July 22: How Caddyshack Launched 2 Comedy Film Genres
Plus Atari, Guns 'N Roses, a '90s T.J. Maxx jingle, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
July 22nd, 2022 • Issue 109
How Caddyshack Launched 2 Comedy Film Genres
42 years ago, on July 25th, 1980, Caddyshack hit theaters.
I’m crazy enough to start this piece with a ESPN talking head-worthy hot take: Caddyshack isn’t a good movie.
It’s memorable. It’s quotable. It’s a classic. But it’s not, well, good.
The movie has deep, fundamental flaws. There are no stakes. There’s no character development. The climactic golf match focuses on taking a rich jerk down a peg — and the people taking him down are two other, more lovable rich jerks. The lead actor isn’t just outshined by the supporting characters, he was blown away so bad it ruined his chances of ever becoming famous. The movie feels disconnected (it’s by people on cocaine, for people on cocaine). Caddyshack’s legacy is built entirely on Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, and Chevy Chase doing shtick. Most feels improvised, only a little relates to golf.
In spite of all that, though, Caddyshack became a cult classic — and for a large cult, too. This cult isn’t 18 weirdos in southern Utah. It’s, well, insert your preferred modern day nationwide cult here.
Because for all it does wrong, Caddyshack does two big things right. Really, really right. And those two rights were so monumental they both created film comedy genre staples still alive and well today.
The first is the sports comedy.
Caddyshack was not the first sports comedy film. There were sports comedies dating back to the silent film era and occasionally through the not-silent film era as well. The late ‘70s saw a scant few, notably The Bad News Bears and Slapshot.
Caddyshack’s success — financially, comedically, and in surfacing an underserved movie-going fanbase — turned the sports comedy into a prominent, viable niche. Permanently.
Endless ‘80s sports comedies followed in its wake — most of which are among the favorite movies of this newsletter’s readers.
Sports comedies continued strong into the ‘90s, then onto the ‘00s. The genre fell on rough times in past decade or so, when the number of total theatrical movies decreased and the importance of international box office rose. (Sports comedies famously bomb in China.)
But with streaming services happy to buy niche movies, sports comedies should be able to turn things around. They may not get back to their post-Caddyshack glory, but we haven’t seen the last of a ragtag team of [any sport] players defying the odds with hilarious results.
The second genre Caddyshack launched is more subtle.
As I said earlier, Caddyshack is a bad-but-beloved movie. Why is it beloved? Because of three actors’ shtick: Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, and Chevy Chase. It’s more like an episode of a sketch comedy show set at a golf course than a movie.
Those three actors make Caddyshack work. (As was evident with the ill-fated sequel. It replaced Rodney Dangerfield with Jackie Mason, Bill Murray with Dan Akyroyd, and Chevy Chase with a less motivated Chevy Chase. Then it also adds Randy Quaid. It’s unwatchable.)
And Hollywood execs recognized what made Caddyshack work, so it created a new paradigm: The “put the funniest actors you’ve got on screen and see what happens” genre. Plot and character are secondary to individual shtick and quotability.
And we’ve seen the formula over and over for the four decades since Caddyshack. Sometimes the setting is the sports world (think of most of the movies from Will Ferrell). Sometimes the setting is a heist or a reunion or a vacation or just Judd Apatow’s dude squad hanging around at a house.
From Three Amigos to Trading Places to Nothing But Trouble to There’s Something About Mary to Baby Mama to Anchorman to 40-Year-Old Virgin to Hot Tub Time Machine to Booty Call to Tropic Thunder to Bridesmaids to This Is the End to Game Night to Jumanji and on and on… put the funniest people you can find on camera and see what happens. The script needs a premise and the movie needs a plot — but it’s fine to skimp on those if they get in the way of the laughs.
(Take 40-Year-Old Virgin for instance. The movie works, but that seems like a lucky accident. The whole goal was to let funny people run wild — even extending to background characters played by pre-fame Kevin Hart and Jonah Hill.)
Sometimes the results are fantastic. Sometimes the movie is a disjointed mess. But either way, the fans leave laughing. The movies develop cult followings. People quote them. They become classics. And that usually remains true regardless of plot, character, and story.
Not too bad for Caddyshack, a movie that, again, just wasn’t that good. But it sure was funny. And in this case, as in many cases in the decades that followed, that was more than enough.
Other momentous moments from this week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
July 22nd
1988 - Big Top Pee Wee and Caddyshack 2 both hit theaters.
1989 - Martika’s single Toy Soldiers hit number one.
1991 - Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested.
1994 - OJ Simpson pleaded “absolutely 100% not guilty” to murder.
1998 - The series finale aired of the sitcom Ellen.
1999 - Len’s single Steal My Sunshine was released.
July 23rd
1984 - Vanessa Williams forfeited her Miss America crown after Penthouse published unauthorized nude photos of her.
1985 - Commodore introduced the Amiga personal computer.
1987 - One year after his World Series error, the Red Sox waived Bill Buckner.
1991 - Color Me Badd’s album CMB was released.
1993 - Poetic Justice hit theaters, as did the Coneheads movie.
1995 - The Hale-Bopp comet was discovered.
1996 - Kerri Strug landed a gold-winning vault with a broken ankle at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
1996 - Freak Nasty’s single Da Dip was released.
1999 - The live action Inspector Gadget hit theaters, as did Drop Dead Gorgeous.
