Post by ronnierocketago on Jan 17, 2006 23:24:06 GMT
RRA's Video Bin Review: NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE (1978)
(Originally posted on September 4, 2005)
Its easy for a "hit" comedy for its time period to lose steam and flavor with audiences that were born into generations after that film's target demographic are either dead/buried or senile and having to wear diapers.
What is remarkable is that for a comedy to keep its appeal and massive popularity decades after its release, even if its embraced by each succeeding generation as if its their own. Considering how tricky how comedy itself is used in a film can easily become dated or worse, lose its punch(try reading 17th century British humor to get my point), its amazing those comedies that critics like my age group(those bastard kids born into the 80s) do dig that were made many years ago that range from the now 70+ year old Marx Brothers classic DUCK SOUP to Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE to the works of UK's own Monty Python.
Of course, the subject of this review isn't exactly I would say as smart or intellectual as those classic comedies, but this sucker is indeed a beloved masterpiece of comedy that somehow not only keep its appeal to kids after the Baby Boomers, but simply may have actually improved with age.
Let's rewind a moment. While MAD was still considered one of the best humor magazines, NATIONAL LAMPOON at its creative height was an alternative rag for mature/intellectual/naughty humor that MAD wouldn't dare print in its pages. With the now deceased(and unfortunately forgotten) writer Douglas Kenney as ringmaster, he and his staff of writers including former fraternity member Chris Miller(the real-life "Pinto") and future SCTV/script-writer Harold Ramis, they were huge on college campuses nation-wise.
During this time, George Lucas' AMERICAN GRAFITI("Where were you in 1962?") was a huge mega-hit at the box-office, and created the 50's-retro fad of the 1970s. The writers of NATIONAL LAMPOON apparently hated it, and wanted to write a screenplay for a movie to totally bitchsmack it with parody-humor. Initially a total sex/drug-filled comedy romp set in 1962 with a young Charles Manson running around, with the tagline being "What was He Doing in 1962?"
After every studio turned it down, former fratboy Miller convinced the others to retool the script to incorporate his, Kenney, and Ramis' college experiences and thus ANIMAL HOUSE was born. Universal Pictures bought the script and greenlighted it, but not for the quality of it. In fact, the head Executive at the time thought it was vulgar, gross, and should be banned from Hollywood actually. However, he figured the movie would make a decent profit based on the fact that NATIONAL LAMPOON was huge on college campuses at the time. Thus why this and later productions were given the "National Lampoon's ---" label.
With producer and future Hollywood director Ivan Reitman and rising comedy director John Landis behind the camera, plus a $2.5 million budget, the movie was a monsterous surprise hit in 1978 and became the most successful comedy of all time. Its $141 million box-office gross wasn't topped until GHOSTBUSTERS came along in 1984(oddly directed by Reitman and co-written by Ramis).
Since then, the film has been listed on the National Film Registry list for the U.S. Library of Congress(aimed to preserve the best of cinematic acheivements of America) and actually was listed #36 on the Top 100 Comedies list by the American Film Institute. Not bad, Delta House, not bad!
So why does this movie work as well as it does now in 2005 as it did way back in 1978?
Maybe its because while stuff like VAN WILDER or OLD SCHOOL attempt to become the successor to HOUSE's throne as the Best College Comedy ever, they lack both that ANIMAL HOUSE still holds in its deck of cards: Reality & Heart.
Sure, I doubt Kenney, Miller, and Ramis actually destroyed a town's homecoming parade with a cake float saying EAT ME , but several scenes in the film is based on their past experiences. Remember Otter and Hoover hitting golfballs at Neidermeyer and his ROTC group? Happened to Ramis. The whole frat-culture of 1962 was based on Miller's experience of the time. Apparently the women-slick attitude of Otter was slightly based on Kenney's work with the opposite sex at Harvard. All those characters in Delta House in one form or another were based on real figures they knew and hell, I think we all know those type of personalities in folks we knew inside or outside college.
