National Lampoon's Animal House an outrageous, raunchy, screwball college comedy, which was filmed in Spherical 35mm mono with a 1:85:1 aspect ratio, takes place in 1962, "the twilight of fun
time in college." according to one of its writers. The story, set at Faber College, a small northeastern campus, follows the
hilarious, off-the-wall adventures of the "animal house" fraternity. Universal had high hopes for the film due to the cast, especially John Belushi, who was extremely popular due to Saturday Night Live. But they were still unsure of his boxoffice power, so they allowed only a $3 million budget. The film would go on to earn $151 million and become the highest grossing comedy of all time. Overseas boxoffice was also far more than expected. The film was released on July 27, 1978 in New York, where it had its premiere, and the next day across the country. In some theaters, the film would play for months, and in small towns, in which a film usually played a week or two, it wasn't unusual to see four to six week runs. Today, the film still ranks on many lists as one of the best comedies ever made.
National Lampoon Magazine
Matty Simmons, co-producer was the chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Twenty First
Century Communications, the parent publishing company that founded the National Lampoon in 1970.
In addition to his executive responsibilities, Simmons has produced or co-produced the National Lampoon's three hit stage
shows. He had also supervised the production of two successful radio series and six popular record albums (which earned
three Grammy nominations). National Lampoon's Animal House marked the entry
into films of the National Lampoon the most widely-read adult humor magazine in the world at the time and consistently
among the top three magazines read on college campuses in the U.S. and Canada.
The Lampoon has also received more than 900 art and editorial awards, including Columbia University's prestigious National
Magazine Award in 1975. In 1975, the magazine also received the annual European Cartoonists Annual Award. In 1978, the Art
Director's League of America named a Lampoon cover as the best magazine cover of all time! The winning cover was a picture of
a dog with a gun at his head. The legend underneath the picture read: "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll shoot this dog!" (see picture below, 5th row, 2nd issue down).
Marilyn Arrives in Reno for filming
The Lampoon's three successful forays into the world of the theater include "Lemmings," which opened off-Broadway in 1973;
"The National Lampoon Show," which opened off-Broadway in 1976 and toured nationally for a year, and "That's Not Funny,
That's Sick!," which toured in 1977.
On another front, The National Lampoon has earned Grammy nominations for three of its five "record albums. It's album,
"That's Not Funny, That's Sick!," was released in October 1977.
"The National Lampoon Radio Hour" was the most listened-to radio show in America until it was discontinued in 1975 only
because of the energy drain on the writers. A new show, "The National Lampoon True Facts Hour," a news feature inspired by
the magazine's "True Facts" column, started in October, 1977, on over 250 stations.
Assorted covers of the National Lampoon magazine, left click to enlarge
Director John Landis' third feature film, National Lampoon's Animal House marked the 27-year-old filmmakers entry into the
major studios.
The movie also marked the major studio film debuts of producers Matty Simmons and Ivan Reitman.
The original screenplay is by National Lampoon humorists Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney & Chris Miller.
The initial inspiration for the film came from the Lampoon's immensely successful "High School Yearbook" edition and Chris
Miller's popular Lampoon stories, the "Tales of the Adelphian Lodge." In this volume, Miller provided many stories of the
lodge that were considered too racey at the time for Universal to film, so when a screenplay was written, sections had to be
removed and stories changed somewhat. What was considered too racy in the late 70's would probably be fine to film today.
Alternate French Poster
Japanese 1978 one sheet poster
Director Landis called the movie "sweet and funny a Seventies version of the kind of screwball comedy that used to be made
in the Thirties." The comic styles in the film range from social satire and sophisticated bedroom farce to broad gags and
pure slapstick.
Co-producer Simmons described the film as "nostalgic comedy, based on reality. In this movie, you will see people you
recognize, characters you went to school with." Indeed personal touches were added to reflect personal experiences in
college.
The production marked the eagerly-anticipated film debut of the National Lampoon magazine.
Simmons, the founding publisher, pointed out that " 'Animal House' is iconoclastic, but the humor is not 'sick.'"
