Cinematography	Stevan Larner
Editing by	William C. Carruth
Distributed by	Orion Pictures Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	July 25, 1980
Running time	98 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6,000,000
Followed by	Caddyshack II
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Caddyshack is a 1980 U.S. comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis and Douglas Kenney. It stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O'Keefe and Bill Murray. Brian Doyle-Murray (Bill Murray's brother) also has a supporting role.

The film was Ramis's first feature and was a major boost to Rodney Dangerfield's film career; he was previously known mostly for his stand-up comedy. Grossing almost $40 million in the U.S. alone (16th highest of the year), it was the first of a series of similar comedies. A sequel, Caddyshack II, followed in 1988, although it was not nearly as successful or as well-received.

In 2000, Caddyshack was placed at #71 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 funniest American films. Many outside critics were upset by this low ranking. In 2005, a line from the movie ("Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac...It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole!") was chosen by AFI for their list of the top 100 movie quotes from U.S. films.

The film is significant in its more than superficial exposition of various aspects of social class and the reactions of persons of different class to forced encounters with each other, generally taking a viewpoint of the lower (working and new money) as opposed to the upper (old money) classes.

This film is second on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Taglines:

At last, a comedy that bites!
Some People Just Don't Belong.
The Snobs Against The Slobs!
Playing A Round Of Golf At The Bushwood Club Isn't Just Confined To The Golf Course!
At last, a comedy with balls!

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Set primarily on the golf course at Bushwood Country Club, the story is a farcical clash between classes, on one side the wealthy and privileged and on the other, the anarchic, young and noisy. The club is represented by the chronically uptight WASP Judge Smails (Knight) and opposite him the vulgar, noisy, witty nouveau riche self-made man Al Czervik (Dangerfield) and a group of caddies including Danny Noonan (O'Keefe), a blue-collar Irish-American who aspires to go to college. Ty Webb (Chase) is a well-to-do but unassuming golf savant who blithely plays both sides of the brawl. Out of the fight, but periodically crossing paths with the others, is Carl Spackler (Murray), a lunatic assistant greenskeeper locked in an increasingly armed death-struggle with a gopher.

The movie begins by showing caddy Danny Noonan being reprimanded by his father for wasting his college fund on junk food and soda while caddying. Danny throughout the movie is struggling to get money to go to college despite his poor grades and economic disadvantage but comes to realize he does not really want to go to college. This realization makes Danny live life for himself instead of trying to please his large family. The story comically progresses to the arrival of real estate tycoon Al Czervik along with his Asian business partner Mr. Wang ("Hey Wang, this place is restricted, so don't tell them you're Jewish!"). Czervik's rude and obnoxious character is meant to foil the snobbish Judge Smails. Judge Smails meets Al Czervik in the pro shop as Czervik comments on a hat he sees for sale, which he discovers is also being worn by Smails. ("This is the worst lookin' hat I ever saw. You buy a hat like this I'll bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh? Oh, it looks good on you [Smails], though!" [Czervik rolls eyes])

Following the pro shop scene, Al Czervik offends Judge Smails as he comically prepares to address the ball on the first tee to the heckling of Al ("Let's go, while we're young!"). Noonan, who is caddying for Smails, attempts to butter Smails up by turning away as Smails kicks his ball into a more favorable position. After admiring his subsequent shot, Smails is hit in the crotch by Al Czervik's ball while standing in the fairway. Czervik then responds to his caddy's difficulty in carrying Al's abnormally large golf bag by turning on a radio contained in it and blasting Journey's "Any Way You Want It".

The second major part of the film consists of Danny's love life with two very different women: Lacy Underall, Judge Smail's niece; and Maggie, a co-employee at the club. Danny is able to get Judge Smails out of a rough spot when Smails hurls his putter in frustration after yet another run-in with Czervick; the putter strikes a woman dining near the clubhouse, and Danny accepts the blame ("I should have noticed your grips were worn, sir," he says.

Judge Smails informs Danny he can have a scholarship sponsored by the country club if Danny were to win the caddy championship, which he does by sinking a putt despite the heckles of most, if not all, of his opponents.

The movie closes with an illegal golf match involving big stakes gambling. With the team of Ty and Al losing badly to Smails and the doctor, Al pretends to be hurt and Danny must take over, forfeiting his caddy scholarship, but with Al promising to act as a benefactor to the caddy if he wins. In a climactic scene, Danny leaves the winning putt on the lip of the cup, but Carl Spackler destroys the golf course in a series of high intensity explosions (with the intention of destroying the gopher), the vibrations of which shake the ground and cause Danny's ball to fall into the cup. In a celebratory moment, to the pleasure of the crowd, Al inexplicably yells, "Hey everybody! We're all gonna get laid!" As everyone departs the course, Judge Smalls is seen fleeing Czervik's goons to avoid paying up, and the gopher emerges unharmed from the explosions.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Trivia

The film's theme song is "I'm Alright," by Kenny Loggins.
Caddyshack was filmed on location at Rolling Hills Golf and Tennis Club, in Davie, Florida, southwest of Fort Lauderdale. The clubhouse and pool scenes were filmed at nearby Boca Raton Hotel and Country Club, Boca Raton. Rolling Hills Golf and Tennis Club was sold twice, redesigned and privatized. Its name was changed to Grande Oaks Country Club.
Don Rickles was originally considered for the role of Al Czervik before it went to Rodney Dangerfield.
Bill Murray and Chevy Chase ad-libbed much of their lines.[1]
The improvisational atmosphere on set didn't sit well with some cast members, such as Ted Knight and Scott Colomby. Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Rodney Dangerfield were the main instigators of the atmosphere, and their improv skills led to Dangerfield's and Murray's roles being expanded from cameo roles as initially written in the script, while Colombly's role was scaled back. In fact, Ted Knight, regarded as a very amiable person, was fed up with the constant joking and shenanigans.
The scene where Ty (Chevy Chase) is practicing for the big golf game late at night and "plays thru" at Carl's (Bill Murray) place was actually filmed after the movie had wrapped. Bill Murray had replaced Chevy Chase on Saturday Night Live, and it was later decided that it would be interesting that they share a scene together, which was also largely ad-libbed. The scene itself, while it has almost nothing to do with the plot, is widely regarded as the funniest in the movie.
The final sequence (the high-stakes golf match) ignores the fact that in golf, as in any game where all scoring is in one-point increments, a single score, in this case Noonan's putt, cannot separate victory from defeat. Since the match was all-square at the start of the eighteenth and Ty reminds Noonan "If you miss it, we lose," we can assume Noonan's putt was actually to halve the hole, not to win. Since the course was destroyed when Noonan's putt fell in, the match should, properly, have been a draw, unless enough turf had somehow remained in place to allow a playoff. Of course, playing for the tie lacks the dramatic (comedic) effect no doubt desired by the film makers. This is undoubtedly why the storyline has Al Czervic change the bet just before Noonan's putt on the eighteenth green by saying to Judge Smails "Hey Judge, double or nothing he makes it, eighty-thousand (dollars)."