I mean we all probably know a slick style-over-substance undisputed leader like Otter, or his side-man like Boone. We all recognize the types like Hoover, who probably the only serious person in his clique that actually performs any legit work(not to mention the highest GPA of the group usually) and as to deal with these animal assholes around him. We remember templates of people like the dorkish-yet-intellectual Stork(played by Kenney in the movie), the obese nice-but-akward Flounder, the equally awkward-but-frail Pinto, the car-fetish motorhead slacker like D-Day...
...and Bluto(John Belushi), do I need to go further?
What surprised me as well when I recently rewatched this film is how that Flounder was the patsy for everyone, even his last-resort of a fraternity in Delta House. Eventually, guys like Bluto and Otter actually take him in as one of their own. While hes still out of place, they actually comfort him by helping to get rid of his cousin's car that was wrecked beyond repair, including one great bit of brotherly advice from Belushi:
Bluto: "My advice to you is to start drinking heavily."
Otter: "Better listen to him, Flounder, he's in pre-med."
What I noticed as well that OLD SCHOOL totally fouled up on is simply how to use a special character. Director John Landis and the writers used John Belushi's Bluto as much as they could, but without overusing him. Whenever we see Bluto doing something, its a moment of comedy gold(whatever its him pouring mustard on himself or role-playing a "Zit" or sneaking around campus to get revenge on Neidermeyer's horse), or better yet...the fact that the film focuses its story mostly on the exploits of Otter, Hoover, Flounder, and Pinto as they have to deal with Omega House and its establishment-snob attitude. Fact is, despite being the absolutely worthy symbol of the film, Belushi is actually a glorified supporting character in the film. Hell, if anything, the restraint of Belushi enriches his legendary rallying speech after the "big one" was dropped by the absolutely evil-yet-fun Dean Wormer(John Vernon):
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! "
While OLD SCHOOL's mistake was to install Will Ferrell's humorous post-college version of Bluto in almost every scene of the film. Maybe he was the only hilarious character in the movie, but quite frankly by the end, his antics do become sorta tiresome. By the time that Belushi leaps out of the car as a PIRATE at the parade...its still magical.
Speaking of which, believe it or not, Bluto isn't my favorite character in the movie. Sure I and everyone else loves Bluto, but I always dug the slick cool bastard of Delta House...Eric "Otter" Stratton. A man that despite the heavy shit he is in, he is defiant by being a smooth smart-ass. Consider when Hoover and the frat get pretty much slammed down without a fight in that school trial, with it seems all is doomed. Otter than stands up("Take it easy, I'm pre-law" "I thought you were pre-med." "What's the difference?") and totally snaps the morale victory away from the Omegas and the establishment with a roaring speech that totally piss-slaps Dean Wormer.
Hell, who was it that then jumped into Bluto's famous speech and said "Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." and which everyone else in the Frat joined the call for petty revenge? Otter!
Chevy Chase was originally the choice for the part, but while it makes logical sense, its a miracle for us that Tim Matheson does it. A talented actor who's career has been both typecasted and stillborn due to ANIMAL HOUSE, Matheson delivers that smart-ass quality without being personafied about it, like Chase would have done.
Hell, look at the talented actors involved with this film. John Vernon worked perviously with directors like John Boorman and Alfred Hitchcock before being immortalized as Dean Wormer. A real iconic performance from Belushi(sad that besides this and BLUES BROTHERS, that is a his movie legacy ), film acting debut for a young Kevin Bacon, etc.
Of course, ANIMAL HOUSE is such an institutionalized classic and comedy masterpiece that its influence is still felt to this day, along with the homages over the years, from the pretty humorous FUTURAMA episode which parodied the film(except this time a Robot FratHouse at Mars University). ANIMAL HOUSE would open the flood gates to the many "Slob Comedy" hits that would follow like CADDYSHACK, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, GHOSTBUSTERS, STRIPES, etc.
Too bad that NATIONAL LAMPOON the magazine can't claim to the same high standard of comedy. After Doug Kenney's untimely death in 1980, and Miller/Ramis left to work on other Hollywood projects, the magazine went to hell for many years, and despite relaunching itself as trying to appeal to the juvenile nasty perverted humor that made ANIMAL HOUSE work so much, that its now a joke that ADULT SWIM recently smacked around. The magazine sucks, but back in the day....it and its talented writers would leave their trademark that will last beyond their lifetimes.
