Original artwork, not a still
The world needs ditchdiggers, too.
— Caddyshack · 1980
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
It is the club's whole class system in one sentence: a rich man telling a poor boy that somebody has to do the digging and it is not going to be a Smails. Ted Knight plays it with such pompous calm that the cruelty reads as comedy. The line is still quoted, with relish, whenever someone at the top waves off someone lower down.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for CaddyshackShow the scene
During a round of golf at Bushwood Country Club, Danny Noonan, the young caddie chasing the club's caddie scholarship, tries to win over Judge Smails (Ted Knight). Danny says he has always been fascinated with the law and had planned on law school, but his family will not have enough money to put him through college. Smails, a founder of the club who directs the scholarship programme, brushes the dream aside: "The world needs ditchdiggers, too." Moments later Carl Spackler is heard chanting a gopher-hunting rhyme on the same course.
Sources (2)
- Caddyshack script (Springfield! Springfield!)golf round with the Judge and DannyReference checked
- Wikipedia: CaddyshackLead and PlotReference checked
Context reviewed
