Watch The Caddy For Free

Too much of everything

Sick Product of a Sick System

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Directed by Norman Taurog, with a story by Danny Arnold, who also wrote the screenplay with Edmund Hartmann, this Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin comedy is full of laughs especially if you like Lewis's antics: his many voices and physical humor. If you're a fan of golf, you will enjoy seeing Ben Hogan and Sam Snead (among others) swinging the clubs. The cast also includes Donna Reed, Barbara Bates, Joseph Calleia, Fred Clark, Clinton Sundberg, Marjorie Gateson, and Romo Vincent (among others).The story is pretty straightforward, and is aided by a plot device or two, to enable the headlining duo to show their stuff: Martin plays a suave character who's a natural golfer and terrific singer (in fact, this is the film in which he first sings his signature song, "That's Amore", which was nominated for an Academy Award); Lewis plays Martin's doormat and "brother-in-law to be", who always finds himself in odd, funny situations. Reed plays Martin's country club gal, Bates plays Lewis's fiancée. Calleia plays Martin's dad (Argentina Brunetti, his mom); Gateson plays Reed's mom, and Sundberg plays their butler. Clark plays the latest boss to fire Lewis's character. Vincent plays the boys' agent, who discovers their real talent doesn't lie on the links.The film opens with Joe Anthony (Martin) and Harvey Miller Jr. (Lewis) looking out their window to their adoring fans; apparently, they're a comedy pair much like Martin & Lewis. Their story is told in flashback by their agent Eddie (Vincent): Harvey Sr. (Donald Randolph) was a professional golfer and Harvey Jr. is pretty terrific too, only he has to give it up since he can't play in front of crowds. Over the years he worked in various sport related jobs, but gets fired from his latest by Mr. Baxter (Clark), whom he's dubbed Old Skinhead, when he takes his fiancée Lisa (Bates) to see Ben Hogan play in a tournament. Harvey then inadvertently trashes the entire department store's sporting goods department and more. Joe's Papa (Calleia) is a fisherman, but Joe gets seasick so he hits the road and does various odd jobs himself until he finally returns home to find his sister Lisa is engaged to Harvey, who's just started to work as a golf tutor. Harvey discovers that Joe is a "natural" (golfer), and because Joe's father, who now owns an Italian restaurant, needs $500 to buy a boat to return to fishing, Harvey becomes Joe's caddy and the two enter a country club tournament whose prize for 1st place is (wouldn't you know?) $500.Once they're at the club, attractive Joe is pursued by the tournament's registrar Kathy Taylor (Reed), and Harvey is sent to bunk with the other caddies. Initially Joe protests the treatment of Harvey as less than his partner, but he quickly learns the benefits of the high life and begins to treat his future brother-in-law as one of the lesser classes. After a couple of scenes during which each lead gets to exhibit their talents (Martin sings while Lewis does slapstick "gags", the latter attracting the attention of a laughing rotund Eddie), and Joe wins the tournament, he's invited to stay at Kathy's before the big $10,000 tournament while Harvey follows in a truck full of livestock with his golf clubs. Nancy Culp appears briefly (uncredited) as a drunk's wife. To escape the Taylor's watch dogs, Harvey pretends to be a guest at the Taylor's estate, and eventually gets invited, by Kathy's mother Grace (Gateson), to assist their butler Charles (Sundberg), serving the other guests. By this time, Joe has adjusted quite well to the good life, and treating Harvey as a servant. A simple misunderstanding between Joe and Kathy, she thinks Lisa is his fiancée instead of Harvey's, causes Joe to get the boot. But eventually he returns with great fanfare to the big tournament and mayhem abounds at the golf course ... after which Eddie signs the singer and his sidekick to a contract. There's a brief mistaken identity gag at the end - Kathy and Lisa mistake (the real) Martin & Lewis for Joe and Harvey.

Before I review The Caddy proper, let me just say that as a big fan of It's a Wonderful Life, I like to mention whenever players of that movie are in others I review. First, there's leading lady Donna Reed who of course was Mary Hatch there. Next, there's Argentina Brunetti-Mrs. Martini there-who's Dean Martin's mother here. Then, there's Bill Edmonds-Mr. Martini there-who's another of the Italian relatives (though I have to admit I didn't recognize him here). Finally, though I also didn't recognize her here, there's Mary Treen who even IMDb couldn't identify by role. Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say that with Dean & Jerry playing entertainers who were once golfer and caddy, respectively, there's some hilarious scenes of Lewis wrecking havoc at a department store, of impersonating an Important Rich Man, and of disrupting some famous golfers' games. And Martin has an iconic moment when he sings a song that would be permanently identified with him: "That's Amore". And not just him but Jerry and the whole family sings along to one of the most entertaining numbers on film ever. What I didn't like was the way they have Dean treating Jerry like dirt in the middle of the movie and how dramatic that becomes at the expense of the mostly funny business that came before that. But it's worth it just to see how the whole thing ends especially when a couple of surprises happen there. Oh, and it was also hilarious whenever Jerry's boss Fred Clark-best known to me for his part in "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"-is on screen. And the leading lady Jerry has here is played by the stunning Barbara Bates. So appealing is she here that I was stunned when I read of how tragic her life turned out. So on that note, The Caddy, despite its unevenness, gets a recommendation from me.

The Caddy is a Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis comedy film. It's directed by Norman Taurog and also stars Donna Reed & Barbara Bates. Also featured in the story are some leading professional golfers of the time.Middle tier Martin & Lewis movie that sticks rigidly to the formula that made them so popular. Jerry causes mayhem but always endears in doing so, while Dean croons and catches the eye of the ladies. Plot is told in flashback as the popular duo, now big musical hall stars, shows how they got together courtesy of golf. Cue some goofing around on golf courses and chaos unbound as Jerry upsets the upper class toffs of society. Cue carnage in a department store and chaos on the golf course.Dean sings the Oscar nominated "That's Amore," as well as "It's A Whistle In," "Kinda Mornin," "One Big Love" & "What Wouldcha Do Without Me?" Reed and Bates are pretty and adorable, and both play off of the boys with ease. All of which builds to a fun double-take ending to seal the deal as The Caddy reaching its par on the course of Martin & Lewis movies. 7/10

I love Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, and this film had to be one of the funniest, aside from Sailor Beware. Martin and Lewis have a great chemistry that is so much fun to watch. I haven't seen all their movies yet, but after seeing The Caddy, I'll have to see them all! You have to see this movie.