cover image Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story

Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story

Chris Nashawaty. Flatiron, $26.99 (304) ISBN 978-1-250-10595-0

Entertainment Weekly film critic Nashawaty (Crab Monsters, Teenage Cavemen, and Candy Stripe Nurses) tackles the rocky production and eventual success of the raucous 1980 golf comedy Caddyshack. The story of Caddyshack, Nashawaty shows, was very much that of its producer/cowriter Douglas Kenney, who died in an accident at age 35 soon after the film’s release. A one-time Harvard Lampoon writer who subsequently helped found the spin-off National Lampoon, Kenney crossed paths with members of Chicago’s Second City improv troupe and of the fledgling Saturday Night Live in the mid-’70s, resulting in the blockbuster film Animal House. As a follow-up, Caddyshack was expected to be a surefire hit, but competing egos, the inexperience of first-time director Harold Ramis, and ample drug use plagued the filming from the beginning. In Nashawaty’s hilarious depiction, the production is shown to have been utter chaos, albeit with some creative genius tossed in—notably from star Bill Murray, who turned his throwaway groundskeeper role into Caddyshack’s signature character. Moreover, the film’s fans may be surprised to learn that upon its completion, both Kenney and the film’s distributor, Warner Brothers, were convinced that it would be a flop. Nashawaty’s book provides both an entertaining showbiz chronicle and, by the conclusion, an unexpectedly moving tribute to Kenney’s short life and lasting comic legacy. Agent: Farley Chase, Chase Literary Agency. (Apr.)