Caddyshack Information

Caddyshack is a 1980 American sports comedy film directed by Harold Ramis and written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney. It stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, and Bill Murray. Doyle-Murray also has a supporting role.

This was Ramis' first feature film and was a major boost to Dangerfield's film career; previously, he was known mostly for his stand-up comedy. Grossing nearly $40 million at the domestic box office (17th 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 well received.

The film has garnered a large cult following and has been hailed by many publications, such as Time and ESPN, as one of the funniest sports movies of all time. As of 2010, Caddyshack has been televised on the Golf Channel as one of its "Movies That Make the Cut".

Plot

Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) works as a caddy at the upscale Bushwood Country Club to raise enough money to go to college. Danny regularly caddies for Ty Webb (Chevy Chase), an exceptional golfer and the free-spirited playboy son of one of Bushwood's co-founders. Danny decides to gain favor with Judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight), the country club's stodgy co-founder and director of the Caddy Scholarship program, by caddying for him. Meanwhile, Bushwood's head greenskeeper (Thomas A. Carlin) is pressured by Smails to deal with a potentially disastrous gopher infestation, and entrusts his dubiously qualified assistant Carl Spackler (Bill Murray) with the task.

When Smails is antagonized by the obnoxious nouveau riche Al Czervik (Rodney Dangerfield) during a game, he throws a putter and accidentally injures a member of the club. Danny seizes the opportunity and takes responsibility for the incident, gaining Smails' trust. Smails encourages him to apply for the Caddy Scholarship.

At Bushwood's annual Fourth of July banquet, Danny and his girlfriend Maggie (Sarah Holcomb) work as servers. Danny becomes attracted to Smails' sensuous niece, Lacey Underall (Cindy Morgan). Maggie informs Danny of Lacey's promiscuous reputation, but this only encourages him.

Danny wins the Caddy Day golf tournament and the scholarship. This earns Danny praise from the Judge, and an invitation to attend the Judge's boat christening. Lacey and Danny slip away from the ceremony for a tryst at the Judge's house, but are discovered by the Judge and his wife. Expecting to be fired or to have the scholarship revoked, Danny is surprised when the Judge only wants his promise that the incident with Lacey will remain secret.

Unable to bear the continued presence of the uncouth Czervik at the club (and after Czervik sank Smails' small sloop during the christening ceremony), Smails confronts him and announces that Czervik will never be granted membership. Czervik counters by announcing that he would never consider being a member, he is merely there to evaluate buying Bushwood and developing the land into condominiums. After a brief scuffle, Webb suggests they discuss a resolution over drinks. After Smails demands satisfaction, Czervik then proposes a team golf match with Smails and Dr. Beeper (Dan Resin) against Czervik and Webb. Against club rules, they also agree to a $20,000 wager on the outcome of the match.

The match is held the following day. Word spreads of the stakes involved and a crowd builds. Smails and Beeper are ahead at the end of the 9th hole. In response to Smails' snide remarks, Czervik proposes to double the stakes. Smails happily agrees. Czervik's game, however, continues to spiral downward, so when a ricocheting ball strikes him, he feigns injury in hopes of having the contest declared a draw. Lou (Brian Doyle-Murray), the course official who is acting as an umpire, tells Czervik his team will forfeit unless they find a substitute. Webb chooses Danny. Smails threatens to revoke his scholarship, but Czervik promises Danny that he will make it "worth his while" if he wins. Danny eventually decides he'd rather strike a blow at the uptight Smails than take the scholarship. At the final hole, the score is tied. Smails makes his putt, putting Smails and Beeper ahead by one shot. Danny must now sink his very long putt in one stroke. Czervik proposes to increase the stakes to $80,000, based only on Danny making the putt, which Smails accepts. Danny's putt reaches the very edge of the cup and stops, and Smails and Beeper begin celebrating.

While the match has been going on, Carl's previous efforts to kill the gopher have failed, and he has now wired much of the course with plastic explosives in a final scorched earth tactic. As Danny's putt hangs on the edge of the cup, Carl pushes the detonator and explosions shake the whole course. The force of the explosions causes Danny's ball to drop, so Webb, Danny and Czervik win the $80,000. Smails refuses to pay, which Czervik has anticipated; he asks a couple of very large men from his entourage to "help the Judge find his checkbook." As Smails is chased around the course, Czervik leads another wild party attended by all of the onlookers at the match, inexplicably shouting, "We're all going to get laid!" The gopher emerges, unharmed by the explosives, and dances amid the smoldering ruins of the golf course.

