Director:
Alan MetterWriters:
Steven Kampmann, Will Porter, Peter Torokvei, Harold Ramis, Rodney Dangerfield, Greg Fields, Dennis SneeProducer:
Chuck RussellCinematographer:
Thomas E. AckermanEditor:
David RawlinsProduction Designer:
David L. SnyderProduction Company:
Paper ClipThe summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and notes were written by participant John Theofanis, a student at University of Texas at Austin, with Janet Staiger as academic advisor.
The film’s opening credits alternate with a montage of black-and-white photos of New York City street scenes that transition to color images of suburban landscapes, suggesting the passage of time. According to studio production notes, in order to create the film’s fictional school, Grand Lakes University, three college campuses were used as shooting locations: University of Wisconsin, University of Southern California, and California State University, Los Angeles. The production notes reported, coincidentally, that the only school that actor Rodney Dangerfield (“Thornton Melon”) ever applied to as a young man was the University of Wisconsin. In the notes, Dangerfield commented, “It took forty years but I finally got here.”
The studio notes added that before creating the film’s luxurious dorm room set, production designer David L. Snyder asked college students for their ideas about what a fantasy dorm might look like. The dorm room was built at the historic Laird Studios in Culver City, CA, which was originally built as Thomas H. Ince Studio in 1919. The studio lot has also been known through the years as DeMille Studio, Pathé, RKO-Pathé, Selznick International, Desilu Culver, Paramount Culver and Culver City Studio, among other names. Other shooting sites for the film were the rehearsal halls of Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, which were converted to portray the film’s classrooms. The natatorium in California’s City of Industry was the site for the outdoor diving meets. For the swimming scenes, director ...
The summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and notes were written by participant John Theofanis, a student at University of Texas at Austin, with Janet Staiger as academic advisor.
The film’s opening credits alternate with a montage of black-and-white photos of New York City street scenes that transition to color images of suburban landscapes, suggesting the passage of time. According to studio production notes, in order to create the film’s fictional school, Grand Lakes University, three college campuses were used as shooting locations: University of Wisconsin, University of Southern California, and California State University, Los Angeles. The production notes reported, coincidentally, that the only school that actor Rodney Dangerfield (“Thornton Melon”) ever applied to as a young man was the University of Wisconsin. In the notes, Dangerfield commented, “It took forty years but I finally got here.”
The studio notes added that before creating the film’s luxurious dorm room set, production designer David L. Snyder asked college students for their ideas about what a fantasy dorm might look like. The dorm room was built at the historic Laird Studios in Culver City, CA, which was originally built as Thomas H. Ince Studio in 1919. The studio lot has also been known through the years as DeMille Studio, Pathé, RKO-Pathé, Selznick International, Desilu Culver, Paramount Culver and Culver City Studio, among other names. Other shooting sites for the film were the rehearsal halls of Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, which were converted to portray the film’s classrooms. The natatorium in California’s City of Industry was the site for the outdoor diving meets. For the swimming scenes, director Alan Metter cast expert college divers, who were asked to “do their worst” in order to portray the members of the inept Grand Lakes squad in the film.
In Dangerfield’s autobiography, It’s Not Easy Being Me, he credits writer Harold Ramis with the transformation of the premise of Back to School. Dangerfield worked with an initial team of writers and produced a script in which the “poor schmo” Dangerfield would portray goes to college to motivate his son. Ramis suggested that it would “be a lot funnier if the character was a rich guy.” Dangerfield urged Orion Pictures to delay production and hire Ramis for a re-write, and the studio consented. Dangerfield added that Back to School grossed almost a $100 million.
The production of Back to School resulted in series of lawsuits. The 6 Apr 1990 HR news item notes that a husband-and-wife writing team filed a $30 million breach of contract suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Orion Pictures Corp., Dangerfield, Ramis and others, claiming that their script was used to make Back to School. The 9 Apr 1990 LAT similarly reported that George and Elizabeth Gage of Telluride, CO claimed they submitted a screenplay called “Second Season” to Orion in 1979.
As reported in a 21 Sep 1988 Var news item, Metter sued Orion Pictures for not paying him all he was due for his work on Back to School, claiming he was owed approximately $2,000,000 representing his five percent share of the film’s net profits. Also named as defendants were Dangerfield and Paperclip Productions. According to 12 Jun 1990 Var news item, Dangerfield countersued Metter for suing without reasonable cause. Dangerfield’s lawsuit alleged that Metter knew Dangerfield had been released from obligations to account for profits from the film and that Metter’s suit was “a product of ill will as a result of statements that Dangerfield made.” A brief note in the “Hollywood Soundtrack” column in the 16 Jul 1986 issue of Var reported that casting director, Caro Jones, sued the producers of Back to School, claiming that she did not receive full pay or the proper screen credit.
