The smash success Caddyshack became a prototype for countless other wacky T&A-tinged teen comedies of the early 1980s. At an exclusive country club for WASPish snobs, an ambitious young caddy (
Michael O'Keefe) from an overpopulated home eagerly pursues a caddy scholarship in hopes of attending college and, in turn, avoiding a job at the lumber yard. In order to succeed, he must first win the favor of the elitist Judge Smails (
Ted Knight), then the caddy golf tournament which the good judge sponsors. Of course, there are love interests as well -- one good, one naughty -- not to mention several foes he must vanquish along the way. The story itself serves to string along a series of slapstick scenes involving an obnoxious
nouveau riche land developer (
Rodney Dangerfield) who wants to turn the site into a condominium community; an oddball, Zen-quoting, millionaire slacker/golf ace (
Chevy Chase); and a psychotic groundskeeper (
Bill Murray) with a gopher-fixation. Caddyshack was a bona fide hit; throughout the '80s and '90s, director
Harold Ramis would continue to create such hits as
Ghostbusters,
Groundhog Day, and
Analyze This. ~ Jeremy Beday, All Movie Guide