Karry Best movie of this year hands down!
Greenes Please don't spend money on this.
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
david-sarkies I never realised how great this film actually is, and that even after all these years there are still some absolutely classic laugh out loud moments. Okay, while this film is clearly a product of the eighties, there is a part of it that could literally put it in any time, and in many cases could still be enjoyed in this post modern, overtly sensitive modern age. Sure, there are some aspects of it, such as when he accidentally wonders into the Sorority and into the girl's showers that would probably not go down all that well here, but there is still a lot of charm about this film. It is about a business man named Thornton Melon who made his millions off of selling oversized clothes. He never went to college, and barely finished high school, but he still succeeded. Anyway, he gets rid of his second wife because, well, she was asking for it, and goes to visit his son at college to discover that he wants to drop out. So, to encourage him to slug through to the end he decides to sign up as well and attempt to complete college. There is so much to love about this film, yet there is so much that honestly doesn't make all that much sense as well. Yet that's the beauty of this film and that is that there is a lot that really doesn't make sense. For instance, he is in his first economics class and starts sprouting out his own business experience to challenge the professor's own academic, and somewhat unrealistic, theories. In a way it is clearly poking fun at academia, particularly the disconnect between the real world and the class room. In fact he even points out at the end that it is better to stay in the class room, and in one's parent's house than to deal with the cut throat nature of the real world. However, the idea of a baby boomer coming back to University isn't all that odd these days. I encountered it the first time I was at university, and I encounter it again today. Sure, there is this element of universities only accepting people with a certain grade into their doors, but if there is one thing that Melon has learnt, and that is that there is not necessarily much that a few dollars in the right hand can solve. Yet, what seemed to be quite amusing back then - a nouveux riche guy throwing money around like there is no tomorrow, is something of a concern today. When he throws a few bucks to the cop at the beginning, this simply seems to be Melon just being himself, yet this is nothing short of bribary. As for funding a new business school simply so that he can get into college, well, I'm not sure to what extent it happens, but a part of me isn't all that surprised, particularly with rumours that some universities simply want to attract people from wealthy backgrounds to ensure regular donations. In a way it also seems somewhat ridiculous as to how fast he is actually throwing his money around, but that is the nature of the movie. In reality, anybody that free and easy with their money is generally not going to have all that much money for all that long. Yet, as I mentioned, this is the nature of the character - a free and easy guy that is simply friends with any and everybody. In fact, the people who don't like him tend to be those who are jealous of the fact that he has entered a world where he isn't supposed to be - I guess this is the nature of the conflict that seems to exist between the old and new money. Yet he throws big parties, and even goes as far as bringing in Kurt Vonnegut to write his English Lit paper. Which is another thing that is really interesting - 'who ever wrote that paper on Kurt Vonnegut doesn't know the first this about Kurt Vonnegut'. Well, I guess that is just a barbed point towards modern academia - some of them wouldn't pick up the fact that an author has written an essay on their own book. There is a story I heard where this actually happened, and in a way I'm not surprised. While this film may be a little dated, there is still just a huge amount of charm about it, and it is, surprising, quite funny. In fact some of the lines that Dangerfield comes out with, such as 'how about Fantasy land', are nothing short of brilliant. This is certainly one to get your hands on, even if only once, just to experience one of the hidden gems of the 80s.
richspenc 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 ed 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.
AaronCapenBanner Rodney Dangerfield stars as Thornton Melon, a self-made millionaire whose one big regret in life was that he never went to college. When his son Jason(played by Keith Gordon) says that he wants to drop out of college, his father makes him a deal; if Jason stays enrolled, he'll enroll himself, which starts a comedic chain of events that will change their lives,(and the college!) forever.Reasonably good-natured comedy has Rodney's bright performance and self-mocking routine going for it, and the hilarious scenes with Sam Kinison as a most unorthodox(and angry) history teacher. Other aspects and characters are not so funny or believable, but film's pluses outweigh the negatives in this amusing comedy.
zoellern back to school is a great movie,and it would be nice if they made the soundtrack available to buy,because I would buy it.I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see the soundtrack on compact disk.if anyone has heard anything please post.I have looked all over the internet.I came up empty.I checked amazon,nothing.it must be a hard compact disk to find.I don't think that they have put it on compact disk yet.I'm hoping they will.it would be nice.it's a great movie and has a great soundtrack.I have watched it many many times,it gets better each time.not sure if it will ever go to blu-ray,but that would be nice also.lots to like about the movie,and good actors.rodney dangerfield is always funny,as well as Sam Kinnison.they are both missed.I had no idea that Jim Carrey was considered for the movie.it's definitely one of the top comedy movies of all time.it would have been nice to see Sam Kinnison in more movies.this movie will be ed as a great comedy,and will make anyone laugh.one of my favorite movies for sure.
