Caddyshack – Review

Caddyshack

with Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Michael O’Keefe
Written by Doug Kenney, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Harold Ramis
Directed by Harold Ramis
(Columbia, 1980)
by William Ham

Reviled by critics in the post-Animal House SNL film backlash of the time, Caddyshack has since taken on new life as something of a comedy classic. It’s uneven, sure, and the subject (snobs vs. slobs at a country club) doesn’t have the communal tug that the ’60s college setting of the other film had, but it scales more anarchic heights and doesn’t have nearly as imbalanced a budget-to-bellylaugh proportion as 1941 or The Blues Brothers. Forget the silly plot (something about a caddy scholarship), which is just a loose frame to hang the distinctive schticks of this comic coterie upon. The array of talent here is almost embarrassing (what’s the last good ensemble comedy you’ve seen?) – Ted Knight’s apoplectic Judge Smales (“I’ve sent boys younger than you to the electric chair. Didn’t want to. Thought I owed it to them.”), Chevy Chase’s nine-iron mystic (“Nuhnuhnuhnuhnuh…”), and especially Rodney Dangerfield’s career-revitalizing virtuoso turn as the bug-eyed polyester millionaire (“Hey, baby, wanna make fourteen dollars the hard way?”), all register strongly, but it’s Murray, as Carl, the assistant groundskeeper, who has the lion’s share of memorable moments. We have had long, impassioned debates in the office over which is Murray’s best scene; some have opted for the “Cinderella story” golf-commentator monologue, others opt for the caddying-for-the-pastor-in-the-thunderstorm sequence. For me, it’s no contest – it’s the Dalai Lama speech, a minute and a half that will forever shine in the annals of screen comedy. It comes out of nowhere and takes off for the ozone; nothing else comes close (though the Murray/Chase scene is another massive hoot). Caddyshack is also significant as the last screenplay co-scripted by Lampoon comic genius Doug Kenney (he died that same year in a mysterious fall from a cliff in Hawaii), who drew heavily on his own youthful experiences as a caddy for this film. He was reportedly very disheartened by its relative failure (which some say sped up his demise), but he had nothing to be ashamed of. What other picture puts its most highbrow gag (the Esther Williams parody) and its lowest (the infamous Baby Ruth) right next to each other? Life may suck down here, Dougie, but lemme say that no matter how bad it gets, I can still quote this entire movie verbatim. So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.