National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) Universal/Comedy RT: 109 minutes Rated R (language, nudity, crude and sexual content, alcohol and drug use, partying) Director: John Landis Screenplay: Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller Music: Elmer Bernstein Cinematography: Charles Correll Release date: July 28, 1978 (US) Cast: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, Bruce McGill, James Widdoes, James Daughton, Mark Metcalf, Kevin Bacon, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Donald Sutherland, Karen Allen, Mary Louise Weller, Martha Smith, Sarah Holcomb, Douglas Kenney, DeWayne Jessie, Cesar Danova, Stephen Bishop. Box Office: $141.6M (US)
Rating: ****
A comedy classic! The quintessential college comedy of my generation! The original “snobs vs. slobs” flick! A high-ranking entry on many a parent’s “NO WAY!” movie list! Define it how you will, there’s no denying National Lampoon’s Animal House made an enormous impact on both youth culture and the comedy landscape.
It’s a groundbreaking film on many different levels, the most obvious being how it paved the way for outrageous comedies aimed at the teen market (e.g. Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes, Porky’s, Bachelor Party and Revenge of the Nerds). It made an instant movie star out of John Belushi, one of the original SNL players. It inspired a wave of toga parties at colleges across the country. Along with the previous year’s The Kentucky Fried Movie (also directed by Landis), it launched the “gross-out” genre of comedy movies. It’s endlessly quotable. Who doesn’t remember the famous “Food fight!” cry?
The very best thing about Animal House is that it’s absolutely hilarious from start to finish. This simple, vulgar tale of a misfit fraternity taking on the strict, uptight college dean and a prestigious, stuck-up fraternity made a ton of money. It also inspired at least three failed TV sitcoms and two aborted attempts at a sequel. It’s a formula that’s been repeated countless times in the 45+ years since it first roared into theaters. Rarely, if ever, has the formula worked as perfectly as it does in this wild, messy, anarchic comedy full of unforgettable characters and insane situations. It’s easily one of the best comedies of all time.
Set at fictional Faber College in 1962, misfit freshmen Larry Kroger (Hulce, Amadeus) and Kent Dorfman (Furst, Midnight Madness) are looking to join a fraternity. They quickly find they’re not welcome at snooty Omega Theta Pi where the prissy hostess refers to them as “a wimp and a blimp.” Kent suggests they pledge Delta Tau Chi where his older brother was once a member making him a legacy.
They arrive at the frat house where they find drunken member Bluto (Belushi) urinating outside. Upon entering Delta House, we see it really lives up to the movie’s title. It’s a zoo in there. There’s a wild rush party going on and everybody is having a grand old time. That’s where Larry and Kent meet the other Delta members including chapter president Robert Hoover (TV director Widdoes), rush chairman Eric “Otter” Stratton (Matheson, Up the Creek), Boon (Riegert, Local Hero), and biker D-Day (McGill, The Last Boy Scout). The boys get invited to pledge and receive the names “Pinto” and “Flounder.”
Meanwhile, nasty Dean Wormer (Vernon, Dirty Harry) wants nothing more than to revoke Delta’s charter and kick every one of them out of Faber. He’s had it with their wild behavior and low grades for which they are already on probation. The only way to do it is to place them on “double secret probation” and hope to catch them in the act of something immoral or lascivious. He puts sneaky Omega president Greg Marmalard (Daughton, Spies Like Us) and ROTC officer Douglas C. Neidermeyer (Metcalf, One Crazy Summer) on it. So begins the war between the slobs and the snobs in which only one side can emerge victorious.
Among the comic highlights are a prank involving Neidermeyer’s prized horse, a road trip that takes the guys to an all-black bar and a homecoming parade that quickly descends into chaos after the Deltas crash it. The centerpiece of Animal House is the infamous toga party at which ladies’ man Otter seduces Mrs. Wormer (Bloom, High Plains Drifter). In the midst of it all, Boon must decide between his drunken frat buddies and his steady girlfriend Katy (Allen, Raiders of the Lost Ark), frustrated at his refusal to grow up and act like an adult.
There are so many great scenes and classic lines in Animal House that to list even half of them would take up way more space than I’ve allotted for this review. I suppose the first one that comes to mind is Bluto’s impassioned speech to his fellow frat members after learning they’ve all been expelled. He references the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor. It’s nice to see he learned something during his seven years at college. I’d also have to cite the scene where Larry wrestles with his conscience, represented by visions of an angel and a demon, when confronted with taking advantage of his drunk and passed-out date (Holcomb, Caddyshack) at the toga party. Okay, just one more. The infamous scene featuring Bluto loading up his tray and pockets at the cafeteria food line followed by his famous impersonation of a zit-that’s freaking comedy gold!
Belushi is awesome in Animal House which makes it even sadder that his career was cut short by a fatal drug overdose just four years later. He was the very personification of anarchy. The whole cast is great including Donald Sutherland (M*A*S*H) as the liberal-minded, pot-smoking English professor.
I can’t think of a single bad thing to say about Animal House except it was five years before I saw it uncut. I saw it on a double feature with The Blues Brothers (December 17, 1983) at the old Waverly Theater. This is one movie that DEFINITELY holds up to repeat viewings. It’s funny every single time you watch it. It richly deserves its R rating with its raunchy gags and sexual humor. I remember asking to see it when it first came out and my father saying, “It’s not for you!” I beg to differ, Dad.
Although it’s one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, I don’t include it in my top ten best comedies for one reason. It exists on a plane of its own with its spiritual brethren The Blues Brothers and Caddyshack. They make up the Holy Trinity of Comedy. Landis struck gold with Animal House. It still holds up after all these years as the best LOL college comedy EVER!