Co-producer Reitman described the movie as "comedy for today's audience. The nostalgia in 'Animal House' is not the sugar-
coated variety. It is comically exaggerated, but based on things that really happened to many of us. We all did funny,
outrageous things when we went to school, and National Lampoon's Animal House contains many of these crazy adventures."
On set shot
Added co-writer Harold Ramis: "Most people wouldn't believe what actually went on in the fraternities of the Fifties and
Sixties. We had to fictionalize it to make it more believable. We included them all in this movie the wimps and the grinds,
the jocks and movers all the animals you went to school with."
The story, according to co-writer Chris Miller, is about "the free spirits of the Delta House vs. the corrupt dean and the
straight arrows of the Omega House guys who just want to have fun vs. guys who want to live strictly by the rules."
The theme of the film? Says Miller: "Fun is good."
Universal was busy working with promotional partners long before release
John Landis
As for how Animal House came about, Landis in an interview with Hollywood Reporter stated, "The script girl was Katherine Wooten on Kentucky Fried Movie and her boyfriend at the time was Sean Daniel, who was an executive at Universal. The script for National Lampoon's Animal House had been at Universal for a while. I think it's astonishing, but I learned they sent it out to people like Richard Lester, Sidney Pollack, John Schlesinger, and Mike Nichols, all of whom threw it back. And so Sean was saying to Katherine one night, "I don't know what we are going to do; we can't find anyone who is interested in this script," and she said, "Well give it to John Landis, he's funny." So Sean came to the cutting room and saw the movie, and it's because he saw the first cut of Kentucky Fried that I was considered."
Known for his comedic personality, John Landis, 1977
"It's amazing in retrospect and would never happen today, but Kentucky Fried came out and made a lot of money, but it hadn't come out yet, and they hired me. That's kind of amazing. So, I was originally hired to supervise a rewrite. The screenplay of National Lampoon's Animal House is brilliant, and it was written by Doug Kenney, Chris Miller, and Harold Ramis, three very smart guys. The problem for me with the script was it was wonderfully funny, but everyone in it was a pig (laughs). I said, "You must have good guys and bad guys. Everyone can't be a jerk." So I told them "We will have a good house, a house we sympathize with the Deltas, and then we'll have this uptight house, the Omegas." That was my major contribution to the script, I basically made good guys and bad guys, but we worked on it. It's their screenplay and they are brilliant, Doug Kenney especially, and I was amazed when we actually got to make the movie.
Original Lobby Cards
The Writers
To co-writer Douglas Kenney it was: "Better an animal than a vegetable."
Kenney, founding editor of the National Lampoon, said in an interview at the time of the film's release, "We're trying to get back to the best elements of the old comedies,
snappy dialog and literate screen writing ,with good, old-fashioned gags and stunts."
The story's time frame, the early Sixties, was a period when college campuses were still playgrounds, and not yet
battlegrounds. Lurking behind the silly behavior and the comical situations are the lengthening shadows of the draft, the
Vietnam war, the protests, the struggle for integration and other somber developments just down the historical road.
That is why Miller referred to 1962 as "the twilight of fun time in college."
The "animals" of "Animal House" are the last of the fun-slingers.
National Lampoon's Animal House is director John Landis' third feature film and marked his entry into the major studios at
age 27. He previously directed the hit "Anthology Comedy," "The Kentucky Fried Movie" and wrote and directed the monster
comedy, "Schlock," both independently-made features. Kentucky Fried Movie remains a cult classic comedy to this day.
Douglas Kennedy was born in Florida and attended Gilmour Academy in Ohio. His brother died at 29, which changed the course of his life. He attended Harvard University, he was a member of the Signet society, and edited the Harvard Lampoon, which, with the help of Henry Beard, a co-writer of the small publication, crated National Lampoon Magazine. Around the time of Animal House, he was abusing reporters in a drunken stupor, drove recklessly and was found to be using large amount of cocaine. He entered a deep depression. He died August 27, 1980, at age 33, only four years older than when his brother died.
