The Golf Specialist (1930) - Fields on the green is comedic gold

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W.C. Fields engaged with his golf club amid a general confusion in a delightful still from Monte Brice's The Golf Specialist

A rascally layabout, who attempts to steal money from a little girl, takes another man's flirtatious wife out on the tee to show her how a game of golf is played.

The Golf Specialist is a pre-Code comedy short directed by Monte Brice (Casey at the Bat (1927)), which was star W.C. Fields' (It's a Gift (1934)) first sound picture.

A part of this mostly studio-shot flick is pretty primitive; and especially the many sound gags are obviously a result of the recent advent of the novelty of sound on film, more so than they point to the future of comedy.

Most of the story takes place around Fields' first strike at the golf ball, which never succeeds due to various obstacles: a pie, flying papers and other ridiculous things. - One should be inordinately hard-boiled not to chuckle several times at Fields' grotesque routine there. - It is golden.

 

Watch a 2-minute clip from the short here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Uncertain

[The Golf Specialist was released 22 August (USA) and runs 20 minutes. Shooting took place in New Jersey. Fields' golf routine had been used in So's Your Old Man (1926) and again later in You're Telling Me! (1934). The film fell into public domain in the 1960s and can be seen and downloaded free and legally right here. Brice returned with Resolutions (1930, short). Fields returned in Her Majesty, Love (1931). 1,051 IMDb users have given The Golf Specialist a 6.3/10 average rating.]

 

What do you think of The Golf Specialist?

The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) - Redford and A-listers in major period drama slip

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Two men golf in the dead of night on this mystery-invoking poster for Robert Redford's The Legend of Bagger Vance

When a golf player keels over from a heart attack on the green as an old man, he recalls past memories pertaining to the incredible caddy/golf player Bagger Vance and a tournament in Savannah, Georgia.

The Legend of Bagger Vance is written by Jeremy Leven (Don Juan DeMarco (1994)), based on the same-titled 1995 novel by Steven Pressfield (Last of the Amazons (2002)), and directed by Californian master filmmaker Robert Redford (Ordinary People (1980)).
With the handsome production values, - which is to be expected from a film of the enormous budget lavished on this sports drama, - and elegant photography (by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Der Gehilfe (1978, TV movie))), the film lures us onto its pathway. But only for a while, because The Legend of Bagger Vance has the distinct odor of being Oscar bait all around it, coupled with its distinct lack of recognizable reality.
Matt Damon (The Zero Theorem (2013))'s protagonist is a worn-down alcoholic, but that largely remains a postulate; Will Smith's (Men in Black (1997)) mystical Bagger Vance character, (presumably conjured up with inspiration from the Hindu Bhagavad Gita legend, which has a guiding, godly Bhagavan character), is a kind of golf oracle, who supplies wisdom that I simply couldn't receive with a straight face. It seems beyond anachronistic that Vance in the shape of Smith who with his recognizable self-confident swagger waltzes happily and black through the whole film, which is set in the American South around 1930/1931, without encountering a single racist moment whatsoever. Neither he nor Charlize Theron's (The Road (2009)) love interest character for Damon become really human-like at any point in the film.
The Legend of Bagger Vance must be intended as a kind of parable, but it is set in such an elaborately recreated concrete context which it then goes on to fully ignore. It is historically unsatisfying, feels phony - and then it is frankly also enormously dull.

Related posts:

Robert Redford: Pete's Dragon (2016) - Lowery plays Disney remake safe (co-star) 
All Is Lost (2013) - Chandor's Redford-lost-at-sea is compelling filmmaking (star)
Lions for Lambs (2007) - Streep and Cruise's star powers save Redford's boring political drama (co-producer/director/co-star)
A Bridge Too Far (1977) or, Epic Shit Hits the Fan (co-actor)
The Sting (1973) or, Partners in Hoax (co-star)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) or, Friendly Outlaws (co-star)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 80 mil. $
Box office: 39.4 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.49 times its cost)
[The Legend of Bagger Vance premiered 29 October (USA) and runs 126 minutes. Redford and Morgan Freeman were initially meant to play the bearing roles, before it was decided to go with a pair of younger stars. Smith was paid 10 mil. $ for his performance; Damon 7 mil. $, while Theron and Redford's salaries are unknown. Shooting took place in Georgia and South Carolina from September - December 1999. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Charlie's Angels and holdover hit Meet the Parents to an 11.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 30.9 mil. $ (78.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 1.2 mil. $ (3 %) and Australia with 304k $ (0.8 %). Many foreign markets are regrettably missing from the film's Box Office Mojo gross sheet. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches higher than this one. Critics have describes and criticized Smith's Bagger Vance character in the film as an instance of the 'Magical Negro' stereotype. Redford returned with Lions for Lambs (2007). Damon returned in Finding Forrester (2000)); Smith in Ali (2001); and Theron in Sweet November (2001). The Legend of Bagger Vance is rotten at 43 % with a 5.23/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Legend of Bagger Vance?

Caddyshack (1980) - And you thought golf was boring?

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The wacky poster for Harold Ramis' Caddyshack

QUICK REVIEW:

Caddyshack presents the life of a golf club: An assisting grass-responsible is chasing gophers, a rich Jew threatens to buy the establishment, and a young caddy is fighting to get the club's college grant.

Caddyshack is an outrageous crazy-comedy with deadpan-champ Chevy Chase (Community (2009-14)), a darkly comedic, sleazy Bill Murray (St. Vincent (2014)), and choleric Rodney Dangerfield (Back to School (1986)) in his film break-through. - And there's slapstick comedy in it too!
This sports comedy classic is co-written and directed by the recently passed on Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day (1993)).

Bill Murray, early in his career, in Harold Ramis' Caddyshack

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: 39.8 mil. $ (North America only)
= Huge hit
[Caddyshack was the 17th biggest film at the US box office of the year. It has since grown in popularity. It has been shown on the Golf Channel, and it is Tiger Woods' favorite movie (!). Initially, the only country outside North America where the film was a hit, was in Denmark.]

What do you think of Caddyshack?
If you've seen the derided 1988 sequel, what do you think of it?