Animal House

National Lampoon's Animal House
File:National Lampoon's Animal House movie.jpg
Directed by	John Landis
Written by	Harold Ramis Douglas Kenney Christopher Miller
Produced by	Ivan Reitman Matty Simmons
Starring	John Belushi Tim Matheson
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	July 28, 1978 (premiere)
Running time	109 min.
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000

National Lampoon's Animal House (often called Animal House) is a 1978 comedy film in which a misfit group of Delta fraternity boys takes on the system at their college. It is considered as the movie that started the gross-out genre.

It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, John Vernon, Thomas Hulce, Cesare Danova, Peter Riegert, Mary Louise Weller, Stephen Furst, James Daughton, Bruce McGill, Mark Metcalf, James Widdoes, Martha Smith, Kevin Bacon (in his film debut) and Donald Sutherland.

The movie was adapted by Douglas Kenney, Christopher Miller and Harold Ramis from stories that had originally been written by Miller and published in National Lampoon magazine. It was directed by John Landis. In 2001 the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. Produced on a scanty $3 million budget, the film has turned out to be one of the most profitable of all time; since its initial release, Animal House has garnered an estimated return of more than $200 million in the form of video and DVDs, not including merchandising.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler Faber College, 1962. Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement are but the faintest blips on the horizon. A 1950s mentality prevails on campus, typified by the Omegas—the "nice boy" fraternity. At the other end of Fraternity Row, both literally and figuratively, stands the Delta House, a repository for every campus misfit:

• Eric "Otter" Stratton, the Playboy-style sex maniac (whose room is an uncannily pristine oasis within the sheer filth of the house);
• Donald "Boon" Schoenstein, Otter's best friend who is always deciding between his pals at the Delta House and his girlfriend, Katy;
• John "Bluto" Blutarsky, an abject, drunken degenerate;
• Robert Hoover, the affable, reasonably clean-cut president of the fraternity, who desperately struggles to maintain a façade of normalcy for the Dean;
• Daniel Simpson Day, "D-Day", a tough biker with a penchant for riding up the stairs;
• Stork, who was probably borderline autistic (during his first year, many thought Stork was brain damaged);
• and the two new pledges,
  • Larry "Pinto" Kroger, a shy but normal fellow
  • Kent "Flounder" Dorfman, a hopeless, fat, clumsy loser—a "total zero", even by Delta standards.

Dean Wormer, in cahoots with the Omegas, is constantly plotting to revoke the Deltas' charter and drive them off campus permanently. The main Omegas include:

• Greg Marmalard, the president of Omega House who dates Mandy Pepperidge and suffers from impotence;
• Sergeant-at-Arms Doug Niedermeyer, who is the head of the ROTC and hates the Deltas with unbridled passion; and
• Chip Diller, the Omegas' newest pledge (played by Kevin Bacon in his on-screen debut).

Other characters of importance include:

• Professor Dave Jennings, who is bored with his job as English teacher and smokes marijuana;
• Marion Wormer, the Dean's wife, who becomes the object of Otter's charms;
• Clorette DePasto, the mayor's underaged daughter, who (possibly) sleeps with Larry;
• Otis Day, a local singer who is a campus favorite;
• Mandy Pepperidge, who dates Greg but secretly loves Otter; and
• Babs Jansen, a proper Southern belle who is turned off by crude Deltas.

Analysis

The film has become known as the ultimate fraternity film; for better or worse, it has promoted many stereotypes and formed a distinct image of fraternities in American culture. Decades after its release, Animal House still exerts a powerful influence on today's college students. Despite having been born well after the film was released, students—especially men—on American campuses can often be seen wearing shirts emulating the Belushi character's generic "College" model. Quoting liberally from the film is a popular leisure activity, particularly at social events. In addition, the film is notable for having introduced the toga party to popular college culture. Before the movie's release, toga parties were apparently quite rare, but after 1978 many campuses experienced a massive upsurge of them.

Trivia

File:Animal House Deltas.jpg

The Deltas in front of their house

Animal House was based on Miller's experience at his own fraternity (Alpha Delta Phi) at the Ivy League's Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. Additional inspiration came from Ramis' experiences at Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri.

This movie was filmed in Cottage Grove, Oregon and at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, and features numerous buildings from that campus and the surrounding area. Johnson Hall, the university's administration building, is prominently featured throughout the film, as is Gerlinger Hall (the Women's Dorm), the Erb Memorial Union (renovated since that time), Carson Hall (Dormitory), and the Knight Library (the building behind Emil Faber's statue).

The filmmakers had submitted the script to a number of colleges and universities, all of which turned them down. The University of Oregon agreed because the Dean who read the script had been the President of a small California college years before, and had been shown the script for The Graduate. He turned it down, believing it to be worthless, and then watched The Graduate become a huge hit. When offered the script for Animal House, he was determined not to make the same mistake twice, even allowing the filmmakers to use his office as Dean Wormer's office.