Final Film Rating - *****/5 - MASTERPIECE
(Originally posted on September 4, 2005)
Its easy for a "hit" comedy for its time period to lose steam and flavor with audiences that were born into generations after that film's target demographic are either dead/buried or senile and having to wear diapers.
What is remarkable is that for a comedy to keep its appeal and massive popularity decades after its release, even if its embraced by each succeeding generation as if its their own. Considering how tricky how comedy itself is used in a film can easily become dated or worse, lose its punch(try reading 17th century British humor to get my point), its amazing those comedies that critics like my age group(those bastard kids born into the 80s) do dig that were made many years ago that range from the now 70+ year old Marx Brothers classic DUCK SOUP to Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE to the works of UK's own Monty Python.
Of course, the subject of this review isn't exactly I would say as smart or intellectual as those classic comedies, but this sucker is indeed a beloved masterpiece of comedy that somehow not only keep its appeal to kids after the Baby Boomers, but simply may have actually improved with age.
Let's rewind a moment. While MAD was still considered one of the best humor magazines, NATIONAL LAMPOON at its creative height was an alternative rag for mature/intellectual/naughty humor that MAD wouldn't dare print in its pages. With the now deceased(and unfortunately forgotten) writer Douglas Kenney as ringmaster, he and his staff of writers including former fraternity member Chris Miller(the real-life "Pinto") and future SCTV/script-writer Harold Ramis, they were huge on college campuses nation-wise.
During this time, George Lucas' AMERICAN GRAFITI("Where were you in 1962?") was a huge mega-hit at the box-office, and created the 50's-retro fad of the 1970s. The writers of NATIONAL LAMPOON apparently hated it, and wanted to write a screenplay for a movie to totally bitchsmack it with parody-humor. Initially a total sex/drug-filled comedy romp set in 1962 with a young Charles Manson running around, with the tagline being "What was He Doing in 1962?"
After every studio turned it down, former fratboy Miller convinced the others to retool the script to incorporate his, Kenney, and Ramis' college experiences and thus ANIMAL HOUSE was born. Universal Pictures bought the script and greenlighted it, but not for the quality of it. In fact, the head Executive at the time thought it was vulgar, gross, and should be banned from Hollywood actually. However, he figured the movie would make a decent profit based on the fact that NATIONAL LAMPOON was huge on college campuses at the time. Thus why this and later productions were given the "National Lampoon's ---" label.
With producer and future Hollywood director Ivan Reitman and rising comedy director John Landis behind the camera, plus a $2.5 million budget, the movie was a monsterous surprise hit in 1978 and became the most successful comedy of all time. Its $141 million box-office gross wasn't topped until GHOSTBUSTERS came along in 1984(oddly directed by Reitman and co-written by Ramis).
Since then, the film has been listed on the National Film Registry list for the U.S. Library of Congress(aimed to preserve the best of cinematic acheivements of America) and actually was listed #36 on the Top 100 Comedies list by the American Film Institute. Not bad, Delta House, not bad!
So why does this movie work as well as it does now in 2005 as it did way back in 1978?
Maybe its because while stuff like VAN WILDER or OLD SCHOOL attempt to become the successor to HOUSE's throne as the Best College Comedy ever, they lack both that ANIMAL HOUSE still holds in its deck of cards: Reality & Heart.
Sure, I doubt Kenney, Miller, and Ramis actually destroyed a town's homecoming parade with a cake float saying EAT ME , but several scenes in the film is based on their past experiences. Remember Otter and Hoover hitting golfballs at Neidermeyer and his ROTC group? Happened to Ramis. The whole frat-culture of 1962 was based on Miller's experience of the time. Apparently the women-slick attitude of Otter was slightly based on Kenney's work with the opposite sex at Harvard. All those characters in Delta House in one form or another were based on real figures they knew and hell, I think we all know those type of personalities in folks we knew inside or outside college.
I mean we all probably know a slick style-over-substance undisputed leader like Otter, or his side-man like Boone. We all recognize the types like Hoover, who probably the only serious person in his clique that actually performs any legit work(not to mention the highest GPA of the group usually) and as to deal with these animal assholes around him. We remember templates of people like the dorkish-yet-intellectual Stork(played by Kenney in the movie), the obese nice-but-akward Flounder, the equally awkward-but-frail Pinto, the car-fetish motorhead slacker like D-Day...
