SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Grimerlana Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Wuchak RELEASED IN 1980 and directed by Harold Ramis, "Caddyshack" is a comedy about a high-class golf course that has to deal with a colorful new member (Rodney Dangerfield) and a destructive dancing gopher. Ted Knight and Chevy Chase play high society golfers while Bill Murray plays the half-mad assistant greenskeeper in charge of taking out the menacing gopher. Michael O'Keefe and Scott Colomby appear as young caddies while Cindy Morgan and Sarah Holcomb are featured in the female department.This is a fun movie with a classic cast, a kinetic soundtrack (e.g. Kenny Loggins) and a can't-beat-it late 70s/early 80's ambiance. Both Dangerfield and Knight are over-the-top. They're more entertaining than funny though. Chase plays it more low-key while Murray is decidedly bizarre. Morgan shines in her most famous role, but don't expect much more on the female front. The gopher steals the show. THE FILM RUNS 98 minutes and was shot in Florida (Davie, Boca Ratan, Fort Lauderdale & Key Biscayne) and the Los Angeles area (e.g. Woodland Hills Country Club). WRITERS: Brian Doyle-Murray, Ramis and Douglas Kenney.GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

Matt Thomlinson I must be missing something as I see nothing but praise in other reviews, but for me this film would have been far better without the obnoxious Bill Murray character. I found him totally boring and totally unnecessary. All the other characters were great. Quite funny but certainly no classic.

Richard DiCicco (Doopliss77) Halfway through my first viewing of Caddyshack—despite how much I was laughing—I wondered aloud, "What is this movie even about?" Then I realized that Caddyshack doesn't know either. Director Harold Rammis walked onto the set of this film with a fragile script that was trampled by his star comedians—leaving us with this disjointed but entertaining mess that's become a classic.Caddyshack opens with a hint of a story: Danny Noonan (Michael O'Keefe) is a lanky teen who wants to save up for law school but makes pennies caddying at a fancy golf club. So, Danny tries cozying up to one of the club's wealthy patrons in a bid to win a scholarship. Oh, but before that can move forward, let's talk about the groundskeeper (Bill Murray) who's hellbent on killing a wily gopher! Oh, and the master golfer (Chevy Chase) whose humility hides his talent! And Danny's girlfriend (Sarah Holcomb) who's inexplicably Irish—and the rich bombshell niece (Cindy Morgan) who wedges her slender body into everyone's love lives—and Rodney Dangerfield who basically does a bit in every scene!This all would be enticing if any of it intersected meaningfully, but Caddyshack only ever allows these characters to impact one another's lives at the very end—and even that set-up feels improvised. There are no stakes involved, no dramatic tension (which, believe it or not, is essential even in a comedy). All of these characters crowd the film and eat up its running time, leaving Danny's paper-thin plot as an afterthought. Murray is perhaps the only actor who really gets into his role and grounds it in the film's world, playing a filthy moron that no one particularly enjoys talking to who fumbles his attempts to rid the course of a destructive pest. But it's not Murray's film, nor is it Chase's or Dangerfield's. It belongs to no one.As funny as it was, I was disappointed with the aimless direction of Caddyshack. It's a movie with hilarious moments rather a good comedy. You'll watch, quote, and revisit portions of Caddyshack for the wit and bombast of Dangerfield, Murray, and Chase—but hardly ever for the situations surrounding them.

Leofwine_draca I find the po-faced seriousness with which golfers take their sport to be rather funny, so this lampoon of the whole golf industry is a delight to watch. It's a bit of a madcap character piece with lots of offbeat stars interacting and getting involved with one another, and at some moments it's similar to the surreal highlights of AIRPLANE, although it also has that 'frat house party' style atmosphere popular from the early '80s.What I particularly enjoy about CADDYSHACK is that there's no single star. Chevy Chase pops up here and there to deliver some delightful non-sequiters, and Bill Murray steals every scene he's in playing the slow-witted groundsman. My favourite star of all, though, is Rodner Dangerfield, who ably mixes stand-up humour with acting and zings off the screen for all of his five or six moments.CADDYSHACK isn't an entirely successful production, and some elements are rather silly; that stupid gopher, for example, which looks like it belongs in a kid's film. But it's affectionate, it has plenty going on, and Harold Ramis does a very good job of holding it all together as director. The JAWS spoof is a definite highlight.