Call Me Some Time When You Have No Class... "Back To School"

Back to School (1986)

PG-13 for language and brief nudity

Starring Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Keith Gordon, Robert Downey Jr., William Zabka

Directed by Alan Metter

The Story:

Thornton Melon (Dangerfield) a successful businessman decides to head back to school to try and get some bonding time with his son, Keith (Gordon).  Hilarity ensues.

I mean really, it's Rodney Dangerfield's best starring role, so to explain it misses the whole point of seeing Rodney at the top of his game.

Naturally, in this film, several scenarios are going to unfold:

Thornton's relationship with his son.
Thornton's adversarial relationship with one professor (Paxton Whitehead).
Thornton's romantic interest in another professor (Kellerman).
Keith's feelings of inadequacy and wanting to quit college altogether.

This is how you balance all of those little stories into one larger overarching storyline.  A quick 5-minute bit, then move on.

String those bits together with a bit of connectivity, and 90 minutes later, you had a great viewing experience.

Add to that, the first real silver-screen time for Robert Downey Jr. in the best friend role.

Plus, the always menacing William Zabka picking right up where he left off in the Karate Kid.

Or, the best use of Kurt Vonnegut, ever.

Then there is the brief, yet hilarious, Sam Kinison moment.

Yeah, you can't go wrong with this one.

Final Grade: A ~ Showing some respect for Mr. Dangerfield!

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: One of my favorites from the 80s, still holds up well today and is filled with laughs from beginning to end.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 38 ~ Caddyshack

We've had football.

We've had more than our share of baseball.

But golf?

Is that even a sport?

And should there be movies about it???

Amazingly, the two best golf movies I've ever seen almost both made the countdown.

Tin Cup would easily land in the Top 150.

But I could not deny the humor and zaniness of Caddyshack.

I told you Harold Ramis would be back.

In this, his directorial debut, he could have hung it up, because it doesn't get much better than this.  Thankfully he didn't, but he could have.

For those that have never seen the film...

As the catchphrase goes: It's the slobs versus the snobs.

You have a wonderful uppity country club and all of their members plus their caddies.   Then one day, a member with the requirements, but not the class... shows up and turns the country club upside down.

The film stars a who's-who of comedic actors of the late 70s/early 80s.  Most will agree that Bill Murray steals the film as the groundskeeper, and he does.

However the main thrust of Rodney Dangerfield as the outsider trying to fit in, against Ted Knight's uptight judge carries the main momentum of the film.

As I've said before, the better you want your hero to be, you better have an equally entertaining villain.

Ted Knight brings bluster and fire to his performance, literally playing the straight man to the zanies, and it works perfectly.  Look at the picture for this film.  He is literally losing his cool on camera, and it's hilarious.  He is the perfect foil for Dangerfield (and Chase) in the film, and was a casting stroke of genius.

Strangely, the slowest drag in the film comes when they put Murray and Chase in the same scene together.  What should have been comic gold kind of grinds to a halt, and is only mildly amusing.  Otherwise, the movie is hilarious, and will likely be quoted for all time on golf courses around the world...

"It's in the hole!"

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 57 ~ Back to School

Rodney Dangerfield made a career out of getting "No Respect", but he finds plenty on this countdown, landing on it with a great 80s classic:  Back to School.

The story:

Thornton Melon is a successful businessman who runs a chain of Tall & Fat stores.  However, his latest marriage has hit the skids, and his son has started college, but isn't doing so great after all.

Thornton's solution?  Go back to school, and get that education that he never finished, and get to be around his son a little more.

And naturally, fill a script with as much of Dangefield's charm and one-liners as possible.

The movie succeeds.

And not just as a Rodney Dangerfield stand-up routine.  The rest of the cast is fairly fleshed out and they have repercussions for Thornton.

While Thornton's money gets him into college, it will take some brains to be able to stay there.

I would guess that looking at his filmography, this is the movie that helped begin Robert Downey Jr.'s rise to stardom.  He had a few other bit parts before this, plus a year on Saturday Night Live.

But this film opened him up to a larger role on the silver screen, and he stole the spotlight as often as he could playing the role of "best friend".

Which would explain why he will be back on the countdown again, and Keith Gordon won't be.

Who's Keith Gordon? you ask.

Exactly!