Review: Caddyshack

       Caddyshack is a movie that is not only one of the best comedies ever made, but also one of the best sports movies ever made. Sports Illustrated once wrote that Caddyshack is the best golf movie ever, and Caddyshack II is the worst golf movie ever made. Caddyshack is a manic fast paced movie that loosely cirlcles around a plot, but never totally feels attached to it. It's more focused on it's eclectic collection of stars than any sort of plot. What makes this film particularly interesting though is how the stars never really seem to occupy the same space. It sometimes makes the film seem somewhat uneven as the tone changes almost as frequently as the scenes. 

The story takes place at the Bushwood Country Club, a WASPy sort of place founded by the uptight Judge Smails (Ted Knight). Chevy Chase plays Ty Webb the best golfer at the club, but he's so laid back that doesn't care to keep score. Bill Murray is the assistant groundskeeper who has been tasked with eliminating, by any means necessary, the gophers which have been wreaking havoc on the golf course. And then there's Rodney Dangerfield who is the center of every scene he is in. He plays a real-estate developer named Al Czervik who wild antics and vulgar quips irritate Judge Smails. There is a small plot revolving around a young caddy trying to receive the caddy's scholarship so he can go to college, but director Harold Ramis is never afraid to leave that story for a comedic interlude. The scene at the pool is the best of these, involving a scatalogical take on Jaws, as well as the caddies performing a Busby Berkeley synchronized swimming number. 

While the film balances the load between it's stars relatively well, there's no doubt that this is Dangerfield's movie. He plays his character with more youthful energy than his younger co-stars as he chews through the scenery spitting out one memorable line after the other. “Oh, this is the worst-looking hat I ever saw. What, when you buy a hat like this I bet you get a free bowl of soup, huh? 
Oh, it looks good on you though.” And of course, “Hey everybody, we're all gonna get laid!” Bill Murray and Chevy Chase are no slouches either when it comes to quotable line in this film whether it's “IT'S IN THE HOLE!” or “A flute without any holes is not a flute, a donut without a hole is a danish.”
The biggest problem with this film is that the main actors rarely seem to be involved in the same action and instead the script was left loose enough to that any of them could wander off on their own in search of comic inspiration. Which isn't to say that this movie isn't funny, it's downright hilarious, I just think that a more focused script would have been an improvement.