THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE (2000) Sport and the supernatural are surprisingly common playing partners.


Kevin Costner is visited by phantoms of baseball’s past in the excellent Field of Dreams. Robert Redford wields a magical baseball bat in The Natural. And in The Legend of Bagger Vance the mysterious figure of the film’s title comes to the aid of a promising golfer traumatised by his experiences on the battlefields of World War I. Played by Matt Damon, Rannulph Junuh came home, turned to drink, and rejected the woman and the sport he once loved. Years later, amid the Great Depression, the woman in question, beautiful Adele Invergordon, attempts to recover some of her family’s lost fortune by staging an exhibition match between the recently retired Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. She needs to generate local interest – and that means the participation of a local hero. Therefore she invites her estranged love, Rannulph, to take part. Against his better judgement he agrees and takes to hitting balls in the dead of night. Cue the arrival of Bagger Vance (Will Smith), who volunteers to caddy for him - and so begins a homespun process


whereby Rannulph begins to grip his personal demons by their throats. When the competition begins, Jones and Hagen play their distinctive games leaving Rannulph lagging behind after the first round. But behold, it comes to pass that, with Bagger on his bag, Rannulph rediscovers his “authentic swing” and begins to make up ground – and make up, too, with the attractive Adele. Finally, the film invokes one of the soundest principles of golf. During the final round, having strayed into trees, Rannulph moves his ball when trying to shift an obstacle, and calls the penalty on himself. Bagger appears to conclude that this is proof his work is done, and departs as oddly as he arrived. On the last hole, Rannulph sinks a remarkable putt and the match concludes with a neat and sporting three-way tie – together with a romantic couple destined for a long and happy life together. Rating: Bogie


THE GREATES GAME


EVER PLAYED (2005) On page 50 of this magazine I describe Francis Ouimet’s 1913 US Open victory as “the stuff of sporting fairy-tale” – so perhaps it is no surprise that it was the Disney studio that decided to turn his story into a movie. Heartland America always has a special place in its heart for the sporting underdog, dislikes snobbery, and loves rooting for the little guy taking on the big guy. Cinderella Man makes a hero of a not-so-heavy heavyweight fighter; Seabiscuit celebrates the little horse with the big jockey who win against all odds; and The Greatest Game Ever Played describes how the kid born into modest circumstances discovers that, through sport, he can make the most of himself and, unwittingly, change the nature of the game he adores for the better both at home and across the world. There is a good deal of sentimentality – Francis’ father orders him to give up the game for a “real job” while his mother remains quietly supportive of her son’s dream. He needs $50 to enter the Open, so vows to quit golf if his dad lends him the money and he fails to qualify. Somehow Francis ends up with a 10 year old caddie called Eddie who is wise beyond his years. But guess what? All of this is broadly true. Harry Vardon is Francis’ potential Nemesis, but there is poignancy in his portrayal. Harry’s professionalism means that he is destined never to be fully accepted by golf’s ruling class, despite his ability, good character and natural sense of code. Harry, like Francis, is not “one of us”. And so, despite the odd liberty with fact taken in the interests of drama, the film ends in a manner true to the best principles of golf – reminding us that victory is sweet when won with honour, skill and fair play, but that defeat can also be a sort of victory. For when Francis Ouimet sinks the winning putt we come to understand that the game will change: that people from all walks of life will claim ownership of golf, and that professionals like Harry Vardon, giants held in chains by snobbery, will cease to be second class citizens and enjoy the respect of all. This is why the book by Mark Frost, The Greatest Game Ever Played, on which he based the film’s screenplay, is sub-titled, Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet and the Birth of Modern Golf. Rating: Eagle


CADDYSHACK (1980) Any film that offers viewers a green keeping


assistant played by Bill Murray trying to blow up a gopher with plastic explosives wins my approval. Murray is one of cinema’s most gifted comedy performers – and a fine character actor to boot – not to mention a most engaging celebrity golf enthusiast. Caddyshack was a relatively early outing for both him and director Harold Ramis, and the movie was an astonishing success, paving way for further collaboration between the two on Ghostbusters. Peopled by funny men like Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase, Caddyshack fires verbal and visual jokes in relentless, rapid-fire salvos. Some stray into the rough, there is the odd shank, but most hit the target, and Murray as the unqualified and unhinged Carl Spackler steals the show. In a plot too insane and convoluted to describe in brief, the obsessive zeal with which Carl approaches a potentially disastrous gopher infestation of Bushwood Country Club is a delight. And the final twist – that the vibrations from his apocalyptic and course-wide detonation designed to eliminate all gophers should cause the hero’s ball to roll into the hole and thus secure a much needed $80,000 first prize, is a wholesome reminder why the rub of the green is enshrined in the playing of the game of golf. Rating: Birdie


WHO’S YOUR CADDY? (2007) The legendary screenwriter, William Goldman, famously stated: “In


Hollywood, nobody knows anything.” And it seems that hardly anyone knows how this miasma of nonsensical “comedy” came to be made. Hip-hop star C-Note wishes to join an exclusive country club with hilarious consequences. Unfortunately they are anything but, and Who’s Your Caddy? flew swiftly and unerringly well out of bounds into that netherworld that is home to “the worst movies of all time”. Rating: Blob


Credits: The Greatest Game Ever Played, Walt Disney Pictures, dir: Bill Paxton. Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, Bobby Jones Films, dir: Rowdy Herrington. Happy Gilmore, Universal Pictures, dir: Dennis Dugan. Tin Cup, Warner Brothers, dir: Ron Shelton. The Legend of Bagger Vance, Twentieth Century Fox, dir: Robert Redford. Caddyshack, Orion Pictures, dir: Harold Ramis. Who’s Your Caddy? Ascendant Pictures, dir: Don Michael Paul.


ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB 2013 MAGAZINE


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