Every guy of a certain age remembers the thrill of watching Steve McQueen evade his Nazi pursuers on a motorcycle in the classic movie “The Great Escape.” Based on the real-life mass escape of prisoners from Stalag Luft III during World War II, the movie had an all star, all-testosterone cast that included not only ultimate-guy Steve McQueen, but also James Coburn, James Garner, Charles Bronson, Richard Attenborough and Donald Pleasance.

It turns out that digging tunnels was not the only thing the prisoners did, and that their ingenuity was not all focused on making fake passports and other gear. They also made golf equipment and constructed a golf course with the permission of the commandant.

There’s an article in the Birmingham Mail about one of the surviving hand made golf balls from Stalag Luft III. It’s in a case in a course in England.

Happpy Birthday to Randolph Scott!

Scott (1898 - 1987) has long been my favorite western actor, especially in the films that he made from 1956 to 1960 with director Budd Boetticher. In those films, Scott, at an age when most leading men were winding down their careers, managed to revive his—and cement his place in cinema history. The Scott-Boetticher films are edgy, especially for the 1950s. Scott’s characters are not-quite-heroes; the villains are evil, but complex.

Quentin Tarantino says that acknowledged the influence of the Boetticher films on his own work by naming one of the characters in Kill Bill, Budd.sa

With a screenplay by Detroit native Elmore Leonard, The Tall T is my favorite Randolph Scott film. It’s what you might expect from Leonard—dark and complex, with interesting characters. In The Tall T, Scott is captured—along with the other passengers on a stagecoach—by a group of outlaws led by Richard Boone. Some of the gang members are homicidal maniacs, but Scott and Boone recognize in each other kindred spirits who, but for the kidnapping, might have been friends.

There are appreciations of some of those films here, and here.

Scott retired from film in 1962, after making Ride The High Country, a film by Sam Peckinpah. It was the director’s first feature film, and a tribute to the passing of the old west. In it, Scott and Joel McCrae play a pair of over-the-hill gunfighters who are hired to escort a shipment of gold. Scott plans to doublecross his friend McCrae and steal the gold, but in the end does the right thing. The ending of Ride The High Country is quite emotional and always leaves me with a tear in my eye.

Scott was a good golfer—a six handicapper—who played in the first Crosby Clambake in 1937 at the Rancho Santa Fe Golf Club near San Diego. He also was a course designer, having laid out the Creste Verde Golf club in 1927.

The photo above shows Scott in 1962. I believe that the woman in the cart is his wife—I’ve seen her in other photos. (photo from Flickr) I’ve also seen—but have not been able to find—a couple of photos of Scott in golf attire and one with Gene Littler at the Crosby. I’d like to have copies of those for my wall.

Scott’s reputation has taken a bit of a beating in recent years as he has become sort of a gay icon. The rumors stem from the ten years that he shared a beach house with Cary Grant— a place known as Bachelor Hall. If you run a search, you’ll find plenty of photos of Scott and Grant originating from alternative lifestyle websites. Grant and Scott, however, always denied the rumors—and certainly had more than their share of romantic trysts with leading starlets. Scott friend and director Budd Boetticher has this to say about the rumors: “Bullshit.”

But it doesn’t matter. Scott’s legacy is in his film, not his social life. And his films are timeless.

There’s a new golf movie out: Who’s Your Caddy.

It looks horrible. You can see the trailer below:

There are few things in golf worse than a slice. And the term is about to become a little more horrifying.

Coming Soon To A Theatre Near You (or direct to DVD, as the case may be): Slice: The Movie

From the website:

Seven years after the free and easy days of high school, four friends meet up at the “Wide Open” - a wild,
after dark, golf tournament. The foursome made up of Ben, Fast, Nick and Jack - now men with separate
lives and separate perspectives - reunites in the thick woods of Virginia at Woody Hole Golf Club, which
just so happens to reopen just in time to host their annual golf outing. But when a stranger stumbles onto
the remote course and into their lives, chaos explodes. Soon, these friends are plunged into a horrifying
struggle with hideous creatures determined to destroy them.

It’s a wonder no one has thought of this before. But I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to make my list of favorite golf movies.

A group of film makers is working on developing a golf art film / documentary called “The Nature of the Game.” From the looks, it seems as though it’s going to focus on just that, the beauty of nature in the game. Visit the site and watch the trailer. It looks wonderful.

The Nature of the Game

As a follow up to my post on the Best Golf Movies, I decided to make a list of the best golf movies yet to be made. I’ve come up with titles, and a quick plot summary.

The Haig:
A biopix of Walter Hagen. Walter Hagen invents the concept of the professional golfer as he wines and dines his way around the world, wining major championships and losing wives. Hagen as appeared as a character in several recent golf films, including Bagger Vance, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius and The Greatest Game Ever Played.

Payne
A biopix of Payne Stewart. Professional golfer known for his troubles and temper finds peace with his family and religion, wins the US Open and suffers an untimely death.

Slammin Sammy
A biopix of Sam Snead a hayseed from western Virginia who learns golf playing with sticks and rocks goes on to become the winningest golfer of all time.

Babe:
Babe Didrikson Zaharias wins Olympic gold, then goes on to win 82 tournaments as a professional golfer. She was just 42 when she died of cancer in 1956. sure to be a tearjerker.

Fairway To Heaven
Or a film adaptation of any other of Roberta Isleib’s novels about mystery solving journeyman golfer Cassie Burdette.

Flatbellies
From the novel by A.B. Hollingsworth about a group of guys who grow up together in Oklahoma and go on to win the state golf title. Think Hoosiers for golf.

The King and Queen
A love story about Arnold Palmer and his beloved Winnie.

Leave a comment and let me know how you’d cast these. Or offer your own movie suggestions.

On Saturday, I did an interview with a reporter on golf movies. He wanted to know what makes a good golf movie. The answer: the same thing that makes any movie good—good characters and a good story.

Since its been a while since I updated my post on golf movies, I thought I’d better do so ahead of the article:

GolfBlgoger’s Best Golf Movies
This is by no means a comprehensive list of golf movies, but only counts those I have actually seen. It also is limited to movies that have golf as a primary plot point.

1. The Greatest Game Ever Played

A faithful adaptation of the book that plays well on the big screen. Its no wonder, the author, Mark Frost, once wrote the tv series Hill Street Blues. The casting is perfect and the story compelling. It’s the original David and Goliath sports story. There are a lot of subtle bits in this movie , though, that people who didn’t read the book will miss. For example, the book goes into a great deal on the class conflict between the professionals and the amateurs. If you didn’t read the book, you’ll miss the point that the professionals are always referred to by their first names—Harry Vardon—while the amateurs are referred to with a honorific—Mr. Ouimet.

2. Dead Solid Perfect

Based on the Dan Jenkins novel, this originally appeared on cable. It follows a struggling professional golfer—played by Randy Quaid—as he travels about on tour. Very funny.

3. Tin Cup

This Kevin Costner movie is like Bull Durham for golf. Costner plays a washed up driving range pro who decides to play in the US Open to win the heart of a girl. It’s most famous for the scene where he plunks ball after ball into a pond on the last hole of the Open. It’s a good romantic comedy.

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