DVD Review - Caddyshack: 20th Anniversary Special Edition

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Site created 12/15/97.

review added: 4/13/00

Caddyshack
20th Anniversary Special Edition - 1980 (2000) - Warner Bros.

review by Todd Doogan of The Digital Bits

Enhanced for 16x9 TVs

Film Rating: A

Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): B+/B+/B+

Specs and Features

99 mins, R, letterboxed widescreen (1.85.1), 16x9 enhanced, single-sided, dual-layered (extra layer for documentary), Snapper case packaging, documentary Caddyshack: The 19th Hole, cast and crew bios, theatrical trailer, animated film-themed menus with sound, scene access (28 chapters), languages: English & French (DD 2.0 mono), subtitles: English & French, Closed Captioned

"So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas."

"What’s a looper?"

"A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dali Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one - big hitter, the Lama - long, into a ten thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? "Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga." So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know?" And he says, "Oh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice."

Attention all golfers, Caddyshack has just been re-released on DVD as a special edition. What are the improvements over the original release? An anamorphic widescreen transfer and a special making-of documentary, that includes a vast array of interviews with cast and crew (which originally appeared on VHS). It's all a nice offering from Warner, but something in me wishes they had done this on DVD in the first place.

Caddyshack, in case you're pop-culturally handicapped, is the epic story of a young boy (Michael O'Keefe) coming to grips with his future. He must first decide if he should attend college. Then, after he decides he should, he must try to figure out if there's a free ride somewhere. Smart kid. The potential is there, and seeing as he's a star caddy for an elite course, he has access to many influential people, including a judge (Ted Knight), a doctor (Dan Resin), an entrepreneur (Chevy Chase) and a real estate magnate (Rodney Dangerfield). Oh... and we shouldn't forget the groundskeeper, Carl (Bill Murray). What you get is a fast paced comedy about life, love and the pursuit of a gopher. Funny stuff and worth watching a thousand times, just so you can quote the film all the way through.

If you have the original DVD release (a standard full frame job with no extras) then I would suggest replacing it with this. Here, you have a pretty good-looking widescreen (16x9 enhanced) transfer that shows a lot of grain. To be honest, the film was never all that good looking when it came to solid colors and smooth grains. But this is a slight improvement over the original edition. The picture is pretty crisp for what it is, and the colors are solid (even if they are a bit muted - again, they seem to have always been like that). Sound-wise, this is also an okay disc. It’s not an incredibly active sound field, but it never was and it gets the job done. There are some extras included, most notably the documentary I mentioned above entitled, Caddyshack: The 19th Hole. It's well done and sheds some light on the making of a comedic work of genius. It features some outtakes and interviews and isn’t half-bad (that’s Bits speak for "pretty good"). You’ll also find some notes and a trailer on the disc as well. It’s a good package and a worthy library DVD.

What are you waiting for? Put on those ugly slacks, power up the cart and head on down to your favorite shop and get yourself some Caddyshack. Be the disc... be the disc...

Todd Doogan
todddoogan@thedigitalbits.com