In an Aug 1986 Box review, critic Jimmy Summers described the film as a “guilty enjoyment” and predicted the film’s “youth-oriented backdrop” would increase Dangerfield’s fan base. Summers noted that the dichotomy between Dangerfield’s rapid fire one-liners and the other characters’ more oblivious responses “does create a rather odd rhythm for dialogue.” Critics gave generally positive comments regarding Dangerfield’s performance. The 11 Jun 1986 HR reviewer praised Metter’s work with other key characters, stating that, “Performances under Metter’s insightful direction never veers off into caricature.”
The HR review singled out Sally Kellerman, whom he described as “superb as an Isadore Duncanish, romantically inclined English teacher.” He also praised Keith Gordon as “convincing as Dangerfield’s insecure and well-intentioned son”; Ned Beatty as “marvelously two-faced” as the college’s dean; and Paxton Whitehead as “a snide and dusty academic” and “Dangerfield’s business professor and love rival.” The 11 Jun 1986 Var review, took a contrasting view of the film’s supporting cast, perceiving a string of stereotypes, such as “the tweedy uptight business professor” and “the touchy-feely literature instructor.” Var also perceived a lack of conviction in the father/son storyline, stating the “audience is supposed to feel for Dangerfield’s too-serious and under-achieving son Jason (Keith Gordon)—but we don’t.”
The LAT reviewer, Kevin Thomas, predicted a future Hollywood leading man in Robert Downey, Jr.’s performance. New Yorker critic, Pauline Kael, in the 28 Jul 1986 issue, found little to like in Back to School, calling Dangerfield “the King of Lower Slobovia.” However, she applauded the comedic skills of Downey, describing him as “a free-form physical comedian with the zapped big eyes and serene, dreamy smile of a true harlequin” who gave the movie “its only airy touches.” In the 14 Jul 1986 NYT review, critic David Denby marveled at Dangerfield’s performance. He stated, “Dangerfield jiggles for a second before each line, and he pops his eyes like crazy—there are moments when he’s just delivering gags. But after a while you look a little closer, and you realize that, amazingly, he’s giving a performance. The picture is not just a campus comedy; it shows what happens to a powerful man when he faces an entirely new situation and Rodney Dangerfield shows some vanity and fear and also some pride.”
In New York City, in the 1940s, a young boy walks into Meloni’s Tailor shop and hands a report card to his father. The father warns he will never get into college with poor grades. The boy pulls nervously at his collar and says he prefers to join the family business. Many years later, the Meloni family business has grown into a chain of clothing stores called Thornton Melon’s “Fat and Tall” shops. Thornton, formerly the kid with a poor report card, has become a middle-aged man at the head of a clothing empire. In his television ads, he uses a direct style: "Are you FAT?…Well, now, you can eat all you want, because at Thornton Melon's "Tall & Fat" stores, we've got you covered." Lou, a limousine driver with a three-day growth of beard, transports Thornton to a board meeting of “Fat and Tall” executives. Food is served at the meeting and, encouraged by Thornton, the executives eat heartily as they pitch product ideas, including a chubby Melon Patch Kid that is similar to a Cabbage Patch Kid but abandoned by its parents. Thornton handles the executives’ questions with impressive acumen but drops everything when a phone call comes in from his son Jason at college. Jason sounds uneasy but declines Thornton’s suggestion that he visit home. After the meeting, Lou drives Thornton up to his majestic house and they both agree that his former residence, an older, smaller house, was better. Thornton adds that his first wife was better than Vanessa, his present wife. When Vanessa hosts a party for her art crowd friends, Thornton creates havoc among the guests, by wolfing down a huge sandwich and ...
