Classic 80s Movie: “Caddyshack”
Today’s Classic 80s Movie guest post comes from Chris Neumann.
Movie Title: Caddyshack
Year: 1980
Writers: Brian Doyle Murray, Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney
Lead Actors: Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Bill Murray
Director: Harold Ramis
Plot Summary: An exclusive golf course has to deal with a brash new member and a destructive dancing gopher.
Why I Think This Is A Classic 80s Movies: This movie feels like what I had always imagined Playboy Magazine must have felt like in its prime: tons of bawdy, inappropriate jokes, relentless jabs at the status quo, acceptance of drug culture, a fair amount of nudity (Lacey seems like the exact kind of woman idolized in the old glossy pages, and she certainly gets around), and this general sense that the carefree bachelor existence and the fun that goes with it should be celebrated and those that defy it should be taken down a peg.
I don’t remember the last time I’ve even SEEN the movie and yet I can remember it beat for beat. The film is packed with… if not classic 80s STARS, comedians whose stars were on the rise in the 1980s. Sure Chevy Chase and Bill Murray took off like rockets on the 1970s Saturday Night Live, but the 80s was when they became movie actors and Big Deals: Chevy Chase made the Vacation movies and Funny Farm and Fletch, and Bill Murray did Ghostbusters, Srooged, Little Shop of Horrors, and Stripes! And then you got Rodney Dangerfield showing up on HBO, and in movies like Easy Money and Back To School. All classic movies (well, maybe not Easy Money) but all that started HERE. This was the powder keg movie that catapulted them all into stardom.
The “plot” of the movie (insofar as it has one) centers around a young, dissatisfied caddy named Danny. Being unable to afford college, and desperate to leave his crowded house and insufferable family, Danny’s at a make-it-or-break-it moment in his life.
But I’ll be completely honest here: I never really cared about Danny, or about if he made it or not. And I’m willing to bet a lot of you watching the movie never did either. And that’s okay. Because really, all of that is just to give the film a structure and the slightest impression of a baseline, so that world can be filled with the most outrageous and wild characters ever brought to screen. If anything, Danny is just a convenient framing device for the central clash of the movie: the snobs vs the slobs (to quote the tagline). And that alone might be the revolutionary concept. I don’t know, maybe movies did it before Caddyshack, maybe intentionally or unintentionally, but Caddyshack seems to be THE movie that says that it doesn’t matter as long as you’re laughing.
Here’s Harold Ramis commenting on that:
Now, I don’t know how high concept it is, but this movie pulls off a hell of a trick because golf is NOT a cinematic game. At all. And there’s really only three jokes you can make about golf: the crappy clothes (“buy a hat like this, I bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh?”), getting a golf ball in the groin (“I shoulda yelled ‘two!’”) and someone getting hit in the head with a golf club. And they all happen. The movie is smart enough to make it about the lifestyle that engages in golf: the privileged. When we’re not on the course, we’re at a fancy ball, hanging out at the pool, having drinks in the bar, or taking the yacht out. It’s not making fun of golf, it’s making fun of the people who PLAY golf.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: It’s hard to beat Rodney Dangerfield’s first appearance as Al. Actually, maybe it’s the way we lead into that moment, since we get three distinct perspectives wonderfully smushed against each other in the space of about forty seconds.
After failing to persuade loner Ty to join them in a game, Judge Smails asks the Bishop if he’s heard the joke about “the jew, the catholic, and the colored boy who went to heaven?” Right after that, we see the guy in charge of the buffing the shoes, who’s probably about Smails’ age, mutter to himself “Colored boy? Why you son of a bitch, I’ll fix you…,” then grind the Judge’s shoes into a thick cloud of powder. Right after THAT, we’re introduced to Al by his obnoxious car horn, then by him brining his Japanese guest to the pro shop, commenting “I think this place might be restricted, right? So don’t tell ‘me you’re jewish, ok? Fine. Hey kid, I’m Al Czervik, I’m playing golf with Drew Scott today, this is my guest Mr Wang… no offense!”
All these moments are funny, but in just this quick transition we get a great glimpse of the three personalities present in the movie: the old guard, which feels superior to others, the resentful working class who have to put up with that bull, and the fresh blood that doesn’t care.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: It’s a fools’ errand picking just ONE scene or one exchange… and I know that folks will maybe take a slight offense if their fave line isn’t included. But the whole thing is so quotable, I wanted instead to post “The Quotable Caddyshack” skit from Saturday Night Live in here instead. Naturally, that video isn’t online, so instead enjoy this transcript of the skit…. which features many of the classic lines.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie: There’s loads of improvisation going on in the film. It’s clear that Chevy Chase and Bill Murray improvise their scene in the shed, and Bill Murray famously made up his whole “Cinderella boy” spiel on the day, and who else but Rodney Dangerfield could belt out such a constant thick stream of stupid jokes and instant quips (“somebody step on a duck?”) Dangerfield also famously kept pushing, he was worried because the crew wasn’t laughing (not realizing they weren’t supposed to), and the result speaks for itself. I haven’t seen the script so I can’t compare for myself (the “Quotable Caddyshack” is not a real book), but all those comedians are on their game, they are being themselves as only they can and that no one else could write nearly as well. I’m not as familiar with Ted Knight so I’m not sure how close his performance is to his comedic style, but I’m willing to guess that he got in a couple of his own lines as well. There’s that saying that every actor wants a movie star moment, or a moment that they can just own, and all the actors get at least one in this movie.
Thanks, Christopher! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
Up next: Another Classic 80s Movie! That’s right, as we close out 2013, we’ll be double dipping today and tomorrow to make sure you get your fill of 80s movies!
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