A different feeling sunk in as I watched ANIMAL HOUSE more than 10 years after I first saw it in college. Then I found it full of pointless debauchery and foolishness. However, now, I felt a tinge of nostalgia. Not for myself, but for a time and place. Many raunchy college party films have come after this one, trying to up the ante, but none have the dry satire underneath.
Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce, AMADEUS) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst, TV's BABYLON 5) are looking to pledge a fraternity. At first they go to the Omega Theta Pi house, where the brothers and their cookie cutter Southern prom queen girlfriends have no time for a fat kid and a geek. Kent convinces Larry to go the Delta Tau Chi house, where his father was a member. As a legacy, they have to take him. Larry is reluctant because it's the notorious party house where drinking is a sport. But Delta House is really a band of misfits and the freshman take to being part of a group instantly.
There is a rivalry going on between the Omegas and Delta House. Delta's lead partiers Eric "Otter" Stratton (Tim Matheson, FLETCH), with his perfect seduction pad, and Donald "Boon" Schoenstein (Peter Riegert, LOCAL HERO) find great pleasure in sticking it to the pompous Omega president Gregory Marmalard (James Daughton, SPIES LIKE US) and the intense ROTC bully Douglas C. Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf, ONE CRAZY SUMMER). As is standard with the college party flick, there's the angry dean. Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon, KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE) is determined to destroy Delta House and enlists Greg to help. In frustration with their blatant disregard for the rules while on probation, he makes up a double secret probation just to feel like they aren't making a complete ass of him.
Part of the Delta's merry band of troublemakers are John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi, THE BLUES BROTHERS) and Daniel Simpson Day, aka D-Day (Bruce McGill, THE LOOKOUT). Bluto is that student. He's majoring in partying. His entire goal is to spread the gospel of eat, drink and be merry. Belushi is a comic genius and knows exactly how play the character for laughs without mugging the camera. The fact that the character is still believable in his excess is remarkable. D-Day is the resident gear head and the master of the prank. In a classic scene, Bluto and D-Day help Kent seek revenge on Neidermeyer by stealing his horse and putting it in the dean's office. The gag pays dividends for quite some time. And then there is Delta president Robert Hoover (James Widdoes) who tries to keep some semblance of sanity, but often succumbs to the carefree atmosphere in the end. His efforts to slow down his fellow frat brothers is about as effective as a man asking the clouds to stop raining.
For the most part the film is made up of a series of sketches that capture the classic college experiences from pranks to parties to drug experimentation to nicknames to road trips. Delta House represents pure anarchy against the rigid system of Faber College and Omega House. Underneath all its debauchery, the film is a cry against conformity and hypocrisy. They stick it to the man real good too.
But the film also keeps the Delta's behavior in check. Katy (Karen Allen, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK) has had enough of Boon's partying ways. She's come to college to learn and experience new enlightening things. What a novel concept. She represents another side of college that's a balance between Delta and Omega. She is a practical middle ground that keeps the entire film grounded.
Through all the craziness, the film never goes too far. Director John Landis and writers Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller understand that great satire is often created by showing reality but only at a slightly skewed angle. None of the gags bend reality too much. Well at least not until the end, but that's what makes the end so much fun. How else could you end this film other than total anarchy?
This film launched the college flick and raunchy comedy subgenres. There would be no PORKY'S or POLICE ACADEMY or OLD SCHOOL if there were no ANIMAL HOUSE. Now with the perspective of age, and removal of a pretentious stick lodged… well you get the point… I see what I've been missing. The film isn't what so many drunken college students want it to be – a justification for excessive partying. ANIMAL HOUSE simply reflected what was happening at colleges. For the 1970s, it was a cultural statement as well. Too many of its imitators see its shallow side as the point, making them only futile expressions in the end. This film's futile expression is what makes it brilliant.
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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
