4/9/05---The much delayed....DVD reviews

Okay, okay....so its been awhile, alright?  As promised....today we'll look at two of my alltime favorites....
1) Caddyshack--when it was first released around 1980, it was billed as "the snobs vs. the slobs".  This ended up being one of those films for the ages.  One of those movies that even now, some 25 years later....you find yourself quoting lines from.
"Hey baby, you must have been something before electricity."
"Cinderella story.....young unknown....."
"Ten bucks says the Smales kid picks his nose...."
"GAMBLING....is not permitted at Bushwood....SIR."
"The world needs ditchdiggers too son."

I mean, I could go on and on.  The movie is really the story of a young caddy named Danny Noonan (NOONAN!) who is trying desperately to get a scholarship for college and willing to do pretty much anything it takes to get it.  While that's going on we witness the regular inhabitants of the Bushwood Country Club, located I suppose somewhere in Florida (I say that because it was filmed about a mile from where I live).  We meet Ty, the golfer who is so good that he no longer keeps score (Chevy Chase who would never EVER be as good in a movie again).  There's Carl Spackler.....the assistant groundskeeper (Bill Murray) who longs for the day when he would move up to the coveted spot of HEAD groundskeeper but who's chief rival is a nair-do-well gopher who keeps digging up the golfcourse.  There's Judge Smales, the snobby head of the golf course (a never better Ted Knight) who is trying with all his will to keep his club....er....private.  There's Al, the real estate developer played by the incomparable Rodney Dangerfield, who feels that golf courses are:
"The biggest waste of prime real estate going."
And there are so many more.  The movie really belongs to Murray, Dangerfield and Knight, who all truly became film icons with their roles here.  You will never view golf the same after watching this movie.  *****  an absolute classic
2) A Christmas Storyl--all 10 year old Ralphie really wants for Christmas this year is a Red Ryder BB gun....with a compass on the barrel and---well, if you've seen the advertisements for this movie during the Christmas holidays....you know, during the approximately 20 times a day that TBS runs it, you know the rest.  Set in 1947 smalltown Indiana this movie is another classic.  Its a kids movie that doesn't dumb down the kids.  There are smart asses, bullies, loudmouths....all of them are here.
Narrated by Jean Sheppard (and who's short story was the basis of the film) its a hilarious look back at growing up around the holiday season.  Its a little like the former t.v. show The Wonder Years--but with a few more years gone past by the narrator for added cynicism.  Darren McGavin & Melinda Dillon are terrific as Ralphie's parents, with just enough sugar & spice to seem realistic.  Personally, my favorite character was the town bully Scott Farkas ("He had YELLOW eyes, I swear to you....YELLOW EYES!").  This is one of those movies that you go out of your way to watch during the holiday season---but its just as good during the summer months also.  ****3/4

Later,
Jeff