One of the best Bill Murray scenes in ‘Caddyshack’ was entirely improvised
Several people consider the 1980 sports comedy Caddyshack to be not only one of the greatest sports films ever made but also one of the funniest films of all time. It was written by Brian-Doyle Murray, Harold Ramis and Douglas Kennedy, directed by Ramis and starred Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight and Michael O’Keefe.
Caddyshack tells of a hopeful caddie in the process of applying for a caddie scholarship who finds himself caught up in a feud between the owner of an affluent country club and one of its regular guests. Behind the main story is another narrative featuring a crazy greenskeeper who is battling against a bothersome gopher.
One of the most memorable scenes in the movie (though there are many) comes with Bill Murray’s legendary “Cinderella story” monologue. “This unknown comes outta nowhere to lead the pack at Augusta,” Murray’s character Carl says, commentating on himself playing golf while using a flower as a golf ball). “He’s at the final hole. He’s about 455 yards away; he’s gonna hit about a two-iron, I think… Boy, he got all of that.”
However, there wasn’t actually any dialogue written for Murray to riff off, despite the scene’s excellence. Rather, Ramis had given him just one piece of direction. Ramis had asked Murray, “Did you ever do imaginary golf commentary in your head?” And that was all Ramis needed to say, knowing that Murray had bags upon bags of genius inside him just waiting to get out.
Amazingly, Murray came up with the monologue on the spot in just one take. After Ramis directed him, Murray responded, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t say anymore. I got it!” Before you knew it, Murray delivered his iconic Cinderella story monologue, which remains truly one of the best moments from the film.
Ramis later noted, “We always trusted improvisation. It never felt like we were ad-libbing and winging it. It’s an actual technique and a method that allows you to create material instantly. It’s not grabbed out of thin air.” Knowing that, Ramis trusted Murray’s improvisation methods to deliver the iconic scene.
Murray also admitted that he was just able to improvise with ease. “I was good back in those days,” he said. “I could do something when they turned the camera on. I was wired into what I was talking about. Improvising golf was easy for me. And it was fun. It wasn’t difficult to come up with stuff. And there was a great crowd of people there to entertain. If you made Harold laugh, you sort of earned your keep. You made your bones.”
Check out the classic scene below.
