Caddyshack
The snobs against the slobs
Greenskeeper Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) is about to start World War III - against a gopher. Pompous Judge Smails (Ted Knight) plays to win, but his nubile niece, Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan), wants to score her own way. Playboy Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) shoots perfect golf by becoming the ball. And country club loudmouth Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield) just doubled a $20,000 bet on a 10-foot putt. Insanity? No. Caddyshack.
Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Murray and Ted Knight tee off for a side-splitting round of fairway foolishness that does for golf what National Lampoon's Animal House did for fraternities and Police Academy did for law enforcement. With hitmaker Harold Ramis (National Lampoon's Vacation, Analyze This) in the director's chair, the virtuoso comic skills of all four blend into a riotous hole-in-one for comedy fans. In Caddyshack, the term "golf nut" takes on a deranged double meaning -- and nonstop laughter is par for the course!
Member Reviews
For old times sake - dgeldart
OK, so this movie is not a classic in the sense of "Miracle on 34th Street", but there are some funny scenes and lines, and Bill Murray fans should enjoy the movie, even with its shortfalls. Worth watching on a rainy day if there's nothing better to do, and you want to re-live the past.Mark Twain's Line About Golf Works Here - revsdd
Jon Peters - the executive producer of Caddyshack - said that "golfers love this movie." I can't argue that point for a moment. My father-in-law is a golfer and he loves this movie, and loaned us the DVD to watch it. Unfortunately, I am not a golfer. I lean to the Mark Twain school of thought on the game - "golf is a nice walk ruined." Needless to say, I did not love this movie.
The best thing I can say about it is that Rodney Dangerfield is only part of an ensemble cast rather than the actual star. That meant that his typical crude, buffoonish character didn't have as much time to grate on me as in some of the movies he's actually starred in (think "My 5 Wives.") In the time he was on screen he still grated as real estate developer Al Czervik. Three primary subplots very loosely held together what there was of a story here - groundskeeper Carl's (Bill Murray) attempts to dispose of a pesky gopher who's tearing up the greens (the fake gopher also grated on me); caddy Danny's (Michael O'Keefe) attempts to suck up to Judge Smails (Ted Knight) in order to gain a scholarship to university (maybe he should have worked harder in high school?) and the bet between Czervik and Smails. Chevy Chase was also included here as a sort of new age golf ace. The cast didn't blow me away. Dangerfield I've commented on. Murray's work was probably the best in an undemanding role and Chase wasn't bad. O'Keefe was OK. Knight seemed to keep falling into his Ted Baxter persona from the Mary Tyler Moore show. Thinking back to Mark Twain - this movie was a potentially nice 99 minutes ruined! And to think this spawned a sequel! Obviously there are a lot of golfers getting too much sun!So. Not. Funny. - cathyottawa
This does not stand the test of time.
Roddy Dangerfield? So not funny. You'd have to be a huge fan of him and his style of comedy to get a laugh out of this. Do you like fart jokes? It might be up your alley.
Chevy Chase is okay, but doesn't save the movie.
Ted Knight has the "college dean" type role. Cliche all the way.
Bill Murray will elicit some chuckles, but he actually only has a very small part in the film.
Did you see this movie when it first came out, and remember thinking it was funny? Best to just remember it that way. If you rent it again today, you'll be disappointed. And wonder how you ever thought this was classic stuff.
Member Reviews
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For old times sake - dgeldart
OK, so this movie is not a classic in the sense of "Miracle on 34th Street", but there are some funny scenes and lines, and Bill Murray fans should enjoy the movie, even with its shortfalls. Worth watching on a rainy day if there's nothing better to do, and ...Mark Twain's Line About Golf Works Here - revsdd
Jon Peters - the executive producer of Caddyshack - said that "golfers love this movie." I can't argue that point for a moment. My father-in-law is a golfer and he loves this movie, and loaned us the DVD to watch it. Unfortunately, I am not a golfer. I lean ...So. Not. Funny. - cathyottawa
This does not stand the test of time.
Roddy Dangerfield? So not funny. You'd have to be a huge fan of him and his style of comedy to get a laugh out of this. Do you like fart jokes? It might be up your alley.
Chevy Chase is okay, but doesn't ...