Cast

• Chevy Chase as Ty Webb
• Rodney Dangerfield as Al Czervik
• Ted Knight as Judge Elihu Smails
• Michael O'Keefe as Danny Noonan
• Bill Murray as Carl Spackler
• Sarah Holcomb as Maggie O'Hooligan
• Scott Colomby as Tony D'Annunzio
• Cindy Morgan as Lacey Underall
• Dan Resin as Dr. Beeper
• Henry Wilcoxon as Bishop Pickering
• Albert Salmi as Mr. Noonan
• Elaine Aiken as Mrs. Noonan
• John F. Barmon, Jr. as Spaulding Smails
• Lois Kibbee as Mrs. Smails
• Brian Doyle-Murray as Lou Loomis
• Jackie Davis as Smoke Porterhouse
• Hamilton Mitchell as Motormouth
• Chuck Rodent as Mr. Gopher

Production

The movie was inspired by writer and co-star Brian Doyle-Murray's memories working as a caddy at Indian Hill Club in Winnetka, Illinois. His brothers Bill and John Murray (production assistant and a caddy extra), and director Harold Ramis also had worked as caddies when they were teenagers. Many of the characters in the film were based on characters they had encountered through their various experiences at the club, including a young woman upon whom the character of Maggie is based and the Haverkampfs, a doddery old couple, John and Ilma, longtime members of the club, who can barely hit the ball out of their shadows ("That's a peach, hon"). The now legendary scene involving a Baby Ruth candy bar being thrown into the swimming pool was based on a real-life incident at Doyle-Murray's high school. The scene in which Al Czervik hits Judge Smails in the genitals with a struck golf ball happened to Ramis on what he quipped was the second of his two rounds of golf, on a nine-hole public course.

Initially, Michael O'Keefe and Scott Colomby's characters were the central characters of the movie. However, the improvisational atmosphere surrounding the other cast members (specifically Dangerfield, Chase, and Murray) led to the Webb, Czervik and Spackler characters expanding from supporting to starring roles, much to the annoyance of O'Keefe and Colomby. In addition, Ted Knight, who was regarded as a genuinely nice person in real life, became fed up with the constant improvisation.

The scene in which swimmers mistake a chocolate bar floating in the pool for a piece of excrement was filmed at Plantation Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The dinner and dancing scene was filmed at the Boca Raton Hotel and Club in Boca Raton, Florida.

The film was shot over 11 weeks during the autumn of 1979. Golf scenes were filmed at the Rolling Hills Golf Club (now the Grande Oaks Golf Club) in Davie, Florida. According to Ramis, it was picked because the course did not have any palm trees. He wanted the movie to feel that it was in the Midwest, not Florida. The explosions that take place during the climax of the film were reported at the nearby Fort Lauderdale airport by an incoming pilot, who suspected a plane had crashed. Also the explosions were not approved by the club owners, who were at the background at all times, in fear of them damaging the course. The movie producers were able to convince the club owners to attend an off site meeting. When they were gone, the crew set off the explosions.

The marina scene involving Al Czervik's boat wreaking havoc upon Judge Smails's "dinghy" was filmed in Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida.

The famous scene that begins when Ty Webb's golf ball crashes into Carl Spackler's ramshackle house was not in the original script. It was added by director Harold Ramis after realizing that two of his biggest stars, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray (who did not get along due to a feud dating back to their days on Saturday Night Live), did not have a scene together. The three met for lunch and wrote the scene together. This is the only time that Chase and Murray have appeared in a movie together.

Bill Murray's famous "Cinderella story" scene was improvised based on two lines of stage direction. Ramis basically gave him direction to act as a kid announcing his own imaginary golf moment. Murray just took it from there. The flowers were his idea. Murray was with the production only six days, and all of his lines were unscripted. Murray was working on Saturday Night Live at the time, and was not intended to have a large role in the movie. However, Murray kept being called down from New York to film more and more scenes as production continued.

In interviews, Cindy Morgan stated that the scene she shared with Chevy Chase, in which he pours massage oil on her, was completely improvised, and her reaction to Chase dousing her back with the massage oil, where she exclaimed "You're crazy!", was genuine. The scene where her character had to dive into the pool was executed by a professional diver.

