On its 30th anniversary, CADDYSHACK is a review-proof film and a pop culture phenomenon requoted and replayed on cable with no end in sight — even The Golf Channel has embraced it. The original generation of fans have now passed it on to new inductees in the ways of the Zen master Basho, night putting with the Dean's daughter and anti-gopher demolition. CADDYSHACK, like the Three Stooges or the Twilight saga, has divided the world into two groups: those who get it and love it, and those who don't get it at all. Millions of loopers, jocks and comedy aficionados stand in the former category, and this updated, upgraded Blu-ray release was made for them — a strategy made obvious as the BD menu loads with a soundtrack of memorable dialogue quotes which fans know by heart.

Presumably, the story follows young caddy Danny Noonan (Michael O' Keefe) who jocks for rich duffers at snooty Bushwood Country Club while he attempts to find direction in his life. Danny is destined to toil in a lumber yard if he doesn't get win the caddy scholarship to a law school he doesn't want to attend. That's about as far as the plot gets and as far as audiences care once Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight enter the picture. What was intended to a an ANIMAL HOUSE-esque tale of struggling young caddies got mowed down by these comedy headliners, and the film never looked back. The result is a string of vignettes pitting their characters against each other and the odds in every humorous situation on the course, which is quickly being destroyed by a animatronic gopher puppet. Hardly the formula of a classic comedy film until Harold Ramis delivered it, and even so critics panned its 1980 theatrical release, audiences rediscovered CADDYSHACK in the era of VHS and cable reruns to elevate its status as a cult object of daffy devotion.

Chase's Ty Webb skips across the fairway of the film as a millionaire slacker, a snarky crossbreed of Hugh Hefner and Bugs Bunny whose Zen philosophy applies to golf and life. Ted Knight as Judge Smails is Webb's spiritual and comedic opposite, so tightly bound by his snobby image that his classless explosion of inferiority is delightfully unavoidable. Dangerfield is the uncouth condo developer literally undermining Smails' country club fantasy world and sanity while he steals every scene. Murray's lisping landscaper Carl Spackler bumbles even the simplest task assigned him to the point of being outwitted by a rodent, and carries this improbable subplot with inimitable style. Add the blonde and bold Cindy Morgan as Lacey Underall who adds smart sex appeal to the insanity and perhaps the perfect guy film is born.

Warner Home Entertainment's new DVD edition and high-definition upgrade on Blu-ray give fans old and new a great excuse to enjoy CADDYSHACK in all its R-rated glory, looking and sounding better than it ever has.  Considering the original negatives are thirty years, old, the film transfer to high-definition Blu-ray is surprisingly good quality: colors are much better balanced and vibrant (heightening the comedic touch of Dangerfield's deliberately garish costumes), and image contrast restores clarity and depth to bright daylight exteriors and darker interiors equally. Sharpness for HD viewing is also skillfully balanced given the film's age, which speaks well for Stevan Larner's original cinematography. The original 1.85 aspect ratio is handsomely preserved and menus optimized for 16x9 widescreen viewing.  CADDYSHACK is not a film designed to test your home theater sound system, but the DTS-HD Master Audio English 5.1 audio track represents dialogue clearly, even if the music mix has always been a little wonky in the film — nevertheless, a huge improvement over broadcast presentations.  Dolby Digital 1.0 Spanish and French dubbed tracks meet the minimum requirement for Blu-ray presentation.

One major new bonus feature is exclusive to CADDYSHACK's Blu-ray release: a feature-length documentary Caddyshack: The Inside Story celebrates the film's thirty years of cult classic status with plentiful interviews with the original cast and creators. It offers many rare on-set photo stills and behind-the-scenes clips (nearly all without sound) which are a great treat for fans, especially as they help include Doug Kenney, Ted Knight and Dangerfield who did not live to see this milestone.  This documentary is not available on the DVD release, but it can be seen on the Bio Channel which produced the project and first premiered it last December as a follow up to their excellent doc on the making of ANIMAL HOUSE. Still, this is a solid bonus feature buffing up the Blu-ray edition's value and quite enjoyable to watch in its own right. The caddies may have all grown up and aged, but Cindy Morgan still looks fabulous today and retains her Lacey Underall powers of flirtation.

Also included on both the BD and DVD editions is the Caddyshack: The 19th Hole featurette produced for the film's 19th anniversary in 1999, as passable retrospective but it pales in comparison to the new documentary in both scope and quality of content. The final accessory is CADDYSHACK's theatrical trailer, which is implied little about the film's destiny as fan-worshipped cult hit that's still swinging thirty years later.

Carl Spackler sums it up perfectly: CADDYSHACK's enduring popularity is a Cinderella story, an underdog comedy sand-trapped by critics yet embraced by audiences as a perennial green jacket champion of the genre. Legend and documentary proof testifies to the loose, anarchic creative atmosphere which generated this unlikely late-bloomer hit, but one can easily argue this dangerous formula has bred some of the greatest broad and ballsy comedies in cinema history. Despite reaching its thirtieth birthday, CADDYSHACK remains quite timeless in its humor and audience appeal, certainly a rare achievement in the field. Playing better than even in this new high-def release, CADDYSHACK scores once again and measures itself against other comedies by the height of its hilarity.  It's in the hole!

Read FilmEdge's exclusive interview with actress Cindy Morgan, star of CADDYSHACK and TRON who discusses her roles in these cult classic films, offers behind-the-scenes stories of the cast and crew, and previews her upcoming book on CADDYSHACK.  Check out our chat with Cindy Morgan online now.