Conflict in the Movie "Happy Gilmore"

Daniel Livingston

HCOM-214

Blake Rodger

5/12/15

Conflict Between Two Characters

                In the movie “Happy Gilmore”, there is an obvious conflict between two of the characters. The conflict was with “Shooter” McGavin, a reigning pro golfer, and Happy Gilmore, a hockey player turned golfer. The conflict begins when Happy grandmother is unable to pay for house due to her not paying her taxes over the years. So once the house goes open for auction, Shooter outbids for the house to spite Happy. However, they came between the agreement that if Happy could beat Shooter in the golfing championship, that he would give him and his grandma her house back. Happy is at a disadvantage at this point because he is less talented than Shooter, and the stakes are much much higher for himself, and very low for Shooter. As the timeline of the film continues, and Happy increases his golfing skills the conflict of the the two intensifies as the playing field is being leveled. So once the big championship tournament arrives, Shooter and Happy are both at the same level of power over each other, whereas Shooter had the power before. As the intense match comes to an end, Happy ends up winning the match with a stroke of luck, thus allowing him and his grandma to get their house and lives back to normal.

                

                Although, I left out a lot of what happened in the movie, the main conflict was that these golf tournaments were Shooter versus Happy, always. Shooter had the upper hand for the majority of the timeline, but as time went on, and Happys skills increased, the power was leveled out, and the conflict was eventually resolved because Happy won the tournament. This story is a classic case of one man trying to beat another man in something. This concept is nothing new in Hollywood, but the movie “Happy Gilmore” was able to put this old concept into something new in the aspect of golf and comedy, something that hasn’t happened since Caddy Shack.