Back to School

For the event in the marketing cycle, see Back-to-school. For the Deftones single, see Back To School (Mini Maggit)

Back to School
Back to School theatrical poster.
Directed by	Alan Metter
Written by	Steven Kampmann William Porter Peter Torokvei Harold Ramis
Produced by	Chuck Russell
Starring	Rodney Dangerfield Sally Kellerman Burt Young Keith Gordon Ned Beatty William Zabka Sam Kinison Robert Downey, Jr. Paxton Whitehead
Cinematography	Thomas E. Ackerman
Edited by	David Rawlins
Music by	Danny Elfman
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release dates	June 13, 1986
Running time	96 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Back to School is a 1986 movie starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, William Zabka, Sam Kinison, and Robert Downey, Jr. The plot centers on a wealthy but uneducated father (Dangerfield) who goes to college to show solidarity with his troubled son (Gordon) and learns that he can not buy his education.

Author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. has a cameo as himself, as does the band Oingo Boingo.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison was used as a backdrop for the movie, although it was called the fictional "Grand Lakes University."

Cast

• Rodney Dangerfield as Thornton Melon
• Sally Kellerman as Dr. Diane Turner
• Burt Young as Lou
• Keith Gordon as Jason Melon
• Robert Downey, Jr. as Derek
• Paxton Whitehead as Dr. Phillip Barbay
• Terry Farrell as Valerie Desmond
• M. Emmet Walsh as Coach Turnbull
• Adrienne Barbeau as Vanessa
• William Zabka as Chas
• Ned Beatty as Dean Martin

Trivia

• Most of the outdoor scenes at the college were shot on location at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The swim stadium scenes were filmed at the Industry swimming complex at the Industry Hills Sheraton and Country Club in the City of Industry, about 25 miles southeast of Hollywood, California. Some additional scenes were filmed at California State University, Los Angeles, California.
• Dangerfield always looked out for younger comedic talents. He was a big proponent for Sam Kinison's part as a crazed professor in Back to School (They also considered Jim Carey, but he was too young. Later when Chuck Russell (Producer) got the chance to direct 1994's the Mask, he was finally able to use Jim Carrey. This transformed the Mask from a "very dark Horror film" to a comedy.
• Alice Cooper's song "The Great American Success Story" was apparently intended to be the theme song. Its lyrics summarize the plot and include Dangerfield's signature quip "he don't get no respect", and the chorus contains the title phrase. The song was not used in the film, and there is no mention of the connection in the liner notes of the album.
• One of the last shots in the opening montage is of Rodney Dangerfield golfing. This was taken directly from his second film, Caddyshack.
• Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey, Jr and Edie McClurg would later all appear in the film Natural Born Killers.
• In the original script, Dangerfield's character was poor. Harold Ramis suggested that it be changed to make him rich.
• The room in which Thornton Mellon takes his three-hour oral exam is the same room in which Alex Owens makes her successful dance audition in Flashdance.
• The song playing at Chaz's fraternity party (before the girls abandon it for Melon's) is "Everybody's Crazy", a song from Michael Bolton's days as a metal singer.
• Due to Dangerfield's contractual obligations with the Miller Brewing Company and his appearances in Miller Lite beer commercials at the time, only Miller beer was allowed to be shown in certain scenes (including when Dangerfield goes to get a beer out of the refrigerator during the party at his house and during the large party at the college when the police arrive with extra beer).
• Although Ned Beatty's character is called "Dean Martin" throughout the movie (he is the dean of the school), his actual name is identified only once as David.
• The nickname of the Grand Lakes University swim team is called "Hooters"
• A menu item at the Tex-Mex restaurant Moe's Southwest Grill is called "The Triple Lindy" in honor of the dive Mellon did.
• Kurt Vonnegut appeared in his own cameo scene. Vonnegut played himself in a brilliant cameo in 1986's Back To School, in which he is hired by Rodney Dangerfield's Thornton Melon to write a paper on the topic of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. Recognizing the work as not Melon's own, Professor Turner tells him, "Whoever did write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut."

Soundtrack

Untitled

The soundtrack is no longer available through media outlets, and was only released in LP format.

Track listing

1. Back to School (Jude Cole)
2. Educated Girl (Bobby Caldwell
3. Learnin' and Livin' (Tyson & Schwartz)
4. Everybody's Crazy (Michael Bolton)
5. I'll Never Forget Your Face (Philip Ingram)
6. Twist and Shout (Rodney Dangerfield)
7. Dead Man's Party (Oingo Boingo)
8. On My Way (Tyson & Schwartz)
9. Respect (Aretha Franklin)

External links

• Back to School at IMDb