Thrown For A Loop

New film featuring Bill Murray explores the lives of caddies.

- Joel Beall

AS A GRIZZLED IRISH CADDIE climbs a rugged mound at Ballybunion, guiding his player—or perhaps “dragging” is the proper appellation—through biblical gusts, a familiar voice purrs. “To acquire a caddie,” says Bill Murray at the beginning of “Loopers: The Caddie’s Long Walk,” “is to have an ally in the battle against the elements, the golf course and life itself.” Fitting for the scene, but also, as the film shows, an apt description for the profession. Which, distilled to its core, is really a passion.