Okay, so I have to be honest about something, upfront. When I started writing these I said I was going to stay away from the obvious ones; the Caddyshacks and Ghostbusters of the world. The ones where nothing I could say would be new information and if you have not seen them you need to just explain yourself. But then Mark said something to me a few weeks back that stuck: he said, are you sure everyone has seen Back to School? And I thought about it. And I am not sure. I am really not. Because there is a generation of people who know Rodney Dangerfield from Caddyshack and kind of stop there. And if that is you, I need to fix that today. Because this is the one where he is actually acting. This is the one where underneath all the one liners and the tie loosening and the bug eyes, there is a real movie happening. And it is spectacular. The first time I would have seen this is unknown, I just assume I have always known it existed. I know my father had a copy of it on VHS that we recorded off TV, so I know I saw that vhs. But would I have seen it before that. Hard to know. Anyway, prepare for my explanation of this gem.
Back to School
Here is the setup: Thornton Melon is a self-made millionaire who built an empire selling plus-size clothing. Tall and Fat stores. The man is loaded, kind of doesnt give a shit, and at the top of his game. His son Jason, played by Keith Gordon, is away at college and struggling. Struggling socially, struggling with fitting in, and quietly thinking about dropping out. So Thornton does what any reasonably insane person would do. He enrolls. Just shows up at Grand Lakes University, buys his way in, gets a enormous luxury dorm suite built on the spot, and becomes a freshman at the same school as his kid. And what follows is one of the best comedies of the 1980s. But I will stop there on the plot because the joy is watching it unfold.
Now the cast, because this is where this movie becomes something truly amazing. Rodney Dangerfield is Thornton Melon and this is his best performance full stop. You get every single thing you love about Rodney, the machine gun one-liners, the physical reactions, the absolute chaos energy, but you also get something you did not know he had in him. Genuine sweetness and charm. The scenes between him and his son are real. They land. And that is what elevates this above a simple joke delivery vehicle. His love interest is Dr. Diane Turner, an English professor played by the magnificent Sally Kellerman. You know her as Hot Lips Houlihan from MASH, which earned her an Oscar nomination. She is funny and sharp and has actual chemistry with Rodney which should not work as well as it does but absolutely does. Next is Burt Young as Lou, Thornton’s best friend and driver. If you need me to tell you who Burt Young is, he is Paulie from Rocky. All of them. Every single one. He is one of those actors who makes every single scene he is in better just by being there. And then there is Robert Downey Jr. as Derek, Jason’s anarchic best friend and roommate. This is 1986 Robert Downey Jr., gap toothed and completely unhinged, and he is magnetic. You cannot take your eyes off him even in the background of scenes. The guy was a star from the jump, it just took the world a minute to catch up. I believe I read somewhere that this movie is the footage they used for the Captain America movie when they go and show a young Robert Downey Jr. Which makes a lot of sense because he doesn’t look as 100% polished movie star as he is in some of the other movies that he’s in.But don’t get me wrong, he’s awesome for when he’s on the screen in this. The villain of the flick is Dr. Phillip Barbay, the snooty business professor who despises Thornton and everything he represents. Played to absolute perfection by Paxton Whitehead, a British stage actor who makes every syllable drip with contempt.I believe he was a huge theatre star. Don’t know much about him, but like I said, big star in the world of theatre. And then there is William Zabka as Chas, the campus rich kid antagonist. You know Zabka. He is Johnny Lawrence from The Karate Kid. Kinda had a recent resurgence with the Cobra Kai TV show. Pretty awesome actor, but this is during his heyday high school villain phase. Ned Beatty plays the Dean. M. Emmet Walsh plays the diving coach. Adrienne Barbeau plays Thornton’s gold digger ex wife in the opening. And then there is Sam Kinison as Professor Terguson, the unhinged Vietnam vet history teacher. I do not want to spoil his scenes but I will tell you that Rodney Dangerfield, a man who had performed standup comedy his entire adult life, could not keep a straight face during their scenes together. The director eventually just decided to leave Rodney visibly cracking up in the wide shot because there was no other option. That is how funny Sam Kinison is in this movie.
Now, the crew. The director is Alan Metter, who is not a name anyone throws around but he absolutely nailed this. He understood that his job was to point the camera at Rodney and get out of the way, but also to build enough structure around him that the movie had a beating heart. He did both. He also directed in 1985 Girls Just Want to Have Fun, which my wife absolutely adores, and the movie Moving with Richard Pryor, which I also love. He’s not the worst director, but he really stops directing in the early 90s essentially. The screenplay has four writers on it, Steven Kampmann, William Porter, PJ Torokvei, and Harold Ramis. Yes, that Harold Ramis. Ghostbusters Harold Ramis. Groundhog Day Harold Ramis. And it shows. The script Is solid, and the way they get the best out of Rodney Dangerfield, I have to imagine, is Harold Ramis’ Chef’s Kiss. I read It was actually Ramis who suggested changing Thornton from a poor guy to a rich guy, which is the entire engine of the film. The producer is Chuck Russell, who went on to direct The Blob remake in 87 and then The Mask with Jim Carrey in 94. Solid resume. He directed an episode of Fringe. There’s a nod for Mark and Larry. And the music is composed by Danny Elfman. Yes, that Danny Elfman. Pre-Batman, pre-Edward Scissorhands, this is early Elfman and it has that same manic elastic energy that would define his whole career. And Oingo Boingo, his band, actually appears in the movie performing at a party. In the scene Robert Downey Jr. is sitting at a fake mixing board pretending to mix them. Just perfect chaos.
Okay, my favorite part of every movie is the quotes. I like to say that some of the ones in here I have been saying since I’ve seen this movie in the 80s, so some great ones here.
“Bring us a pitcher of beer every seven minutes until someone passes out, and then bring one every ten minutes.” – Thornton
“Girls, this is Lou. Lou, these are the girls” – Thornton
“How would you categorize The Great Gatsby?” – Diane
“He was.. Uh… Great!” – Thornton
“Remember, you’re a Melon” – Thornton
“Whoever did write this doesn’t know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut” – Dianne
“Fuck you? Hey, Kurt, can you read lips? Fuck you! Next time I’ll call Robert Ludlum!” – Thorton
I have about fifteen more but none I need to type out. The point is this movie is quotable start to finish in a way that very few comedies actually are. It has been 91 million dollars worth of proof that the world agreed with me when it came out in 1986, making it the second highest grossing comedy of the year behind only Crocodile Dundee. Interesting that Rotten Tomatoes has it at 81%. I think it would actually be higher, but that’s not too bad for that group. It is available on Apple TV for the normal four bucks and I assure you it goes into the rotation. Standard deal. You hate it, find me and I have the singles. I genuinely do not think anyone is asking for their money back on this one. I honestly think between this Easy Money and Caddyshack, you could go on a Rodney Dangerfield trilogy and just have a wonderful evening.
Fun Facts:
- In the original script Thornton was written as a poor guy who scrapes together the money to attend college with his son. Harold Ramis read it and told them it was funnier if he was obscenely rich. He was right. That note changed the entire movie. Harold Ramis was just brilliant when an idea just needed one rough edge polished, and this movie is a great example of that.
- Jim Carrey was actually considered for the Sam Kinison role of Professor Terguson. He was passed on because they thought he was too young. Kinison had already appeared on Rodney’s 1983 HBO special, which is how He rolled into that part But Jim Carrey was an up-and-coming star in Dangerfield’s comedy club, so that was why he got the Rodney nod
