User reviews

Back to School (1986) was a surprise hit for stand up comedian actor Rodeny Dangerfield. After making a big impression with audiences with his spot in the golf comedy Caddyshack and a lead role in Easy Money, his star was slowly rising. But it was this film that cemented his spot in American pop culture as a true icon of the 80's and a transition star.

Rodney stars as Thorton Melon (nee Meloni) a successful entrepreneur who had to drop out of school when he was younger to take care of the family business. Years later his son is in college but feel dissatisfied with life in general. After a series of comical events, Mr. Melon decides to visit his son's exclusive university to see how he's really doing. Along the way he decides to give book learning a try.

A very enjoyable film. Rodney Dangerfield made the transaction from a stand-up act to an actor. The director wisely let him improvise his dialog and work in some of his material into the movie. The cast features Sally Kellerman, Robert Downey Jr., Keith Gordon, Burt Young, Terry Farrell and guest star slots for Adrienne Barbeau and Ned Beatty.

Not a masterpiece by any means but an enjoyable film none the less. Recommended, especially on a slow Sunday afternoon.

This in many ways is the best Dangerfield film. Harold Ramis is genius in working in a lot of Dangerfield quips into the script. The movie flows well, and the supporting cast is appropriate & stronger than any of Rodney's other films.

Sally Kellerman is in her best form since M*A*S*H as the English Professor who is Rodney's love interest. Robert Downey Jr. is cast perfectly as a character who resembles him in real life - a drugged out pacifist who protests campus life & all about it without knowing what message he is really sending. The actors who play straight men for Rodney from Dean Martin to the Business Professor are perfectly cast.

The late Sam Kinneson is perfect in his small role in this as the History Professor. Wish he could have done more work like this. If there any extra scenes of him cut in this film, it would be great if they could be restored.

Harold Ramis, who also did work ranging from GHOSTBUSTERS (trendy) to GROUND HOG DAY (classic), touches show in the script. He works Rodney's character in perfect & the plot shows some of the imagination that makes Bill Murrays classic comedy so great. He allows Rodney to be himself, but frames his character so well that he is a perfect a fit as the clothing store Mellon runs.

Special kudos to Mellon's son, as he plays straight very well to his dad. Weakest of the cast is the girlfriend, but she is not given quite enough script to work with here so she makes do with what she has. At least she does OK with it.

All the characters show a lot of class & this film is a fine comedy from start to finish.

Self-made millionaire Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) enrolls in college to help his son (Keith Gordon), who's having trouble fitting in. Doesn't take long before Thornton is the big man on campus, which doesn't sit well with everybody. Very funny comedy that never gets old. The cast is wonderful. Rodney Dangerfield is hilarious and his one-liners come one after the other. His best starring role, for sure. Sam Kinison is a riot. Loved every scene he was in. A young Robert Downey, Jr. is also lots of fun. Not for those who overthink their movies. This is for people who like to have fun and laugh. They got Kurt Vonnegut to appear in this! How cool is that? An '80s classic you have to see.

Rodney Dangerfield's best film and finest hour (or 2)... He plays a crass self-made millionaire whose son is away at college. After divorcing the second wife--a shrew (Adrienne Barbeau)--he drops in on the kid (Keith Gordon) to discover the kid is not if a fraternity or on the diving team. The kid wants to drop out so Rodney decides to go BACK TO SCHOOL to encourage the kid. Great premise.

Of course Rodney becomes a free-spending, beer-swilling college frosh to the delight of the student body and school administration. Rodney spews and almost unending barrage of jokes and one-liners and is hysterically funny. But beyond the crass character, this is one time when Dangerfield also shows some acting chops and some sweetness to his character. And it works! Top supporting cast helps out a lot too. Sally Kellerman is the English prof. Paxton Whitehead is the snotty business teacher. Robert Downey is the bizarro roomie. Ned Beatty plays Dean Martin. William Zabka is the obnoxious rival. Terry Farrell is the too-tall girl friend. Burt Young plays Lou the bodyguard. Edie McClurg is the secretary. Sam Kinison is the shell-shocked history prof. Severn Darden is the lab guy. M. Emmett Walsh is the diving coach. Jason Hervey is Dangerfield as a kid. And Danny Elfman appears as his Oingo Boingo self and scored the film.

The diving finale is hysterically funny and the perfect ending for this sweet and funny movie.

Rodney Dangerfield (RIP) has got a specific and recognizable sense of humor. Some like it , some not . I happen to like it , so I also liked "Back to school" . The whole movie is basically Dangerfield's tour de force . He's almost constantly making a snappy comments or fun jokes. He's rarely not on the screen. This doesn't mean the movie not offers him support.

