Truly Dreadful Film

That was an excellent one.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This was definitely one of my numerous childhood memory movies from the 1980s along with "Back to the future", "The breakfast club", "Ferris bueler", "Caddyshack", The "Karate kid" films, and the "National Lampoon vacation" films. And many others."Back to School" and Rodney Dangerfield went together like cake and icing. The movie would obviously not been the same without him, it would've then been another quirky raunchy college comedy.I liked Rodney's (Thorton Melon's) tough friend Lou (Burt Young, who also played a tough "you better not mess with me" character in "Rocky"). Lou didn't hesitate to take care of a bully picking fights in a bar. Even Thornton's son's friend Robert Downey Jr. cries to Lou during the fight "where you been Lou? I've been getting my a** kicked all over this bar!" Downey did toughen up some in later years, but not always in good ways.Thornton's son Jason was played by Keith Gordon, another one-hit wonder actor that I never remembered from any other movies. Jason complains how he only got onto the diving team and the fraternity because Pops bought his way onto it all, which was true. Before that, he was no one special to anyone really and shared a little dorm room with his only friend Downy. Jason didn't make the team due to the coach (Emett Walsh) saying he wasn't that good. Rodney has Jason dive doing the "two and a half", which does flawlessly, causing the coach to reconsider his opinion. Thorton also reminds him about his legendary dive "the triple lindy", which the coach once saw not knowing it was Thorton. Thornton was a man with money from owning his "Tall and fat" stores ("well, you're short and ugly" Thornton tells a wise** kid who points out that he's "Tall and fat"). Thornton really did buy a lot of Jason's newfound success, including hiring a work team to do his and Jason's homework, much to Jason's dispair and his dad then retorting "kids, they always wanta do it the hard way". Also a funny joke is that Thorton hires 'the' Kurt Vahnaghan himself to write his term paper on Kurt Vahnaghan, leading to another funny joke when Thornton's told by sultry teacher Sally Kellerman that "whoever wrote that paper doesn't know the first thing on Kurt Vahnaghan". Thorton takes a "drinks for everybody" approach at the university, according to Roger Ebert. That he does. He buys everybody's schoolbooks who's present at the college store, he hires staff to do his and Jason's homework, he hires Oinga Boinga themselves to perform live at his frat house party (and pays the police to bring the beer, much to stuffy teacher Paxton Whithead's dismay), and he dedicates a wing at the college to himself while getting dirt thrown on Paxton with the ceremonial shovel.Thorton paying Jason's way also gets attention of the obnoxious William Zabka character, he tells Jason at the swim meet "your father already bought your way onto the swim team, I'm sure he bought off the judges too". Zabka does not play the same kind of menacing bully in this movie that he played in "Karate kid" and "Just one of the guys". Here he plays more of a yuppie snob, and Jason is actually the one that punches him, and Zabka never even hits him back or comes back onto him later about it. It was kinda like the tables had turned here on Zabka. I also like the classroom scenes and still find them funny. The late Sam Kinneson going "Ahhhhhhh!!!! Aaaaaahhhh!!!!". The sultry Kellerman (who Thorton very keenly starts dating) who reads a romantic poem with Thorton almost unknowingly standing up in class saying aloud " yes!! yes!!!" Then the stuffy Paxton Whithead's business class teaching how to build a business from the ground up and Thorton, who has a lot of hands on experience in the business world and is rich "Tall and fat" business owner himself, corrects Paxton making him look bad at every turn. Also is the "what's a widget?" line. Answer being "a fictional product, it doesn't matter". They should've waited another 20-30 years to mention that one in the world of the internet. No longer a fictional product and widgets do matter.