...and Bluto(John Belushi), do I need to go further?
What surprised me as well when I recently rewatched this film is how that Flounder was the patsy for everyone, even his last-resort of a fraternity in Delta House. Eventually, guys like Bluto and Otter actually take him in as one of their own. While hes still out of place, they actually comfort him by helping to get rid of his cousin's car that was wrecked beyond repair, including one great bit of brotherly advice from Belushi:
Bluto: "My advice to you is to start drinking heavily."
Otter: "Better listen to him, Flounder, he's in pre-med."
What I noticed as well that OLD SCHOOL totally fouled up on is simply how to use a special character. Director John Landis and the writers used John Belushi's Bluto as much as they could, but without overusing him. Whenever we see Bluto doing something, its a moment of comedy gold(whatever its him pouring mustard on himself or role-playing a "Zit" or sneaking around campus to get revenge on Neidermeyer's horse), or better yet...the fact that the film focuses its story mostly on the exploits of Otter, Hoover, Flounder, and Pinto as they have to deal with Omega House and its establishment-snob attitude. Fact is, despite being the absolutely worthy symbol of the film, Belushi is actually a glorified supporting character in the film. Hell, if anything, the restraint of Belushi enriches his legendary rallying speech after the "big one" was dropped by the absolutely evil-yet-fun Dean Wormer(John Vernon):
"Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! "
While OLD SCHOOL's mistake was to install Will Ferrell's humorous post-college version of Bluto in almost every scene of the film. Maybe he was the only hilarious character in the movie, but quite frankly by the end, his antics do become sorta tiresome. By the time that Belushi leaps out of the car as a PIRATE at the parade...its still magical.
Speaking of which, believe it or not, Bluto isn't my favorite character in the movie. Sure I and everyone else loves Bluto, but I always dug the slick cool bastard of Delta House...Eric "Otter" Stratton. A man that despite the heavy shit he is in, he is defiant by being a smooth smart-ass. Consider when Hoover and the frat get pretty much slammed down without a fight in that school trial, with it seems all is doomed. Otter than stands up("Take it easy, I'm pre-law" "I thought you were pre-med." "What's the difference?") and totally snaps the morale victory away from the Omegas and the establishment with a roaring speech that totally piss-slaps Dean Wormer.
Hell, who was it that then jumped into Bluto's famous speech and said "Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part." and which everyone else in the Frat joined the call for petty revenge? Otter!
Chevy Chase was originally the choice for the part, but while it makes logical sense, its a miracle for us that Tim Matheson does it. A talented actor who's career has been both typecasted and stillborn due to ANIMAL HOUSE, Matheson delivers that smart-ass quality without being personafied about it, like Chase would have done.
Hell, look at the talented actors involved with this film. John Vernon worked perviously with directors like John Boorman and Alfred Hitchcock before being immortalized as Dean Wormer. A real iconic performance from Belushi(sad that besides this and BLUES BROTHERS, that is a his movie legacy ), film acting debut for a young Kevin Bacon, etc.
Of course, ANIMAL HOUSE is such an institutionalized classic and comedy masterpiece that its influence is still felt to this day, along with the homages over the years, from the pretty humorous FUTURAMA episode which parodied the film(except this time a Robot FratHouse at Mars University). ANIMAL HOUSE would open the flood gates to the many "Slob Comedy" hits that would follow like CADDYSHACK, NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION, GHOSTBUSTERS, STRIPES, etc.
Too bad that NATIONAL LAMPOON the magazine can't claim to the same high standard of comedy. After Doug Kenney's untimely death in 1980, and Miller/Ramis left to work on other Hollywood projects, the magazine went to hell for many years, and despite relaunching itself as trying to appeal to the juvenile nasty perverted humor that made ANIMAL HOUSE work so much, that its now a joke that ADULT SWIM recently smacked around. The magazine sucks, but back in the day....it and its talented writers would leave their trademark that will last beyond their lifetimes.
Final Film Rating - *****/5 - MASTERPIECE