Sam Kinison is fun as professor Terguson history teacher . The first lesson of history of America is HILARIOUS . I was crying from laughter. I wish they give him more screen time. I was surprised by appearance of young Robert Downey Jr. as Derek . He's quite a colorful character with his weird clothes , hairstyles and beliefs. I also loved Burt Young (Paulie from "Rocky") as Lou - Thornton's driver and best friend. His strong and street wise.

Paxton Whitehead (Philip Barbay) makes for a nice snobbish economy teacher. Keith Gordon is likable as shy Jason Melon – Dangerfield's son. Sally Kellerman (Diane) and Terry Farell (Valerie) are both lovely ladies. M. Emmett Walsh plays coach Turnbull . William Zabka (the bully from "Karate kid") once again plays bully (Chas). There is also special guest appearance, but I won't spoil the surprise.

There are some great songs here : Jude Cole "Back to school" , Oingo Boingo "Dead man's party" , Aretha Franklin "Respect" and Rodney Dangerfield's version of "Twist and shout" .

Harold Ramis ("Groundhog day" , "National lampoons vacation" , "Ghostbusters") is one of the writers . He and Dangerfield worked earlier together in "Caddyshack" . There is even a picture from "Caddyshack" in the opening credits of the movie.

This is Dangerfield's best movie from the 80's and best overall. It's one of best 80's comedies. It was one of the first comedies to earn 100 millions worldwide . That tells you something. Oh , and don't forget about the famous jump at the pool.

I give it 7/10.

I was watching on VH1 I love the 80's and Back to School got a mention, I remember seeing it in my mother's VHS collection and I recently saw Easy Money, it was my first Rodney Dangerfield movie and I absolutely loved it. So I decided to go ahead and give Back to School a chance. I really had a good time watching it, I just miss comedies like this where it was dirty or over the top, it was just plain fun to watch and you have a good time viewing the film. Rodney is such a lovable goof and he always makes it look like he and the cast enjoy making these comedies. The story is so crazy, but so hilarious that it makes you wanna go back to school with Rodney and just have a good time with him and his son.

Thornton Melon's father made one thing clear to him at a young age, no matter how old, young, poor, rich you are, education is one of the most important things in life. Well, Thornton has grown into a successful clothes store owner and is very rich and powerful. But when his son, Jason, is discouraged with college, Thornton goes back to school to help encourage his son to get through it. While for Jason it's all studies and trying to fit in, it's all fun and games for Thornton and he's having the time of his life while being the big man on campus.

Back To School is a great comedy that I highly recommend, it's all in good fun and Rodney is just such a great comedian. I just loved it when he was going to the college to visit his son and he accidentally enters the sorority house and walks in on a girl showering and says "Oh, don't worry, you're perfect", lol, I just couldn't stop laughing. Also I loved Keith Gordon in the film, I can't believe this guy didn't make it big in acting, but he just does such a terrific job keeping up with Rodney. Back to School is a fun film and I'm sure you'll have a good time watching it.

7/10

Rodney Dangerfield made this movie with his hilarious one liners. I still find myself quoting many of these lines which he delivers beautifully throughout the movie. The more you watch it the funnier it gets, and I'll be watching it for a few more decades yet.

Back To School is where Rodney Dangerfield is going. Heeding the advice of his father who said that no matter how successful you are, you are not a well rounded person without some education. Wish his dad was running the Department Of Education today. Dangerfield who is a multi-millionaire tycoon in the clothing business knows that money talks and he gets it to speak volumes. It's called an endowment and Ned Beatty as Dean Martin admits him.

Dangerfield thinks it would be nice if he and his son Keith Gordon did the college thing together. But Keith resents dad just moving in and taking over. So does business teacher Paxton Whitehead. Whitehead is one of those who lives up to the motto, those who can't teach. Whitehead is also jealous that Dangerfield making time with English teacher Sally Kellerman.

In her own way Kellerman conveys the same message to him, but it sure is packaged better.

It's a Dangerfield production and all in the cast kind of play his straight men. Some of the others include Burt Young who knew Rodney way back when and is his chauffeur and general fixer of all things, Robert Downey, Jr., as Gordon's friend and roommate who is loving being part of a faster lifestyle and William Zabka, bad kid in the Karate Kid who makes life miserable for Gordon.

Two small but indelible roles are Sam Kinison as a most unorthodox history professor and Adrienne Barbeau who is brilliant as the cheating trophy wife of Dangerfield. How he handles her is priceless.

