Panida tees up Caddyshack for $5 film series

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Courtesy photo.

It’s been 44 years since Caddyshack swung into theaters and, while it didn’t exactly hit a hole-in-one with some critics — earning a nomination in The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Sarah Holcomb’s “Most Annoying Fake Accent” — it has remained a steadfast fan favorite.

The film stars Michael O’Keefe as Danny Noonan, who works as a caddie at the snooty Bushwood Country Club to raise money for his college education. Noonan is angling for a scholarship reserved for caddies, but first needs to gain votes to be considered. To boost his popularity, Noonan volunteers to caddie for the influential — and uber-snobby — Judge Elihu Smails (Ted Knight). 

That might be the overarching plot, but the film is stolen again and again by Rodney Dangerfield as the boisterous and uncouth Al Czervik, who clearly doesn’t belong among the hoity-toity members of Bushwood, and Chevy Chase as the eccentric playboy and New Age-y golf guru Ty Webb, whom Noonan enlists to help him up his caddie skills.

Finally, there is Bill Murray’s immortal performance as the semi-deranged groundskeeper Carl Spackler, who carries on a personal war with a destructive and apparently sentient gopher that escalates with disastrous consequences.

Co-written and directed by the late-Harold Ramis, Caddyshack was among Ramis’ first major film projects, setting the stage for a career that included some of the most classic comedies of the late 20th century, like Stripes, Armed and Dangerous, the Ghostbusters franchise, Groundhog Day, Analyze This and its sequel Analyze That.

See the iconic Caddyshack on the Panida Theater big screen Friday, July 19 as part of its $5 film series. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie starts at 7 p.m. Get tickets at panida.org or at the door (300 N. First Ave., in downtown Sandpoint).