Written by Chris Nashawaty
SUMMARY:
Published in 2018 by Flatiron Books, this 294-page hardcover by Entertainment Weekly movie critic Chris Nashawaty explores the behind-the scenes hijinks during the production of 1980’s Caddyshack. Nashawaty’s narrative harkens back to The Harvard Lampoon of the late 1960’s before moving on to National Lampoon magazine in the 1970’s.
Edgy rising comedians, such as John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Harold Ramis, helped expand National Lampoon into other mediums, as well as inspire NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Seeking to score big in Hollywood off their screenwriting gig for 1978’s Animal House, Ramis and cohort Doug Kenney soon finagle their way into making their own movie: Caddyshack.
In face of upcoming box office competition from The Blue Brothers and Airplane!, an inexperienced production team and a cast of unique personalities proceed to literally take Florida by storm during filming. Drug abuse controversies, ad-libs, backstage feuds, and scathing reviews resulted in the film achieving initially modest success. Yet, Caddyshack’s eventual rise as a Hollywood underdog legend proves a bumpy ride for all involved.
REVIEW:
Oddly, if one is searching for LOL anecdotes, don’t expect to find them in this book. It’s no contest that viewing either Caddyshack, or its upbeat making-of featurette, “The 19th Hole,” is a far sunnier experience.
To his credit, writer Chris Nashawaty delves into the backstory opportunism to explain how Hollywood neophytes Ramis and Kenney ultimately convinced (or perhaps conned) Orion Pictures into bankrolling a six-million dollar movie — let alone trust this duo to behave on location in Florida. Nashawaty’s account is an insightful read, especially head-shaking details of an orgy-like atmosphere freely indulging cocaine, dope, and booze during the film shoot – with Orion Pictures evidently oblivious most of the time.
It’s not really surprising that a scene-stealing Rodney Dangerfield, for instance, was inexperienced and insecure re: whether his ultra-obonxious on-screen persona was actually funny or not. A more telling sign is how Ramis admits he ingeniously manipulated a spot-on performance from a simmering Ted Knight. Considering Knight’s old-school professionalism was a far cry from the set’s lackadaisical (at best) atmosphere – it’s ironic how art copies life (or vice versa).
Reminiscences from Ramis, Bill Murray, Cindy Morgan, Chevy Chase, and Michael O’Keefe, among others, are intriguing. Readers get backstage tales of how scenes were improvised, re-improvised, or simply cut to emphasize its four main stars. For that matter, it’s explained why executive producer Jon Peters pushed for the goofy animatronic gopher’s inclusion, despite lesser-known cast members (“the caddies”) being resentfully upstaged and their screen time considerably shortened.
Yet, the book’s egotistical behind-the-scenes squabbles are overshadowed by Doug Kenney’s bizarre world, including his enigmatic death months after filming had completed. For a professional humorist, there’s nothing remotely chuckle-worthy about Kenney’s troubled life. Wild accounts of his drug-related antics in Florida alone are stunning, especially re: how far too many blind eyes were turned. A grim conclusion one is left with is that everyone else’s own self-involvement precluded emergency intervention to thwart Kenney from binging himself to self-destruction.
Still, Nashawaty’s candid reporting (which definitely has its dry spells) divulges how the troubled Caddyshack morphed into existence, in spite of a slew of creative compromises. If anything, this book reiterates why imitators won’t surpass Caddyshack’s unique cult classic stature in movie history.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Eight pages depict color and black-and-white photos. The epilogue features post-Caddyshack career capsules re: its surviving players. Besides a bibliography, a lengthy ‘Notes’ section specifies sources, interview dates & times, etc.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 7 Stars