A must for Rodney Dangerfield fans.

In what might be the apex of Rodney Dangerfield's career, he plays boorish millionaire Thornton Melon, finally attending college. The movie is really an excuse for Dangerfield to be a complete goof-off, containing every silly thing imaginable. Possibly the best line is Thornton's comment about Longfellow.

As for the other characters, Keith Gordon does OK as Thornton's son Jason, but Robert Downey Jr. is even neater as Jason's ultra-left-wing friend Derek, who even has a theory about the fascism of football. Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, M. Emmet Walsh, Adrienne Barbeau, Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison and Robert Picardo are all pretty good in their roles (there's even an appearance by Kurt Vonnegut). It's just that this is Rodney Dangerfield's movie all the way. I think that it's quite safe to assert that the Man Who Got No Respect will truly be missed.

A hilarious movie.

A very funny film. Classic Rodney Dangerfield's one-liners mixed with some fun skits. The movie is awfully devoid of any plot, or semblance to reality to college life, but this doesn't detract from its overall crazyness. The thing that impresses the most here is Rodney's fast one-liners; not as crazy as Groucho's ones, but equally sarcastic and maddening.

"And remember: the best thing about our kids... is making 'em!"

I don't think that Rodney Dangerfield is funny all the time, but in this comedy he delivers perfectly. He fits perfectly it the role of a rich, successful businessman who starts college to achieve a certificate, which he doesn't have. The way he does this in his own, relaxing and laid back-style is great and really funny. A very cool plot indeed, that's for sure. The movie is full of great fun and has many exciting moments in it, so I suggest that everyone check this out for themselves to experience that. The last scene on the diving board is especially great. Totally hilarious, and I laughed all the way through it.

The late Rodney Dangerfield was a stand-up comic full of one liners, a latter day Henny Youngman. ("Take my wife -- please.") He's worked some amusing wisecracks into this movie too.

Dangerfield is the wealthy businessman whose son isn't doing well in school, and Dangerfield decides to enroll and help him through. The filming was done at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

It has its amusing moments. When an assignment involves doing an essay on Karl Vonnegut, Dangerfield hires Vonnegut to write the paper for him. But it isn't as keen as it might be, for a couple of reasons.

It's not a pure comedy like, oh, "One, Two, Three", "The In Laws", or "The Freshman." The narrative follows the well-worn path of introducing misunderstanding towards the end, followed by a triumphant celebration of the conflict's resolution.

That's pretty dreary, and another problem is that Rodney Dangerfield is a stand-up comic, not an actor. He delivers his lines with a high quotient of bluster, as if addressing a night club audience. Whether the lines are supposed to be serious or funny makes no difference.

Oddly enough, since it looks like a family movie, Dangerfield comes up with some risqué jokes. In a Jacuzzi with a couple of bimbos he makes a remark about his class in English literature and expresses the hope that they can help him out with his Longfellow.

Nobody else puts in a notable performance. How could they? Yet Terry Farrell as the nearly edible girl friend of Dangerfield's son is memorable. She hardly has anything to do, so I wonder why. I'm pondering it, I'm pondering it.

A funny post-Animal House college film with a pretty distinguished cast. In addition to Dangerfield, who is terrific as usual, we also get to see Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Ned Beatty, and an introduction to the brilliance of Robert Downey Jr. who is unforgettable as Derek Lutz. Although the movie is silly, lacking any convincing realism or plot, it is nontheless wonderful fun...especially if you are a Dangerfield fan. His rendition of "Twist and Shout" is a classic. And the scene at registration where his chauffeur Lou, played by the redoubtable Young, is priceless when he holds up a sign by the limo with Bruce Springstein's name on it and all the students rush out to mob the car while Dangerfield, his son, his son's love interest, and Lutz have the pick of classes.

Generally good viewing when you want a brainless, fun night.

In New York, Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) is a wealthy but uneducated self-made businessman. When he divorces his unfaithful second wife Vanessa (Adrienne Barbeau), he decides to visit his son Jason Melon (Keith Gordon) with his driver Lou (Burt Young) at the campus of the university. He finds Jason without motivation to continue his academic life and without any friend but his outcast roommate Derek Lutz (Robert Downey Jr.). Thornton decides to join the university to change the life of his son and he learns that education cannot be bought.

