Comedy legend Chevy Chase is headed to Denver this summer for a screening of his classic, 1980 film “Caddyshack” — and you’re invited.
The Aug. 25 event at Bellco Theatre is part of The Backlot Project, a series that brings stars and their best-known movies to stages for screenings, followed by live Q&As with the headliner.
Past Denver visitors have included (“Monty Python and the Holy Grail”), (“Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”), (“Blazing Saddles”) and (“Grosse Pointe Blank.”)
(Full disclosure: I moderated the Cusack showing.)
“Caddyshack,” which co-starred Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield, is considered one of the , given that Chase jumped to it after leaving that NBC sketch show, helping kick off an influential career as a leading comic actor in Hollywood in films such as “National Lampoon’s Vacation,” “Fletch” and “Three Amigos.”
The 75-year-old most recently played Pierce Hawthrone on NBC’s “Community,” where he reinforced his reputation as . Chase last visited Colorado (in an official capacity, anyway) in 2009 when he was honored by the Boulder International Film Festival.
“It’s nice, considering I made six good movies out of 15,” Chase joked in a Denver Post interview at the time. “But I do love film festivals in general. I love going to Toronto and Sundance and all that, but I’ve never been to Boulder. It’s flattering, and I don’t know how to react to this sort of strange honor.”
Perhaps he’ll feel more at home honoring “Caddyshack,” which next year will celebrate its 40th anniversary. The snobs-versus-slobs story got the retrospective treatment in 2018’s “Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story,” a nonfiction book by Entertainment Weekly critic Chris Nashawaty that placed the film in the context of the 1970s comedy renaissance. The movie has even spawned an eponymous charity tournament, which is played annually near the Caddyshack restaurant (owned by Bill Murray and his brothers; ) in St. Augustine, Fla.
Tickets to the 6 p.m. show start at $49.75 (the full price range is not yet available) and are on sale at 10 a.m. May 17 via 888-929-7849 or .
A limited number of VIP tickets will include a post-show photo with Chase and “the best seats in the house,” according to organizers.