In New York City, in the 1940s, a young boy walks into Meloni’s Tailor shop and hands a report card to his father. The father warns he will never get into college with poor grades. The boy pulls nervously at his collar and says he prefers to join the family business. Many years later, the Meloni family business has grown into a chain of clothing stores called Thornton Melon’s “Fat and Tall” shops. Thornton, formerly the kid with a poor report card, has become a middle-aged man at the head of a clothing empire. In his television ads, he uses a direct style: "Are you FAT?…Well, now, you can eat all you want, because at Thornton Melon's "Tall & Fat" stores, we've got you covered." Lou, a limousine driver with a three-day growth of beard, transports Thornton to a board meeting of “Fat and Tall” executives. Food is served at the meeting and, encouraged by Thornton, the executives eat heartily as they pitch product ideas, including a chubby Melon Patch Kid that is similar to a Cabbage Patch Kid but abandoned by its parents. Thornton handles the executives’ questions with impressive acumen but drops everything when a phone call comes in from his son Jason at college. Jason sounds uneasy but declines Thornton’s suggestion that he visit home. After the meeting, Lou drives Thornton up to his majestic house and they both agree that his former residence, an older, smaller house, was better. Thornton adds that his first wife was better than Vanessa, his present wife. When Vanessa hosts a party for her art crowd friends, Thornton creates havoc among the guests, by wolfing down a huge sandwich and insulting an overweight guest. Vanessa threatens him with divorce but Thornton counters with a stack of photos of Vanessa having sex with another man. The marriage over, Thornton and Lou take a limousine ride to idyllic Grand Lakes University. After a misstep into a sorority shower room and a subsequent payoff of the police, Thornton confronts Jason with his newly gained information, that Jason’s college experience has been a series of setbacks. Jason admits he lied about being a diver on the school team; he actually works as a towel boy. Jason introduces Derek Lutz, his roommate and only friend on campus. After commenting on Derek’s purple hair, Thornton decides to help his son with a simple plan: he will enroll as a college freshman. Dean Martin, the affable campus dean, supports Thornton’s plan to enter college when Thornton offers to donate a building to the University. However, Philip Barbay, Dean of the Business School, disapproves of the school’s oldest freshman. Thornton creates a palatial dorm room by knocking out a wall between two rooms and quickly attains status as a big man on campus. While entertaining the other students with his jokes, he provides some real-world business acumen to Barbay’s business course. At the college bookstore, Thornton calls out, “Shakespeare for everyone,” and buys books for his classmates. He also hosts beer parties for his appreciative classmates. Thornton enrolls in a history class with Professor Terguson, a scary Vietnam vet who teaches with red-faced intensity, and takes English with beautiful, blonde-haired professor, Diane Turner. However, Thornton puts academics on the back burner except to seek a date with Diane. Although Diane has a relationship with Barbay, she is not impressed with his ambivalent marriage plan, which he sums up by suggesting, “we should start thinking about thinking about forming a merger." Wanting to have fun, and be romanced and loved, she breaks a date with Barbay to introduce Thornton to the poetry of Yeats. During their poetry session, their attraction to each other grows. The following day Thornton meets Coach Turnbull, the diving coach, and tells him about his Triple Lindy, a dive he performed off the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. The coach mentions that Jason did not dive well in the previous semester. On the night of the football pep rally, the roommates head off in different directions. Derek invites Jason to an Anti-Pep Rally, telling him that "violent ground acquisition games such as football is in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war." Instead, Jason chooses Astronomy homework and encounters Valerie, the girl he admires, at the library. Meanwhile, Thornton continues his party regimen and gives a rousing performance of “Twist and Shout.” Derek has paint-balled the entire football team and an angry mob of jocks comes after him and crashes the party. Lou brawls with the jocks and saves Derek’s hide. Thornton needs to write a paper on Kurt Vonnegut and Jason is shocked when Vonnegut himself shows up to assist with the paper. Thornton’s college study has deteriorated into dishonesty or, as he calls it, delegating; he hires world-class experts to write his papers. Diane tells Thornton he will not pass her class and whoever did write the paper "doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut." Barbay accuses Thornton of academic fraud and wants him to take an oral examination before a panel of his instructors. Thornton’s confidence wavers but, inspired by a pep talk from Jason, he hits the books. Thornton fights off fatigue, reading by candlelight, studying in the shower, and memorizing as Diane whispers lessons in his ear. He faces the panel of professors in a state of complete exhaustion. Thornton dozes at first as Barbay challenges him with a twenty-seven-part question on global business organization. Thornton answers the business question correctly, by stating that “the answer is— four” but admits feeling like he “gave birth—to an accountant." At Diane’s urging he recites the words to "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Dylan Thomas. When asked the meaning of “Old age should burn and …rage against the dying light," Thornton explains that it means, "I don't take shit from no one." The day of the big diving competition has arrived. Derek heckles the competition, blasting the first diver with an air horn and flashing a mirror in the eyes of the next diver. The divers take awkward spills. Jason executes a perfect dive. When Jason’s diving team rival, Chas, begs off, claiming injury, Coach Turnbull turns to Thornton to fill in for him. Thornton executes a Triple Lindy, leaping from high board to the low board, and somersaulting into the pool to the cheers of the crowd. Afterward, Diane tells Thornton he passed the oral exams. Later, at the graduation ceremony, Thornton gives the commencement address. His words, practical as always, remind the students, "It's a jungle out there.” After advising them to “look out for Number One” without stepping on “Number Two,” he suggests to the young audience to move back with their parents.
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