Happy Gilmore (1996)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Dennis Dugan

Writers (WGA):

Tim Herlihy (written by) &
Adam Sandler (written by)

Release Date:

16 February 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

He doesn't play golf... he destroys it.

Plot:

A rejected hockey player puts his skills to the golf course to save his grandmother's house.

Plot Keywords:

Hockey | Golf | Grandmother's House | Golf Course | Tournament

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Adam Sandler	...	Happy Gilmore
Christopher McDonald	...	Shooter McGavin
Julie Bowen	...	Virginia Venit
Frances Bay	...	Grandma
Carl Weathers	...	Chubbs
Allen Covert	...	Otto
Robert Smigel	...	IRS Agent
Bob Barker	...	Himself
Richard Kiel	...	Mr. Larson
Dennis Dugan	...	Doug Thompson
Joe Flaherty	...	Jeering Fan
Lee Trevino	...	Himself
Kevin Nealon	...	Potter
Verne Lundquist	...	Announcer
Jared Van Snellenberg	...	Happy's Waterbury Caddy

Also Known As:

Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore (USA) (video title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language and some comic sexuality.

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 (video premiere) | Iceland:L | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Sweden:11 | South Korea:12 | Canada:PG (British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | USA:PG-13 (No. 34362) | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-12 (video premiere) | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Company:

Brillstein-Grey Entertainment

Trivia:

Early in the movie, Chubbs tells Happy he could win a gold jacket, to which Happy responds, "Gold jacket, green jacket, who gives a shit?" This is a reference to The Masters, one of the four major tournaments of the PGA tour (the others being the US Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship) where the winner gets a green jacket.

Goofs:

Continuity: The Subway logo on the PR woman's soda mug moves between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[opening narration voice over]
Happy Gilmore: My name is Happy Gilmore. Ever since I was old enough to skate, I loved hockey. I wasn't really the greatest skater though. But that didn't stop my dad from teaching me the secret of smacking his greatest slap shot.
[Young Happy, hits a hard plastic ball into his father's forehead]

Movie Connections:

Spoofs The Heavenly Kid (1985)

Soundtrack:

Rock And Roll Part 2

Slapstick humour that does not need you to think but with excellent timing.

Adam Sandler may not be the all-round actor who can deliver many different comic performances but he does have a certain comic style. Happy Gilmore is a failed Hockey player who cannot skate and has a lack of any self-discipline. His life seems to be a complete failure until he finds out he can hit a golf ball over 400 yards. At first you might feel little empathy for Happy as he obviously deserves all the bad luck he gets from the way he treats his friends. But the introduction of Shooter to the screen suddenly makes you root for the underdog. The plot is thrown together to get the most out of Sandler and his antics on screen. Some of the scenes are totally unbelievable particularly when a car is driven on to the golf course to run down Happy! But no matter how many times I see the film it can still make me laugh.