TMS Spotlight: The Timelessness of Caddyshack

(Orion Pictures / Warner Bros)

As we enjoy our last official yearly summer holiday weekend with Labor Day, let’s revisit what a lot of movie fans consider the greatest summer movie of all time: Harold Ramis’ Caddyshack (1980). But what else can you say about a comedy classic that’s been viewed and referenced ad nauseum for the past four decades? How many of us grew up with dads, uncles and maybe even older brothers constantly quoting Caddyshack while playing or watching golf and other sports? Or the stories we might have heard about how crazy the film shoot allegedly was with the younger actors in the film? Chevy Chase and Bill Murray’s tumultuous history, beginning with their overlapping stints as cast members on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (1975-1980), was put to the test while co-starring in Caddyshack [also directed by a mutual friend and colleague in Harold]. As someone who loves film, but doesn’t give a crap about sports in general [despite spending one summer at golf camp], I can say Caddyshack is still one of my favorite movies, and for various reasons.

Let’s start at the beginning. A lot of people might not realize Caddyshack was written by Bill’s older brother, Brian Doyle-Murray. In fact, that’s Brian who plays the young caddies’ boss, Lou Loomis, in the movie. Which may be a shock for about ten seconds before noticing he does look a lot like Bill. Brian based the golf classic on his, Bill’s and the rest of their siblings’ childhood experiences working as caddies during summers in the greater Chicago area. I wasn’t surprised when I learned this bit of trivia, as the opening sequence with the family of our protagonist, Danny (Michael O’Keefe) has a bit of an authenticity similar to John Hughes’ teen and family flicks only a few years later. As we can see watching the final edit of Caddyshack, Danny and his friends—the original focus on the golf course—were completely upstaged by the comedy legends cast in the supporting roles [Bill, Chevy, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight]. Fortunately, Michael, Cindy Morgan, Sarah Holcomb and Scott Colomby don’t seem to mind the scene stealing and are happy to just be a part of a classic comedy.

(Orion Pictures / Warner Bros)

The plot of Caddyshack is pretty simple. Danny needs a scholarship to be able to attend college, and is hoping his caddy job and kissing up to the Bushwood Country Club owner, Ted’s Judge Smails, will help his chances at a solid recommendation. Along the way are hijinks, romps, parties, accidents and of course, golf. Like a lot of people, I have memories of watching the goofy ensemble flick when I was probably too young to really appreciate the humor. But seeing it now gives me both nostalgia and a new perspective of the story. The drug references went over my head as a tween and it took me until my late 20s to even notice Cindy’s Lacey Underall is supposed to be only 18 years old [smart move casting a mature looking 25-year-old]. But a lot of the quite obviously ad-libbed lines have surprisingly aged well, and I think it’s attributed to them now being a part of pop culture osmosis. Bill’s Carl Spackler, the club’s crazed groundskeeper, is the most quotable next to Rodney’s Al Czervik. Though, I’ve always been most partial to Chevy’s Ty Webb, ironically enough.

And how many iconic movie animals are a furry gopher puppet with squeaky sound effects? I remember Chevy saying on one of those making-of specials that he wasn’t annoyed by Bill and Rodney getting the best gags, but that everyone seemed to just want their own plush version of the menacing little gopher. Following the release of Caddyshack in 1980, we’ve seen Rodney’s and Ted’s legacies continue to grow after Ted’s death in 1986 and Rodney’s in 2004; Bill became one of the greatest movie stars of all time; Chevy had his moment in the spotlight with both the Vacation and Fletch movies in the 1980s; and Michael is an Oscar nominated actor, who actually received his Best Supporting Actor nomination for Lewis John Carlino’s The Great Santini (1979) only a few months before Caddyshack was released. The future was not as kind to the actresses in the cast, unfortunately. Cindy’s career completely derailed after getting metoo’d by producer Jon Peters during production, and Sarah left Hollywood after only five movies for mental health reasons.

Throughout the years, the makers of Caddyshack have shared their experiences of the classic as much as the fans enjoy viewing it. It’s no shock the movie was as much a blast to make as it is to watch. So for the end of this summer, let’s crank up Kenny Loggins’ catchy theme song ‘I’m Alright,’ stop thinking, let things happen…and be the ball.