"Back to School" is a comedy tailored for fans of Roger Dangerfield. There are good jokes but Roger Dangerfield is a sort of superman capable of anything. However the cast is great and there is at least a good message in the end. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Volta às Aulas" ("Back to Classes")

What I liked: +Amazing opening! Not only does it establish and juxtapose the rest of the film, but it exerts a nostalgic, photographic, black and white style not seen for the rest of the film. Although it's disappointing that the director didn't keep the creative mojo up, this single sequence still shows his inventiveness and feels purely his own.

+The cast is full of colorful characters! Some with limited screen time still make their character quirks come out, striking it as memorable. These characters are entertaining to watch, and it's through their performance that they actually feel even plausible. This adds sincerity to these roles, where at times they seem to lack on the page.

+The cast works well off each other. With each character comes a sense of predictability (I say this in a good way), making us savor and expect each response. Each response then feels like a situation that deserves our attention.

+Rodney Dangerfield is charming! Maybe it's his happy go lucky attitude or the fact that he's actually a nice guy with intentions, but he's just really likable and fun to watch. It makes the whole film all the easier to laugh at.

+This is a film with respect for it's style. Yes, it's over the top, but it's consistent with that. They give each emotion the right amount of sensitivity. With each joke they always fit it into the context of the story, feeling true throughout.

What I disliked: -There are some dumb plot points. They never truly feel representative of real people, which sucks since the film is full of interesting people who could use depth. Still, it established the plot fast and doesn't hinder the entertainment value too much.

-A couple of side characters whom held importance could have had more screen time and depth. This is evident with the son's girlfriend who is just a cliche.

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.

He may be brash, bombastic, crude and uneducated and doesn't get much respect--but RODNEY DANGERFIELD gets just about all the laughs in this travesty of college life in the '80s. He's seen to it that it's full of memorable one-liners that are just as sassy as any he uses in his stand-up nightclub act.

And he's surrounded himself with a cast that really gets into the spirit of things. SALLY KELLERMAN is the vivacious English professor that soon becomes the love of his life; ADRIENNE BARBEAU is his shrewish ex-wife; KEITH GORDON is the son who is not exactly Big Man on the Campus; and ROBERT DOWNEY, JR. is the kind of left-wing activist you can find on any college campus, making the most of a role that he could play in his sleep. For subtlety, if there is any, there's a Dean Martin (NED BEATTY) who allows the uneducated Dangerfield to enter the halls of ivy merely because he's got a pocket full of cash and wants to splurge it on the school's administration, good philanthropist that he is.

It's strictly a funfest for RODNEY DANGERFIELD fans -- of which there are many, judging from the comments here -- but it's an enjoyable romp that has some telling truths to say about a variety of college subjects, all the while injecting its own brand of wild humor on every situation. Clever writing makes it all very enjoyable.

"Back to School" is a cherished member of my VHS collection not only because of the late but inimitably immortal Rodney Dangerfield and his outrageous persona, but also because of its laceration of a favorite satiric target - college. "Back to School" came out in 1986 -a year after I graduated from Tufts University- and it nearly perfectly encapsulates (if slightly exaggerates) and skewers college life during the heedlessly hedonistic and materialistic '80s.

At first Thorton Melon (Rodney's character in the movie) seemingly has two altruistic motives for applying to college: 1) personal improvement, and 2) desire to help his only son Jason (Kevin Gordon) succeed, especially when Thorton discovers that Jason is not exactly the epitome of the BMOC. However, once he essentially bribes his way into college by convincing the venally avaricious Dean Martin (he, he) to let him endow the Thorton Melon school of Business Administration, high school dropout Thorton apparently has it made. One might argue that this scenario is implausible, but given universities' rapacity for more cash, I could believe they would bend the rules to let wealthy Thorton in.

Thorton then proceeds to embody every college student's wet dream - to be the perpetually fun-loving slacker who has the dough to show himself and others an endless good time and buy himself out of any trouble! Again, philistine critics may argue that no college would tolerate Thorton's party-boy person; wouldn't the cops arrest him for the voyeuristic dormitory scene or the out-of-control party scene, instead of reprimanding him or bringing Lite beer (remember Rodney was one of the shills for Lite)? However, "Back to School"'s college satire necessarily must employ a little hyperbole to get its point across.

For example, in the classroom scenes with the history professor (the late Sam Kinison) and the business instructor (Paxton Whitehead), the movie does also go a little over the top but also tweaks college for its well-meaning but unrealistically theoretical approach (i.e. head up its a$$ approach) to working and life. Yeah, especially Thornton's take on the corruption and shady dealing it would really take to start a business really do have a germ of truth. Also, the way Thorton "prepares" for his classes -his secretary takes notes for him in class and his research team does his reports and homework- is off the wall but also possesses scientific veracity. I'm sure at Tufts and other colleges, some students never went to class and got others to take notes and do reports. However, (and this is one of my favorite scenes from the movie) only Thornton would heft a report created by his research team and crack, "I dunno; it feels like a "C"; add some more multicolored graphs"." And of course only Thornton would hire Kurt Vonnegut to appraise his own work.