The late, legendary comedian Rodney Dangerfield shines here in a vehicle for which he also helped concoct the story. He's at his funniest and most engaging, reeling off one priceless one-liner after another; you just can't help but like his character. He plays Thornton Melon, a self made millionaire who created a big business without the benefit of a higher education. When his geeky college age son Jason (Keith Gordon) expresses desire to drop out, not happy with his lot in life, Thornton is motivated to do whatever he can to help out the kid. His brainstorm is simple: enroll in college himself! He manages to buy his way in (donating money to a new business centre) and once settled in proceeds to not exactly take his education that seriously, becoming a life-of-the-party type who sometimes embarrasses Jason. He even has a team of professionals do his homework for him. When he's found out, it's up to him to actually learn some things in order to salvage the whole endeavour. With a screenplay co-written by Harold Ramis, director Alan Metter allows the cast and subsequently the viewer to simply have a lot of fun. The movies' good vibes are pretty hard to resist. There are some brilliant touches; just to name one, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. cameos as himself, hired to write a paper about his own works, after which a professor exclaims that the writer doesn't know the first thing about Vonnegut! Dangerfields' lines are instantly quotable ("They should donate my body to science fiction!") and he also has a whale of a time singing a cover of the Beatles tune "Twist and Shout" (the same year that Matthew Broderick did this in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). The supporting cast is equally solid and memorable, especially adorable Sally Kellerman as Dangerfields' English professor and love interest. Also appearing are Burt Young, Robert Downey Jr., lovely Terry Farrell, M. Emmet Walsh, Adrienne Barbeau, "Karate Kid" villain William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Severn Darden, the late, great Sam Kinison, Robert Picardo, Edie McClurg, Timothy Stack, and Jason Hervey of 'The Wonder Years'. It's particularly great to see composer Danny Elfman on screen, performing with his band at the time, Oingo Boingo. Overall the movie IS very much of its time, but this is nothing but good if you are like this viewer and retain a fondness for the comedies of this era. If Thornton weren't a basically likable man who just wanted the best for his son, this wouldn't work as well as it does. But it DOES work, and we want to see these characters succeed, and take satisfaction in the way things turn out. The choice of Aretha Franklins' "Respect" to accompany the end credits is most appropriate. Eight out of 10.

Rodney Dangerfield exudes great charm, and in Back to School he really shines. A gifted stand-up comedian, Rodney is an old school Las Vegas comic known for delivering scathing, self-deprecating, yet wholesomely witty one-liners. His unique comedy is further enhanced by his bulbous eyes, deep voice and hysterical intonations.Rodney plays Thornton Melon, an eccentric millionaire, doting father, and former college diving competition champ. Thornton went from rags to riches selling men's custom-tailored suits to the big and tall. His only child and son Jason is a freshman in college, painfully single, and having a tough time adjusting to academia, campus life, and his chosen sport - diving. Hilarity ensues when Thornton comes to his son's rescue by enrolling in the same university, partying, throwing money around and slacking off. Then he is literally put to the test, having to pass a series of exams, or get expelled by his nemesis, the pompous Dr. Phillip Barbay, Dean of Students. Thornton also has to learn to stop smothering his son and be a normal dad. Of course, Rodney doesn't do normal, which brings the laughs consistently, with an explosive dive competition-climax that has to be seen to be believed. Back to School immortalized Rodney Dangerfield like no other movie. This movie also has a great supporting cast (Burt Lancaster and the late Sam Kinison come to mind) and a fitting, cheery score by none other than Danny Elfman (three years before he did Batman and The Simpsons). You'll laugh and cheer for Thornton Melon, and after you do, you'll watch this wonderful 80's comedy gem again and again.

Back to School (1986) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Box office hit has Rodney Dangerfield playing Thorton Melon, a millionaire who decides to go back to school when his son (Keith Gordon) talks about dropping out. Melon is a hit on campus and even hits it off with one of his teachers (Sally Kellerman) but soon all the attention begins to push his son away. BACK TO SCHOOL is certainly a charming movie and it certainly has some funny moments but overall I don't think it works as well as it could have. For the most part the entire story is poorly written and there's really not too much that happens. The entire father-son relationship just comes off fake and especially towards the end when they have a falling out. This here leads to some scenes that are meant to be touching but they just come off rather melodramatic. Another problem I had is that there really aren't any funny moments that just happen. In other words, all of the funny material comes from Dangerfield's one-liners that he basically just looks into the camera and says. Some of these are certainly funny but the way they're filmed it really takes you out of the movie. With all of that said, yes, there's no question that seeing Dangerfield back at school contains a certain cuteness that can't be denied. The actor does a good job in the role as he has no problem throwing out the jokes and he handles the more dramatic moments just fine even if they are melodramatic. Burt Young does his typical good performance as does Kellerman in her role. Robert Downey, Jr. isn't too bad in his brief role and we get brief but entertaining spots by M. Emmet Walsh, Ned Beatty and Adrienne Barbeau. I found Gordon's performance somewhat annoying and the same with the quick cameo by Sam Kinison. BACK TO SCHOOL is pretty much pure 80s in term of its style and comedy. The cast makes it much better than it actually is but fans of Dangerfield will still want to check it out.