Friday night, MC Hamme had Erica and I over for a viewing of Rodney Dangerfield’s Back to School. It had been several years since I saw this mid-80s classic and every time I see it I like it more. Few movies capture the feeling of college as well as this one. This movie reminds me of college more than either National Lampoon’s Animal House and the overrated PCU any day.
What’s great about Back to School is that it is so economical in the sense that very few scenes are wasted into the telling of the story or keeping the laughs coming. Quickly, the movie establishes Dangerfield as a lovable self made millionaire, Thorton Mellon, who hasn’t let success soften his hard edges. As Thorton’s second marriage to a stuffy gold digger fails he concludes that his lack of education is his major shortcoming. He sets of for Grand Lakes University (actually University of Wisconsin, I believe), where his son Jason (Keith Gordon) is struggling with college life.
After bribing the college’s dean (Ned Beatty in one of his best roles) Thorton takes the campus by storm. He converts his and Jason’s dorm rooms into a super party pad complete with hot tub and becomes the big man on campus. Predictably he spends too much time living the college life and has troubles in the classroom, especially with a stuffy British business professor played by Paxton Whitehead. Equally predictable is the struggles of Jason, who pines for a girl (Lt. Dax Terri Farell) who is out of his league, can’t get on the diving team and has a nemesis, played by quintessential teenage/college villain William Zabka and now has to live under his father’s shadow. His only friend is his roommate Derrick (Robert Downey Jr.), a contrarian who embraced every tedious hipster cliche of the mid 80s.
The movie unfolds as you would expect it too, Jason ponders dropping out and is convinced by Thorton to stay in. When Thorton is caught delegating his assignments (which includes a hysterical cameo by Kurt Vonnegut) he too ponders quitting only to be talked out of it by Jason.
Both Melon’s get through their crises; Thorton passes intense oral examinations from his professors while Jason gets the girl, stays in school, and triumphs over his rival. They both pitch in to win the diving meet and Thorton gets to speak at graduation.
As I said, this movie is predictable and the dialogue was often corny. It works because Dangerfield is such a master of delivery that he can pull off. Take the scene below as an example.
Also, another strongest point of the movie is the conservative use of profanity. The “F-bomb” is used in only one scene of the movie, allowing it have the greatest impact.
The strong points though are the cast. Beatty was probably never funnier, he clearly relished playing a unscrupulous dean. Every university probably has dozens of variation of Kellerman’s post-feminist middle aged English prof. Whitehead effectively portrays an uptight academic prof without overdoing it. Amongst the younger part of the cast, Downey is the standout as Derrick Lutz, going back in forth between 80s stereotypes with glee. Burt Young (Paulie from Rocky) plays tough as Melon’s driver and M. Emmett Walsh is fun as the diving coach. Sam Kinison‘s cameo is another highlight. I think the only lowlights are the horrible hairstyles, otherwise the movie is a joy to watch and barely dated.
Using the 10 point scale that MC Hamme does, I give Back to School an eight.