Nevertheless, "Back to School" lets Rodney collide with harsh, poignant reality without sacrificing laughs. Thornton is failing his classes; even the professor most sympathetic to him (Sally Kellerman) suspects him of plagiarism. His son Jason angrily refuses to let Thornton's think tank do his astronomy work. Thornton will be expelled unless he passes a multi-part oral exam (!) by all of his course professors. After a pep talk from Thornton's chauffeur (Burt Young) about Thornton's "School of Hard Knocks" life, Jason realizes that just as his dad came to school to show him how to loosen up and enjoy life, he must show his dad how to handle college responsibilities. And isn't that what college is all about - balancing responsibility and fun to have a meaningfully productive experience?

Therefore, "Back to School" is more than just an "Animal House" retread. It uses Rodney's older, wry perspective (and those priceless one-liners) to point out both the absurdity and importance of college life. Heck, I would even recommend high school seniors applying to colleges to give "Back to School" a look if only to show them (with a grain of salt, of course) that while college is a worthwhile experience, it's also a unique, unfamiliar world all its own.

P.S.: I would advise Cedric the Entertainer to abandon his 2006 remake of "Back to School" as an ill-advised travesty.

Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) disobeyed his father about school but still became a big rich success as the owner of Big and Tall stores. He can't stand his high maintenance cheating wive. When he visits his son Jason (Keith Gordon), he finds that Jason isn't the big man on campus like he assumed. Jason wants to quit college. Now Thornton must enroll in school to keep Jason from quitting.

It's great to see Robert Downey Jr as Jason's wacky manic best friend. Sally Kellerman is Thornton's love interest. Burt Young is Thornton's body man. Terry Farrell is Jason's object of desire. Keith Gordon is great as the lead. Rodney Dangerfield is his lovable self. This movie is driven by his immense charm. There's a lot of it around and that's what saves this movie.

You know how after eating at a Chinese buffet, no matter how much you eat you never get full? That's how I felt after watching this movie. There should have been more.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want the movie to be longer - I want more jokes. This was a comedy, right? I think jokes are an important part of comedy.

I have seen episodes of Lost with more comedic relief than this movie.

I've seen Youtube videos that were better than this.

It's hard to believe that such a talented writer as Harold Ramis of Caddyshack and National Lampoon's Vacation could have hatched this bad egg out of his mindgrapes.

This would have been a great movie in Fantasyland.

This is as classic (though campy) as Rodney gets. I just had to comment ahead of time that any remake of this, especially one involving Cedric the Entertainer, cannot possibly live up to the original.

I'm really tired of Hollywood trying to win over the hip-hoppy, shallow culture by instilling Cedrick the Entertainer in this remake-to-be when the original was done by a classic entertainer. What's next...a remake of Animal House with P-Diddy as Bluto (or whatever he calls himself these days)? Rodney is already turning over in his grave knowing how bad the remake is going to be. Somewhere up there I hope he can convince God to strike the set with thunderous bolts of lightning and 14 inch hailstones. Can't Hollywood leave well enough alone? Rodney, now that you're dead....they give you even less respect!

Cool, funny show with the always zany Rodney D. throwing campus parties, p***ing off the professors, and doing no studying. A total spoof on the way academia should never, ever be. Sam Kinison was in fine form with his signature scream.

1st watched 1/6/2007 - 3 out of 10(Dir-Alan Metter): Mostly un-funny attempt by Rodney Dangerfield to carry a movie with his bad jokes, bad taste but somewhat charming elderly man trying to do things the way he knows how film. The movie tries to pull off the fact that he has a good heart in the end which pulls the movie up a little bit but not enough for me to recommend it. This is basically the story of a man who's made it in life the hard way without even a high school diploma but decides to follow in his kid's footsteps and tries to attend college himself to help his boy's attitude after he hands divorce papers to his second wife. He starts out doing it the way he knows how -- by buying people and getting others to do the hard work but is caught by the college authorities and has to shape up. Dangerfield & a young Robert Downey Jr. are good for a couple of laughs but that's about it, so it was a nice try but this comic can't carry an entire movie with his schtick, and the basic boy meets girl premises added into the mix for both himself and his son doesn't help the movie much either.