Who hasn't seen "Caddyshack"? I'm surprised I still hadn't reviewed it since taking up with IMDb. So I watched it last night, and even though some parts are a chore to sit through, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield make up for it with their zany antics. The gopher is pretty entertaining too, with top notch animation and a personality that makes you laugh. Whoever has seen the film will immediately relate to the swimming pool scene with groundskeeper Carl (Murray) retrieving the Baby Ruth candy bar, while filthy rich businessman Al Czervik (Dangerfield) delivers his lines like he was still doing stand-up. With a handful of side stories, the picture reaches its bombastic conclusion with Murray's character blowing up an entire country club's golf course in pursuit of the relentless gopher. This is one to just switch your mind off, sit back and relax, and let the principals do their thing. Not that great cinematically, but more than memorable once you've seen it.

As I sit here thinking about this movie, I am realizing that this is one of the few comedies I wouldn't mind if it were heavily edited first. In other words, if all the funny moments (i.e., all the stuff with Rodney Dangerfield) were shown and the rest of the film pitched in the trash, I DON'T think that would be so bad. That's because despite it's achieving "cult status", this isn't all that good a film--with sloppy direction, an annoying performance by Bill Murray (who is capable of so much better),a worthless story about some teenagers (and I HATE most teenager movies from the 70s and 80s) and a rather wooden performance by Chevy Chase. Hmmm,...now that I think about it, apart from Rodney Dangerfield and, perhaps the cute groundhog, there isn't a whole lot I loved about the film. A sub-par film saved by genuinely funny dialog between Dangerfield and Ted Knight.

Golf and those who play it becomes the subject of some heavy duty humor in Caddyshack. Some of the funniest folks in the last half of the last century are involved with Caddyshack.

With many little subplots going the main plot involves the rivalry between the head of the club Ted Knight who is also a judge and Rodney Dangerfield who is a filthy rich and brash visitor. Dangerfield is his usually cheerful and obnoxious character, but he presses Knight's buttons. Some of the funniest moments of the film is Knight reacting to Dangerfield.

Chevy Chase is an interesting fellow himself, a rather iconoclastic character who doesn't even keep score as he explains his philosophy of life to young Michael O'Keefe who is one of the caddies just trying to pick up some extra dollars and suck up to the rich who are regulars at the club.

Knight reminds me of the character of the father of the prospective bride whom Auntie Mame was desperately trying to keep nephew Patrick from marrying. Willard Waterman in Auntie Mame was not on his home ground and Rosalind Russell capitalizes on that. You see Knight on his home turf (no pun intended) but it yields him no advantage as Dangerfield just shows him up over and over.

We cannot forget Bill Murray who is an iconoclastic character in his own right. He's one of the groundskeepers and has been assigned the task of ridding the world of gopher who has taken residence at the country club and leaving inconvenient holes in the ground. It's a battle of wits and guess who comes out on top?

Henry Wilcoxon plays a Catholic bishop who likes to golf. He isn't exactly Father O'Malley moved up in the ranks. Wilcoxon is best known for all the Cecil B. DeMille films he did and his final scene has a DeMille like quality.

With the gopher character Caddyshack expertly blends animation with the live players. Big kudos go out to the animators for the gopher.

Don't expect any sophistication, but Caddyshack will give you lots of belly laughs with many to spare