The motto of Faber College (as inscribed on the statue of founder Emil Faber shown at the beginning of the film) was "Knowledge is Good."

According to the book Leo Strauss and the Politics of American Empire by Anne Norton (p. 62) (ISBN 0300104367), the toga party is based on the gay orgies of Leo Strauss and his inner circle, which were most often homoerotic re-enactments of Plato's Symposium. The practice is thought to have been most often led by Allan Bloom at Cornell University.

In one scene during the infamous toga party, John Belushi's character, Bluto Blutarsky, smashes an acoustic guitar belonging to a folk singer (portrayed by singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop, who is credited as "Charming Guy With Guitar") who is serenading a group of girls with the time-worn folk tune "The Riddle Song" ("I gave my love a cherry that had no stone", etc.)[1] Bluto then hands him a splintered piece and says "Sorry." This sight gag has been imitated on TV several times, most memorably by Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Bishop wrote and performed the "Animal House" Theme.

The highest-paid member of the cast was Donald Sutherland, who received $40,000 for his appearance. Sutherland's casting was essential for the movie being picked up by Universal, as Universal was reluctant to produce a picture with no stars, and Sutherland was one of the biggest stars of the 1970's. For two days' work on the picture, Sutherland was offered either a $40,000 flat fee or a percentage of the film's gross; assuming that the movie would be quickly forgotten, he opted for the flat fee, a decision which (by his own admission) has cost him millions. Perhaps it's fitting that in the theatrical version of the film, at one point he is shown from behind with his pants down.

Perhaps surprisingly, the censors allowed through a scene that clearly implies statutory rape, or at least the possibility of it. The writers wanted the mayor's daughter to be 17. They figured the studio would object, so the writers figured they would make her 13, and that the censors would then make them change it to 17. Harold Ramis said he was stunned that they didn't make them change it.

The film also inspired a short-lived half-hour television sitcom, Delta House, in which the late John Vernon reprised his role as the long-suffering, malevolent Dean Wormer. The series also starred Steven Furst as Flounder, Bruce McGill as D-Day and James Widdoes as Hoover. Tim Matheson said no thanks. The producers had the right to call the show "Animal House" but for some reason the network decided against it. Michelle Pfeiffer made her acting debut in the series.

Dee Snider, lead singer of the heavy metal music group Twisted Sister, was so enamored of Mark Metcalf's performance as Neidermeyer that he had the actor perform a similar role in the music videos to two of Twisted Sister's songs, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock."

The role of D-Day was based on Dan Aykroyd. Aykroyd was offered the part, but he was already committed to Saturday Night Live. That didn't stop Belushi from playing "Bluto." Belushi was also on SNL. However, D-Day's playing the William Tell Overture on his windpipe, was a special talent of Bruce McGill's.

In the motion picture Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), an American GI, lost in a Vietnamese jungle, tells his fellow soldiers "We shouldn't have killed Lieutenant Neidermeyer!", an allusion to the epilogue of Animal House.

National Hockey League players (and brothers) Scott Niedermayer and Rob Niedermayer have reported that hockey fans familiar with this movie will sometimes approach them in a (hopefully) joking way with one of the movie's famous lines: "Niedermeyer... DEAD!"

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Animal House the 19th greatest comedy film of all time.

The Futurama episode Mars University is a tribute to Animal House.

Harold Ramis has said that he pictured the day of the Homecoming Parade as the day President Kennedy was shot, even though the dates do not match. (And "Where were you in '62?" works better than "Where were ye in '63?")

The writers had written a sequel. It was set in 1967 (Summer of love), The Deltas were hippies, and had moved to San Francisco. Plans for the sequel died with John Belushi.

Director John Landis chose John Vernon as Deam Wormer after seeing him in the Clint Eastwood film "The Outlaw Josie Wales." Vernon also was in the Eastwood film "Dirty Harry."

The special edition DVD, released in 2004 and referred to as the "Double Secret Probation Edition", is particularly memorable. It features the members of the cast reprising their respective roles (those who are still alive; as you recall, Niedermeyer was killed in Viet Nam by his own troops). It also features John Vernon (in one of his last performances) as a now-retired, presumably mentally defunct Vernon Wormer, who still flies into a rage upon hearing anything about Delta Tau Chi.

Bloopers

Although the action takes place only sixteen years prior to the date the film was made, the intervening time span had seen a dramatic change in styles, technological development, politics and social attitudes. As a result, any anachronisms stand out sharply:

• In the parade scene, numerous extras sporting the long hair and bellbottoms characteristic of the late 1970s are visible among the spectators, as are several automobiles from that period.

• When hapless Delta pledge Pinto attempts to shoplift from a local grocery store, he meets the mayor's gum-smacking 13-year-old daughter, who is working the cash register and whom he later dates at his peril (see above). The cash register anachronistically features an LED (Light Emitting Diode) display. Interestingly, 1962 was the very year in which Nick Holonyak Jr. created the first practical visible-spectrum LED, but the technology did not come into everyday use until several years later.

