Back to School (1986)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Alan Metter

Writers:

Rodney Dangerfield (story) &
Greg Fields (story) ...

Release Date:

13 June 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance | Sport

Tagline:

Registration starts Friday, June 13, at theaters everywhere.

Plot:

To help his discouraged son get through college, a funloving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself.

Plot Keywords:

College | Party | Millionaire | Reference To Wonder Woman | Dangerous Dive

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rodney Dangerfield	...	Thornton Melon
Sally Kellerman	...	Dr. Diane Turner
Burt Young	...	Lou
Keith Gordon	...	Jason Melon
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Derek
Paxton Whitehead	...	Dr. Phillip Barbay
Terry Farrell	...	Valerie Desmond
M. Emmet Walsh	...	Coach Turnbull
Adrienne Barbeau	...	Vanessa
William Zabka	...	Chas
Ned Beatty	...	Dean David Martin
Severn Darden	...	Dr. Borozini
Sam Kinison	...	Professor Terguson
Robert Picardo	...	Giorgio
Kurt Vonnegut Jr.	...	Himself

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (prologue) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:MG6 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #27622) | New Zealand:M | Canada:14A | Finland:K-10 | Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | UK:15 | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Paper Clip Productions

Trivia:

The original music score for the movie was composed by band leader Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo. The band was featured performing their song "Dead Man's Party" at Thornton Melon's dorm party.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Oingo Boingo performs at the party, the music is obviously the pre-recorded studio version of the song.

Quotes:

Derek: [at the diving competition] You know what you almost never see? Somebody heckling a diver.
[blows an air horn just as a diver is going into his dive]

Movie Connections:

Featured in "I Love the 80's 3-D" (2005)

Soundtrack:

I'll Never Forget Your Face

Rodney You're a Genius!!!

Without Rodney Dangerfield this movie would be in the bottom 100 for sure. However with Rodney Dangerfield (in my opinion) it should be considered for the top 75 comedies of all time.

Lines like "I like teachers. If you do something wrong they make you do it again" are what carry this movie. There's not a lot of them but when they do pop-up they're hilarious.

I do believe the director and producers made a mistake not taking Jim Carrey on for the role of the History Teacher because he was too young, because it wasn't a believable kind of movie any way. I must say though that the man who did play the History Teacher did a great job and seeing him teaching was one of the best parts of the movie.

So if your into comedies or a Rodney fan don't be put off by how old this movie is like I was because its age, if anything, makes the movie even better.