Would Someone Put ‘Caddyshack’ on the National Film Registry, for God’s Sake?

While we were gone for the holidays, the Library of Congress announced the list of 25 films added to the National Film Registry, to be preserved for future generations thanks to their cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance. The list isn’t bad at all — few would argue that Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Bullitt, Oklahoma!, or the Disney short Three Little Pigs don’t deserve immortality — but one omission from the list (and one selection on it) has the Hollywood Reporter’s Brooks Boliek steamed. Boliek has been lobbying for years to get Caddyshack on the list, and he’s annoyed that once again the classic anti-gopher jeremiad was passed over, while Back to the Future got the nod.

Some quick research reveals that one thing helping along Back to the Future was a single man who launched a campaign for the movie — Stephen Clark, whose fan site bttf.com has been encouraging visitors to e-mail the Library of Congress to push the film. Apparently, it worked, as the time-travel comedy is now immortalized after it received more e-mailed requests than every other film combined. (We don’t mind at all; we were watching HBOZ the other day and caught about half of BTTF, and it made us wonder why comedies released today aren’t as inventive and carefully written as this.)

Vulture is totally behind Boliek’s quest and urges everyone to e-mail [email protected] to let them know that Caddyshack should be included. While you’re at it, how about casting a vote for official Greatest Movie Ever Superbad, too?

National Film Registry 2007 [LOC.gov]
What will it take to get ‘Caddyshack’ on The List? [HR]