Kill The Gopher
 Apr 21st, 2004
(Apr 22nd, 2004)
Advantages:
Totally hilarious
Disadvantages:
Poor transfer to DVD
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
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Characters / Performances
Special Effects
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  the_mad_cabbie
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Diagnosed with an aggressive cancer of the right lung on my 58th birthday (14th July) So not really ...
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Review rated by 71 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
~ ~ There aren’t too many comedy movies about golf. I suppose some folks would say that’s because there’s nothing particularly funny about golf. But (of course) they’d be mistaken!
Some good ones that spring to mind are ‘Happy Gilmore’, and the more recent ‘Tin Cup’. But for me, as a diehard golf fan, the ultimate golf comedy simply has to be the old 1980 movie, ‘Caddyshack’, starring such comedy geniuses as Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Rodney Dangerfield. ~ ~ The storyline is basically very simple.
Bushwood Country Club is one of those stuffy, full of it’s own importance, golf clubs which unfortunately still exist even today. (Although they are becoming more of a rarity, thank God!) It’s run and lorded over by a stuck-up, pompous idiot called Judge Smails, (Ted Knight of TV’s Mary Tyler Moore Show) who basically goes around making everyone’s lives a misery, and who is possibly one of the worst golfer’s you’ve ever seen, although naturally he thinks he’s the complete dog’s bollocks.
The best player in the club is a young playboy called Ty Webb, (the brilliant Chevy Chase of Fletch and National Lampoon fame) who can’t be excluded from the club because of his vast wealth (he’s a millionaire) and privileged background. He practices yoga, smokes marijuana like it’s going out of fashion, (the movie’s set in the 1980’s remember) and who’s favourite trick is to hit a perfect shot blindfolded, while stoned out of his skull, and humming a wee mantra
quietly to himself. (It’s a total hoot, but it would never work in reality!)
His caddy is a young lad called Danny Noonan, who is determined to win the annual caddy’s competition held by the club, where the first prize is a sport’s scholarship to College. Ty is coaching him in the finer points of the game, and some of the lines between them are truly priceless.
“Are you taking drugs?”
“Everyday!!”
“Good” ~ ~ Meanwhile the hallowed halls of the clubhouse, and the lush grass of the fairways, have been infiltrated by a brash, boorish outsider called Al Czervic, (Rodney Dangerfield) who arrives on the first tee rigged out in totally inappropriate clothes, a bottle of hooch in one hand and a large cigar in the other, and all to the deafening accompaniment of a blaring ‘ghetto blaster’.
This totally outrages the stuffed shirt Judge Smails, who at one point takes him on in a money match, and ends up losing his shirt.
“Let’s double the bet to $40,000 for this ten-foot-putt!!” ~ ~ The fairways and greens are tended to by a complete lunatic of a greenkeeper called Carl Spackler, (Bill Murray) who is engaged in a relentless battle with a gopher (mechanical, but very lifelike) who is intent on destroying his perfectly mown turf. For me, Murray (and the gopher) totally steal the show. Carl resorts to completely over-the-top tactics in his futile attempts to rid himself of the little pest, including squirrels moulded out of plastic explosive, powerful fire hoses inserted into the gopher’s holes, and finally a high-powered sniper’s rifle. (All to no avail, of course!)
Watch out also for his new fairway grass, (a crazy mixture of Kentucky bluegrass and marijuana) where you can save your divots for later for home consumption! And the scene where he fantasises about playing the last hole of the US Masters at Augusta, which involves knocking the heads of the flowers around the clubhouse, is totally priceless.
I still have a very fond memory of watching an early video release of this movie in the 1980’s with my late father, and the two of us literally sitting with the tears streaming down our faces with laughter at Murray’s antics.
~ ~ The movie was directed by Harold Ramis, (his Director’s debut) who went on to make further comedy classics with Bill Murray such as Groundhog Day (1993) and Ghostbusters (1984). He also wrote the screenplays for the two recent Robert De Niro comedies, Analyse This (1999) and Analyse That (2002)
Seemingly, Ramis gave a lot of freedom to the actors in Caddyshack to try different takes on various scenes, and also to ‘ad lib’ a lot of their lines, then selecting what turned out the funniest for inclusion in the movie.
It was also actor Rodney Dangerfield’s first full length feature film, but you wouldn’t know it from his acting, and it lead to him playing many other similar roles (loud, brash, bigmouth) in the future.
A sequel to Caddyshack called (believe it or not!) ‘Caddyshack 2’ was made in 1988, but wasn’t directed by Harold Ramis, (Allan Arkush) and the only star surviving from the original movie was Chevy Chase. I’m sure he later regretted his decision, as it was/is absolute drivel, and an insult to the original movie. ~ ~ I already had Caddyshack recorded on tape, (from the telly) but had had my eye open for a DVD version for ages. I eventually got it at “ www.play.com” for the bargain price of only £9.99. (Delivery free)
But in all honesty, the picture and sound quality isn’t much better than my old, recorded VHS tape. About the only redeeming feature of the DVD is that it DOES come in widescreen, although the sound leaves a lot to be desired, as it’s recorded in Dolby Mono.
There are no extras worth mentioning, other than the usual ‘scene selection’, although I believe that there is now a newer 20th Anniversary Edition DVD which was released by Warner back in 2000, which includes a trailer, and interviews with the stars and director. But it only comes in the USA DVD format, so you’d have to have a multi-region DVD player to get the benefit.
But at least my new DVD version of the movie should last me a couple of decades. My old VHS tape was beginning to wear very thin in places, and to show its age!
~ ~ Highly recommended by the mad cabbie, even if you AREN’T a golf fan! ~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cast: Chevy Chase .... Ty Webb
Rodney Dangerfield .... Al Czervik Ted Knight .... Judge Elihu Smails
Michael O'Keefe .... Danny Noonan Bill Murray .... Carl Spackler
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Director: Harold Ramis
Certificate: 15 Year: 1980
Length: 1 hour and 34 minutes ~~~~~~~~~~~~
DVD Year: 1999
Screen: Widescreen 1.85:1 Languages: English , French , Italian.
Subtitles: English, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, English for the hearing impaired, Italian for the hearing impaired. Sound: Dolby Digital (1.0) Mono
~~~~~~~~~~~~ © KenJ April 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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![Caddyshack [DVD] [1980]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78547040.jpg)
29.05.2004 15:33
Saw this repeated on TCM a few weeks ago, and I agree with you on the Bill Murray/gopher front, it completely steals the show. Keep the excellent reviews coming :) -Karl
27.05.2004 00:14
I enjoyed this film! Good review too. Cheers Sweary.
03.05.2004 15:03
Yes this is a really funny film, nice review too. My favourite quotes would be "Look! There's my buddy!" and the antics which follow until "You scratched my anchor!". Also when Bill is hitting the heads off the flowers and "It's in the hole!".