The one film I chose to see that week was “Caddyshack” (1980).
It would not surprise me if director and writer Harold Ramis allowed standup comic Rodney Dangerfield to write his own dialogue.
“This steak still has marks from where the jockey was hitting it,” was one memorable line Dangerfield’s character uttered as the obnoxiously sloppy real estate developer Al Czervik.
“When Caddyshack came out, the reviewer in The New York Times said it was “immediately forgettable,” the comedian wrote in his 2004 autobiography, “It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me”. “Well, it grossed about $40 million at the time, and twenty years later, people are still repeating a lot of those “forgettable” lines.”
Then again, I knew who Rodney Dangerfield years before I saw "Caddyshack" on cable in the spring of 1982. Thanks to those Lite Beer commercials I often saw on weekends that aired on television, usually between sporting events, between 1973 and 1983, 81 ads in all.
That's how I became familiar with the bug-eyed comedian's most famous self-deprecating line, "I get no respect."
The clever humorous commercials not only featured Dangerfield but other known sports icons like John Madden, Bubba Smith, Bob Uecker, and Bill Martin.
I remember only two of the TV ads though. One was a bowling commercial where Dick Butkus complained to Budda Smith how a bowling ball had no holes in it. Smith took the ball and created three holes using his fingers.
Then someone asked, "Who's up next" to bowl and someone else yelled, "Rodney!"
Knowing the team members were screwed everyone yelled in disapproval, "RODNEY!"
In came Rodney Dangerfield ready to bowl.
"We just need one more pin, Rodney," warned one teammate.
The comedian's throw was perfect as the ball rolled down the center of the lane headed towards the leading pin. Anyone familiar with bowling knows this would have likely been a strike. Then again, he wasn't "Rodney Dangerfield."
Like a bird bouncing off a plain glass window after thinking it was really a hole it could fly through, the bowling ball bounced off the center pin and into the gutter. All ten pins standing.
Leave it to Rodney to fail at getting just that one pin!
The other was about "The Creature" which the same group of guys huddled around a campfire.
One of them tells a story about a creature known for terrorizing people in the woods.
Suddenly out from the branches comes Dangerfield.
"It's the creature," screamed someone and everyone scattered.
How I wish those commercials were available on DVD today. I recently searched online if those television advertisements were available for download. Sadly, the most I could come across was a 1984 book called "Lite Reading: The Lite Beer from Miller Commercial Scrapbook" by Frank Deford which was available for purchase.
“Even in Hell I get no respect,” said Dangerfield’s character.
According to the comedian’s bio, when Oliver Stone wanted him for a cameo in the controversial yet nauseatingly violent “Natural Born Killers” (1994) playing the sexually abusive father of Juliette Lewis, the Oscar winning director let him write his own lines.
It is obvious. Whenever Rodney Dangerfield was on the screen, it was rare for any scene to end without a laugh. You just knew he was either going to say something insulting about himself or someone else.
When Dangerfield passed away Oct. 8 at age 82, television newscasters said only a few words about how he got his start in show business and ran five minutes of his most memorably quick one-liners while newspaper obituaries ran with a sample of jokes taken from his website www.rodney.com.
On birth: “When I was born, I was so ugly that the doctor slapped my mother.”
On marriage: “My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met!”
On having pets: “With my dog I don’t get no respect. He keeps barking at the front door. He doesn’t want to go out. He wants me to leave.”
On growing up: “When I was 3 years old, my parents got a dog. I was jealous of the dog, so they got rid of me.”
On dating: “I saved a girl from being attacked last night. I controlled myself.”
On divorce: “When my parents got divorced, there was a custody fight over me…and no one showed up.”
On having sex: “I’m not a sexy guy. I went to a hooker. I dropped my pants. She dropped her price.”
On buying computers: “I bought an Apple computer; it had a worm in it.”
On show business: “When I started in show business, I played one club that was so far out, my act was reviewed in Field and Stream.”
Regarding mortality, Dangerfield had this to say upon entering the hospital for heart valve replacement surgery August 24, according to imdb.com. “If things go right, I’ll be there about a week, and if things don’t go right, I’ll be there about an hour and a half.”
Even in death, Rodney Dangerfield had us all in stitches.
For a guy whose trademark line was saying how no one ever respected him and whose fame didn’t come until his early 40s that began in 1967 with his first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” (1948-1971), he got more than enough respect from not just the likes of comedians Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Bernie Mac, and Adam Sandler but thousands of fans as well.
©10/20/04
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