Brooks on Books: Caddyshack: The Making of a Cinderella Story

One thing that stands out after reading Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty's outstanding account of the making of the beloved comedy Caddyshack is the darkness. Oh, sure, we quote lines from the movie, we think of what a lark it must have been to be with all those funny people, we crack up at the sheer unhinged nature of Rodney Dangerfield...BUT...

But the movie was not a success when it premiered.

But not all the performers had a great time. It strikes me that Cindy Morgan, so sly and charismatic as Lacey in the film, had some terrible experiences during shooting, like being bullied by Jon Peters into doing nudity. Straight arrow and early riser Ted Knight resented his castmates' partying and didn't mesh with Dangerfield.

But the movie's co-writer/producer Doug Kenney died in a mysterious fall in Hawaii--way too young and believing his big project was a failure, never knowing the cultural icon it would become.

But rampant drug use throughout production may have seemed harmless at the time but casts a bit of a pall over the story now, especially considering the fate of the heavy abuser Kenney.

But if you sit and watch the movie now with fresh eyes, it's funny and memorable and a great time...but it's not really that great a movie. Even the people most involved in the production, like the late director Harold Ramis, admit it's a mess. The finished product in some ways reflects the inexperience of the filmmakers and the chaos caused by people winging it while fueled by various illicit substances.

Having said all that, I did rewatch it right after reading this book, and I had a good time. It's not a great movie, but it's a great watch, and the Dangerfield scenes are as funny as ever. Bill Murray is funny. Ted Knight is a tremendous slimy heel.

Let's talk about the book itself, though. Nashawaty began his research on Caddyshack when doing an article on the movie, then expanded it into this book. The good thing about the work's origins is that he was able to talk to Ramis before he died way too young. The author hustled and spoke to just about everybody important who was still around--yes, including Bill Murray, and, yes, there is a story behind it--and did a tremendous job shaping a focused, sharp narrative out of such a wild production.

One thing that stands out is that after a prelude, we don't really get into Caddyshack itself for over 100 pages. That's because Nashawaty goes all the way back to the beginning, telling the story of National Lampoon in great and compelling detail, then transitioning to a lively account of the making of National Lampoon's Animal House. 40% of the book is done before Caddyshack begins, but that makes perfect sense because, as Nashawaty shows, the film is a direct result of Kenney, Ramis, and co-writer Chris Miller wanting more control over their work after feeling director John Landis ended up with most of the responsibility (and power) on the smash hit Animal House.

There are many great "characters" in the narrative--Dangerfield, the volatile Chevy Chase (whose feud with Murray actually cooled during the movie), controversial producer Jon Peters...but perhaps the most intriguing is Kenney. The writer is lauded as a comic genius time and again in the text, yet his drug use spirals out of control as the book advances, ending up in death and confusion for friends like Chase, who left him in Hawaii days before his death. The realization that the troubled creative force never realized what an impact the movie had makes a bittersweet conclusion to the book.

Make no mistake, though, you get great stories about drugs, sex, and rock and roll (yes, you get the story of how Kenny Loggins came to write the movie's theme song). You learn about the original direction of the screenplay, with all those caddies whose scenes wound up shredded to ribbons. You read about the massive overlong early cuts and how editing saved the movie (with Peters, of all people, contributing the idea of using the gopher as a narrative throughline to pull things together).

It's a tremendous read, well written and backed by great research and interviews. I think the story of Caddyshack captures the highs (no pun intended) and lows of an era of comedy, and the bittersweet feeling at the end is appropriate. If you do need a solid laugh, though, just put on the movie and head right to the Al Czervik scenes.