Except for the brief scene in which Rodney Dangerfield tussles with the gopher (with the end of his golf club) the gopher was not an onscreen character in the film. A simple hand puppet was created by the props department for that scene, with the director's assistant (Trevor Albert) the delegated puppeteer. After several cuts of the film reduced the original story arc of Danny's relationship with the Irish waitress, another through line was required. The producers suggested that the gopher's battle with Bill Murray's character be further developed. Therefore, the remaining gopher sequences were written and filmed after the movie was shot. Director Harold Ramis at one point suggested a live animal to play the gopher. Rusty Lemorande, executive in charge of production, and specifically assigned to supervise post-production, searched for a suitable creature builder. Companies such as The Henson Company (which became the premier creature builders in the '80s) did not yet take outside assignments, so Lemorande contacted friends at Walt Disney Imagineering for advice. One of the Disney theme park creature designers, Jeff Burke, was willing to create the character but only on a moonlight basis. Burke was responsible for the creature's design and character with input and guidance from Lemorande.

The rod puppet sat in Lemorande's office for weeks. During that time producers Kenny and Peters and director Ramis would come into the office to play with the creature, all trying to figure out how to integrate it into the film. Simultaneously, an overall deal was made with John Dykstra's effects company for all the necessary visual effects (including lightning, stormy sky effects, flying golf balls, disappearing greens' flags, etc.) so shooting the gopher puppet became part of the intensely negotiated effects package. Dykstra's technicians added extra animation to the existing puppet, including ear movement, and built the tunnels through which he moved. The gopher sounds were the same sounds used by Flipper the dolphin in the '60s television show of the same name. This was after principal cinematography had been completed and used higher quality film stock in an indoor soundstage, resulting in the higher picture quality of these scenes still evident even on the current DVD.

Reception

Caddyshack was released on July 25, 1980, in 656 theaters, where it grossed $3.1 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $39,846,344 in North America.

The film holds a 75% approval rating at popular review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 reviews, with the consensus: "Though unabashedly crude and juvenile, Caddyshack nevertheless scores with its classic slapstick, unforgettable characters, and endlessly quotable dialogue." Christopher Null gave the film four stars out of five, and wrote, "They don't make 'em like this anymore... The plot wanders around the golf course and involves a half-dozen elements, but if you simply dig the gopher, the caddy, and the Dangerfield, you're not going to be doing half bad." Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "Caddyshack feels more like a movie that was written rather loosely, so that when shooting began there was freedom - too much freedom - for it to wander off in all directions in search of comic inspiration." Dave Kehr, in his review for the Chicago Reader, wrote, "The first-time director, Harold Ramis, can't hold it together: the picture lurches from style to style (including some ill-placed whimsy with a gopher puppet) and collapses somewhere between sitcom and sketch farce."

Nevertheless, the film slowly gained a massive cult following in the years after its release, including in the golf world. Tiger Woods has said that it is his favorite film, so much so that he played Spackler in an American Express commercial based on the film, and many of the film's quotes have entered the lexicon of pop culture.

Ramis notes in the DVD documentary that TV Guide had originally given the film two stars (out of four) when it began showing on cable television in the early 1980s, but over time, the rating had gone up to three stars. He himself says he "can barely watch it. All I see are a bunch of compromises and things that could have been better" such as the poor swings of everyone save O'Keefe.

In 2007, Taylor Trade Publishing released The Book of Caddyshack, an illustrated paperback retrospective of the movie, with cast and crew Q&A interviews. The book was written by Scott Martin.

Denmark was the only place outside the US/Canada where Caddyshack was initially a hit. The distributor had cut 20 minutes from the movie to emphasize Bill Murray's role.

Awards

In 2000, Caddyshack was placed at number 71 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 funniest American films. In 2005, a line from the movie was chosen by AFI for their list of the top 100 movie quotes from U.S. films. This film is also second on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

In June 2008, the American Film Institute (AFI) revealed its "10 Top 10""?the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres"?after polling more than 1,500 people from the creative community. Caddyshack was named the seventh best film in the sports genre. Also, Murray's famous "Cinderella story" line was included in the countdown of greatest quotes.

American Film Institute recognition

• 2000: AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs " No. 71
• 2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes " No. 92
  • "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!"
• 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10 " No. 7 Sports

Soundtrack

See Caddyshack (Soundtrack) for more information In 1980 CBS records issued a soundtrack to Caddyshack. It includes 10 songs, four of which were performed by Kenny Loggins.

Caddyshack restaurants

On June 7, 2001, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and their other four brothers opened a themed restaurant inspired by the movie at the World Golf Village, near St. Augustine, Florida. The restaurant is meant to resemble a stodgy country club, much like the fictional Bushwood Country Club, and serves primarily American cuisine. The brothers are all active partners and make occasional appearances at the restaurant. Three more restaurants opened in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Orlando, Florida; and Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida; however, all three have been closed, leaving only the World Golf Village location.