Caddyshack

I've written before about the guy in my high school who recommended a list of classic comedies. Caddyshack was on that list. As such, I've probably seen this film 50 times, and I still catch new things.

Chevy Chase owns this film. So many great lines. "I feel like a hundred dollars." "Don't sell yourself short, Judge. You're a tremendous slouch."

But Ted Knight is, in fact, no slouch. "Are you my pal?" "How about a Fresca?" The poem he recites at the christening of his sloop...my god. Mmm? Mmm? I wonder which one I quote more: Chevy Chase or Ted Knight? Close race.

Rodney Dangerfield: "Somebody step on a duck?" "What's this, Hell's Angels?" "Called me a baboon! Thinks I'm his wife!"

By the way, Bill Murray is in this film too. "Great green globs of greasy grimy gopher guts."

My wife won't watch this film with me for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that she hates golf. I don't play, luckily. Still, she's not joining me for this viewing, and is working on a sewing project in the other room. So I've invited my boss over. A film like this requires company.

So here we are, with gin and tonics, chips and salsa, and the occasional pretzel, laughing like a couple of dorks on a Saturday afternoon, forgetting about work for a while and hanging on nearly every word uttered by Ted Knight or Chevy Chase. Maybe that's because we're both a couple of smartasses.

We're sitting here, and we can't understand half the stuff they're saying in the film, so I keep having to rewind and turn on the subtitles. Finally, we've just decided to watch the rest of the film with subtitles, laughing at the stuff that isn't in them. The "Big Bob Marley joint"? Not in the subtitles. "Stoned to the bejeezus?" Nope. Various racist remarks? Nothing. The subs are some of the worst I've ever seen.

In one moment, a Baby Ruth candy bar works as a sight gag for a turd. In another moment, we get a reference to Jean Paul-Sartre. A few moments later, Spaulding is picking his nose and eating it. A dancing gopher. Weird sight gags. Social commentary. Billy baroo. The 1812 Overture?

From the other room, I can hear my wife sewing and running her serger, and for some reason her activity sounds all the more frustrated. Two grown men, downstairs on a Saturday afternoon, drinking and watching Caddyshack. I'm sorry, honey.