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Happy Gilmore

Best Sports Movies
3.89
(158 votes)
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Director: Dennis Dugan

Producer: Robert Simonds

Writer: Tim Herlihy, Adam Sandler

Music:

Cinematography: Universal Studios

Editing:

Distributor: Universal Studios

Released: February 16, 1996

Runtime: 92 mintes (1 hour 32 minutes)

Language: English

Budget: $10,000,000

Happy is a wannabe ice hockey player who masters a powerful slapshot that his father taught him as a child. His slapshot is not enough, though, as his aggression and poor skating ability on the ice gets him cut from every team he tries out for. His grandmother, with whom he's lived almost all his life due to an unfortunate hockey related incident which killed his father, has not paid taxes on her home for several years. As such, she owes $270,000 to the IRS and the house that Happy's grandfather "built with his bare hands" is about to be repossessed. Happy searches for a way to help, but has few options. On a bet with the movers, who are chipping golf balls with Happy's grandfather's clubs, Happy takes a swing at trying to hit the ball farther than them. He drives the ball an estimated 400 yards in one shot (hitting unsuspecting neighbors down the street). The movers indicate how unbelievable this is and Happy discovers a new source of income to buy back his grandmother's home. Much to his dismay, Happy has to play the game he fears the most - golf.

Happy goes to the local driving range to showcase his talent in exchange for cash, and he catches the eye of a washed-up golf-pro-turned-teacher Chubbs Peterson (played by Carl Weathers), who lost his hand to an alligator. Chubbs thinks Happy can make big money as a golf tour player, and challenges him to enter an amateur tournament, the winner of which will be asked to play on the tour. Happy wins the tournament (his most impressive shot being a hole-in-one on a Par 4), catching the eye of tour PR head Virginia Venit (Julie Bowen) and tour veteran Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald).

Happy joins the pro tour, but comes in last place in the first round he participates in. In a bar after the game, Shooter mocks Happy, prompting Happy to make a nemesis of Shooter. Happy's passion for hockey spills over into his golf game and becomes an animated golfer with whom the average viewer can identify. Shooter finds his antics to be a disgrace to the game of golf and despises what Happy has done to his championship year. As the season progresses, Happy's game improves and he finishes higher after each tournament, making more and more money. Shooter is eventually fed up with Happy and his antics, stating to the president of the tour that a fan- who had "HA" written on one cheek and (sure enough) "PPY" on the other - mooned him while he was chipping. With the president's refusal to suspend or kick Happy off the tour, Shooter hires his friend to agitate Happy at the next tournament, the Pepsi Pro-Am.

At this tournament, Happy is paired off with game show host Bob Barker. Before every shot Happy takes, Shooter's friend heckles Happy, openly mocking him and punctuating his insults with "Jackass!" Happy, knowing he cannot attack the heckler, grows more and more agitated as the round closes and he and Bob fall to dead last. He and Happy's arguing results in a fight between the two, with Happy saying, "The price is wrong bitch!" Bob looks knocked out for a minute, with Happy looking worried about what he has done. He then starts taunting him. Bob then gets up from his fake KO and grabs Happy's neck. Bob then beats him up and says, "I think you've had enough." He walks away, not far, than comes back, beats Happy more, and says, "No, NOW I think you've had enough," walks for 2 seconds, turns around, "Bitch!"

After the fight is broadcast on national television, Doug- the tour's president- suspends Happy from the tour. Happy now has no way to make the money needed to get his grandmother's house back. While eating at a Subway restaurant, Virginia gets the idea of getting Happy an advertising deal with Subway. The money he makes from the Subway commercial bring Happy's total to $275,000 and he goes to buy the house back from the bank.

When he arrives at the house, he discovers that the bank is auctioning it off. Happy hopes to get the house back at a cheaper price but fails to do so when the price goes much higher than the money he has. The house is eventually sold to the highest bidder- Shooter McGavin himself. Happy is irate at this outcome and challenges Shooter. Shooter initially wants Happy to quit the tour in exchange for the house, which Happy is willing to do, but Virginia talks him out of it, claiming his grandmother wants to see her grandson succeed. Happy comes up with a solution: at the next tournament, which happens to be the Tour Championship, if Happy beats Shooter in the tournament, he will give him the house back. But if Shooter wins, Happy will leave the tour. Shooter agrees to this arrangement and is confident that he will beat Happy.

Realizing he needs help with his golf game, Happy goes back to Chubbs for help on his putting. They go to a miniature golf course where Happy has to overcome the various obstacles presented to him in the courses. Chubbs introuced Happy to his own Happy Place where Happy could see Virginia, his Grandma and his dad, calms Happy down and he was finally able to putt a ball into the hole. After they are finished with their round, Chubbs presents Happy with a Hockey stick-like putter, which he claims is the same one he used, slightly modified. Out of gratitude for Chubbs' help, Happy presents him with the severed head of the alligator that took his hand and which Happy killed it in order to get his ball which went into the alligator's mouth. Unfortunately, Chubbs is so frightened by the sight that he falls out of the open window and to his death. Both Happy and Shooter play hard for the gold jacket and the right to own Happy's Grandmother's home.

During the tournament, the same heckler who insulted Happy at the celebrity tournament cuts through the course and collides with Happy, seriously injuring him, but at the cost of crashing his car into a TV tower. For the rest of his game, Happy cannot concentrate and eventually falls out of the top two. He tried to use Chubb's idea to think of a Happy Place but but it was all ruined when Shooter suddenly appears and make out with Virginia and his grandma. He thought he'll lose until he receives a pep talk from his grandma, telling him she only wants to see him "happy". Recharged by his grandma's words, Happy thought of Happy Place again and this time, he saw Chubbs with new hands and playing the piano. Happy was back to top shape and started putting hole after hole.

Before the end of the tournament, crazed fans climb the TV tower to get a look at Happy's swing, but the tower collapses right between him and the hole. Having been familiarized with this rule before, Shooter reminds everyone that Happy must "play it as it lies." Happy then examines the TV tower, noticing that the parts of it are aligned exactly to where the golf ball needs to go. He swings, and the ball goes right along the many parts of the tower, going into the hole. Happy wins the tournament, and the wild crowd surrounding the green converges to celebrate with him. Unhappy with his loss, Shooter steals the Gold Jacket only to be pursued by rabid Happy fans who beat him senseless. Happy, his caddy, his grandmother, and his girlfriend, Virginia Venit, then return to Happy's grandmother's house, which once again belongs to her, to have happy a drink to Happy's success. Above their house, Happy could see Abraham Lincoln, Chubbs and even the alligator that he killed waving at him from Heaven.

[edit] Happy Fights Bob Barker


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This page was last modified 19:36, 10 July 2007. Content is available under the GFDL.

Categories: Sports Movies | Golf Movies

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