• Similarly, while Boon and Katy are getting stoned at Professor Jennings' apartment, they sing "Hey, Paula", which was not released until 1963.

• At the party following the induction of Pinto and Flounder into the fraternity, the Delta frathouse jukebox plays the song "Louie, Louie" as performed by The Kingsmen, which would in turn become integral to countless parties staged by U.S. college students seeking to emulate Animal House. However, The Kingsmen didn't record their version of the song until April 1963.

• Flounder's Lincoln Continental, which the boys eventually convert into the "Deathmobile," was actually a 1964 model, although the "suicide doors" were typical of that period.

• When actress Karen Allen is shown in a kitchen, she passes a refrigerator decorated with a sticker from the Bicentennial—fourteen years in the future, but two years before the film was actually produced.

• Donald Sutherland sports a large, curly hairstyle that was indicative of the late 1970s, but was not worn by men in the early 1960s.

• During Dave Jenning's (Sutherland's) lecture on "Paradise Lost", he writes the word "Satan" on the chalkboard. The word moves from cut to cut.

• When everything is being confiscated from the Delta House, the fraternity letters Delta Tau Chi (On the front of the house) change to Delta Chi Tau.

Famous quotes

• Tagline: It was the Deltas against the rules...the rules lost.

• Wormer: Every Halloween the trees are full of underwear...every spring, the toilets explode.

• Boon: They can't do that to our pledges. Only we can do that to our pledges.

• Katy: Boon, is this what you're going to do for the rest of your life?
  Boon: What do you mean?
  Katy: I mean getting drunk every weekend and hanging around with a bunch of animals.
  Boon: No. When I graduate, I'm going to get drunk every night!

• Boon: It's not gonna be an orgy. It's a toga party!

• The Deltas: Toga! Toga! Toga! Toga!

• Mrs. Wormer: People are sensual....Vegetables are sensuous.

• Boon: Wait'll Otis sees us! He loves us!

• Otter: We are gonna die.
  Pinto: (adding) Boon, we're the only white people here!

• Boon: We were just...Leaving! What a good idea!

• Niedermeyer: A pledge pin?! On your uniform?!

• Otter: Face it, Flounder. You didn't throw up in front of Dean Wormer, you threw up on Dean Wormer.

• Babs: (to Marmalard) Greg, honey, is it supposed to be this soft?

• Bluto: I'm a zit! Get it?!

• Marmalard: But Delta's already on probation.
  Dean Wormer: They are? Well, as of this moment, they're on Double Secret Probation!

• Dean Wormer: (to Flounder) Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

• Wormer: (to Bluto) Mr. Blutarsky...zero...point...zero.

• Bluto: They took the bar! The whole fucking bar!
  Hoover: They took everything, even the stuff we didn't steal!

• Bluto: Christ. Seven years of college down the drain. Might as well join the fuckin' Peace Corps.

• Otter: (to Flounder) Hey! You fucked up! You trusted us!

• Bluto: (to Flounder) My advice to you... is to start drinking heavily.

• Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is!
  Was it over when the...Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? HELL NO!
  Otter: Germans?
  Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

• Bluto: Just kiss my ass from now on! I'm not gonna take this! As far as I'm concerned... Wormer... He's a dead man! Marmalard... Dead! Neidermeier...
  Otter: DEAD!

• Wormer: I hate those guys.

• Katie: I'm in love with a retard.
  Boon: Is he bigger than me?

Whatever Happened to The Class of '63?

(As listed before the closing credits)

• Eric Stratton - Gynecologist, Beverly Hills, CA
• Robert Hoover - Public Defender, Baltimore, MD
• Boon & Katy - Married, 1964; Divorced 1969
• Barbara Sue Jansen - "Babs" - Universal Studios Tour Guide
• Greg Marmalard - Nixon White House Aide - Raped in prison, 1971
• Douglas C. Niedermeyer - Shot by his own troops in Viet Nam, 1969
• Daniel Simpson Day - Present Whereabouts Unknown
• Sen. and Mrs. John Blutarski, Washington, D.C.

And Their Pledges

• Kent Dorfman - Sensitivity Trainer, Cleveland, OH
• Larry Kroeger - Editor, National Lampoon

Ask For Babs

After the closing credits, a card appears advertising the Universal Studios tour. To correlate with the film, it reads, "When in Hollywood, visit Universal Studios. (Ask for Babs.)"

Some later Landis films, such as The Blues Brothers also carried this tagline in their theatrical releases, partially as an inside joke and reportedly for a promotion that the studio tour offered for awhile.

External links

• Official site
• National Lampoon's Animal House at IMDb
• Interview (MP3) with John Belushi biographer Tanner Colby and widow Judith Belushi Pisano on the public radio program The Sound of Young America regarding their book, "Belushi." Includes clips from Belushi's work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.
• Trivia about the film, and not a word about Leo Strauss