July 24th
1982 - Survivor’s single Eye of the Tiger hit number one.
1983 - The George Brett pine tar incident.
1984 - Wham!’s single Careless Whisper was released.
1985 - Disney’s The Black Cauldron hit theaters.
1987 - Summer School hit theaters.
1987 - La Bamba hit theaters.
1987 - Superman IV hit theaters.
1990 - Judas Priest was accused of sending subliminal messages in their music.
1990 - Pantera’s debut major label album, Cowboys from Hell, was released.
1998 - Saving Private Ryan hit theaters, as did Disturbing Behavior.
1999 - Will Smith’s single Wild Wild West hit number one.
July 25th
1980 - AC/DC’s album Back in Black was released.
1981 - Air Supply’s single The One That You Love hit number one.
1983 - Metallica’s debut album Kill ‘Em All was released.
1990 - Roseanne Barr infamously butchered the national anthem.
1992 - The summer Olympics opened in Barcelona, Spain.
1997 - Good Burger hit theaters.
1997 - Air Force One hit theaters.
1999 - Woodstock ‘99 ended disastrously.
1999 - Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France.
July 26th
1985 - National Lampoon’s European Vacation hit theaters.
1986 - Peter Gabriel’s song Sledgehammer hit number one.
1991 - Paul “Pee-Wee Herman” Reubens was arrested for self-fornication in an adult movie theater.
1994 - Boyz II Men’s single I’ll Make Love to You was released.
1996 - Kingpin hit theaters.
1997 - OMC’s How Bizarre peaked at number 4.
1997 - Shawn Colvin’s Sunny Came Home peaked at number 7.
1999 - MTV’s serial soap Undressed premiered.
July 27th
1983 - Madonna’s self-titled debut album was released.
1984 - Purple Rain hit theaters.
1990 - Dr. Mario was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
1990 - Problem Child hit theaters.
1991 - Bryan Adams’s single (Everything I Do) I Do It For You hit number one.
1993 - Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis suddenly died on the court.
1996 - A bomb exploded outside the Olympics in Atlanta.
1996 - The Butthole Surfers’ only hit, Pepper, peaked at number 26.
1999 - Destiny’s Child’s album The Writing’s on the Wall was released.
July 28th
1978 - Animal House hit theaters.
1981 - IBM released its first desktop computer.
1984 - The summer Olympics kicked off in Los Angeles.
1989 - Turner and Hooch hit theaters.
1992 - Mary J. Blige’s debut album, What’s the 411?, was released.
1993 - Robin Hood: Men in Tights hit theaters.
1995 - Waterworld hit theaters, as did The Net and Operation: Dumbo Drop.
1999 - Barry Sanders retired from the NFL.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
The Colorado Rockies got their dinosaur mascot during the construction of their ballpark in the early ‘90s.
Workers found a dinosaur rib bone while they were excavating the ground for the stadium. And since a dinosaur made a more cuddly mascot than a mountain, the Rockies went with it.
There are only two actors who appear in all three of the original Indiana Jones trilogy — Harrison Ford and a guy who played four bad guys.
A British wrestler named Pat Roach played two characters in Raiders of the Lost Ark (a Nepalese fighter and German plane mechanic) — and died both times. Then he played one of the cult members in Temple of Doom and a gestapo officer in Last Crusade.
Shaquille O’Neal hit just one three pointer in his 21-year NBA career.
He was one for 22 on threes. His only make came on a buzzer beater during his fourth season.
Kelsey Grammer received Emmy nominations for playing Frasier Crane on three different shows.
He was nominated for playing Frasier on Cheers… for playing Frasier in a cameo on Wings… and then, finally, for playing Frasier on Frasier. He won one of the three, for playing Frasier on Frasier.
The original casting choices for Bad Boys weren’t Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
The movie was first written for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz. It would have been very different.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
A recent survey found ‘90s music is the most popular decade with Americans right now; 60% of people say they currently listen to ‘90s music.
YouTube confirmed this week that Guns N’ Roses had the first ‘80s music video to hit one billion views (Sweet Child O’ Mine) and the first ‘90s video to hit one billion views (November Rain).
Sylvester Stallone called out two producers of the Rocky franchise over his lack of ownership. He also blamed them for bringing a premature end to the original run of the franchise.
Daniel Kaluuya’s production company is still working on a live-action Barney reboot movie. Probably won’t be directed by Jordan Peele, though that would give an interesting take on the subject matter.
One of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s co-stars from End of Days says he “farted in my face… he did it deliberately.”
A docuseries on Woodstock ‘99 is coming to Netflix next month.
Pat Benatar says she won’t play Hit Me With Your Best Shot anymore “in deference to the victims… of mass shootings. [The title] is tongue-in-cheek, but you have to draw the line. I can’t say those words out loud with a smile on my face.”
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Lego is selling nostalgia at high prices and people just keep on buying. Next up: This week, Lego announced they’re releasing an Atari 2600 set on August 1st. 2,532 pieces, $240, and 100% intended for people born in the 1970s.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
This T.J. Maxx commercial jingle has a spot in a deep file cabinet in the recesses of my brain. Like… I haven’t thought about it in 30 years but could sing along to it.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Pony had a shoe deal with Spud Webb? And they based the marketing on his height? Wow.
Have a great week!
-Sam