Douglas Kenney
Douglas Kenney, dead at 34
Co-writer Chris Miller was later interviewed about the film. "I can tell you that all three writers worked on every word in the script in a group way and came up with a lot of jokes jointly. It was really a collaboration. Having said that, I have to admit that not much of the script was based on real incidents that happened at Darmouth. No horse in the Dean's Office, for example. But we did remember some of our own experiences. The Fawn Leibowitz incident is based on something a guy named Turnip did at Smith. The whole road trip/Dexter Lakes Club sequence definitely feels like my school days, unlike most of the movie, which is set in a generic [coed] college that is nothing like all-male, Ivy League, frozen-tundra Dartmouth. As for the characters, they too are group creations. We made them archetypes instead of individuals. Everyone has known an Otter, a Flounder, and a Bluto. So while some of the names are from DartmouthFlounder, Otter, Pintothey weren't necessarily like the actual guys. Otter wasn't awesomely handsomehe looked like an otter! Our Flounder was a Charles Laughton-like rich guy from Oklahoma, nothing like the Animal House one. Pinto is more like me, but I swear I was never that innocent. Or was I? Oh and I have to clear something up. When John Belushi chugs a bottle of Whiskey, it is colored tea. I can't tell you how many times people have asked me if that was real alcohol, which of course wouldn't be allowed on the set." Miller would go on to write a book about his experiences in college and about the film.
Chris Miller, Co-writer
One of the most famous publicity shots from the film
Producer
Ivan Reitman made his major studio film debut as co-producer of National Lampoon's Animal House. He co-produced the hit
Broadway and Canadian productions of The Magic Show. He also co-produced the hit off-Broadway company and year-long college
tour of the popular "National Lampoon Show."
Reitman also produced two successful horror films Rabidand They Came From Within and a hit suspense thriller, The
House by the Lake. He directed, as well as produced, the Canadian comedy Foxy Lady and the Canadian comedy-horror movie
Cannibal Girls. In addition to co-producing National Lampoon's Animal House, Reitman was also the executive producer of "Blackout," a
suspense film based on the great New York blackout, set for release in 1978.
John Belushi
Belushi was a charter member, three-season veteran of the popular Saturday Night Live television show's "Not Ready for Prime
Time Players." His first motion picture starring role was Animal House.
Prior to filming Belushi made his movie debut as a Mexican deputy sheriff in Goin' South,
co-starring
Jack Nicholson, who also directed.
In "Animal House," Belushi plays "Bluto," the most "animal"-like member of a rowdy fraternity on a small northeastern
campus, circa 1962. Since he is in his eighth year of college, Bluto is more than qualified to lead his brothers in their
energetic and relentless pursuit of fun, as well as in their frequent skirmishes with the smarmy members of the hot-shot frat
house next door and the outraged dean of students, whose most fervent wish is to tear their house down.
Director John Landis describes Belushi's characterization of Bluto as "a cross between Harpo Marx and the Cookie Monster."
Even though he d at the time a burgeoning movie career, Belushi did not look down at Saturday Night Liveas a mere stepping-
stone, nor did he consider TV a lower form of entertainment from which he graduated.
"I'm not abandoning TV or anything," he says. "I'll do films, TV or stage projects as long as they're good. I was offered
movies before Saturday Night Live, but nothing proposed was as exciting as that TV show. My real goal is finding a good
script and a good director, wherever they are."
John Belushi on the set
John Belushi publicity still
"Animal House," according to Belushi, "Is the best piece of work I've done." He relished the generous amount of time he had
to develop and perform his zany role. He says that TV is, by comparison, "wham, bam, thank you ma'am."
Belushi is a Second City revue alumnus, with a solid reputation for his improvisational work. Yet, he confessed, "I hate
improvisation. I prefer a solid script that's so good you don't have to make changes."
The National Lampoon's Animal House script, developed over a two-year period, was written-to-order for Belushi by National Lampoon humorists
Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney & Chris Miller.
On the set
John Belushi on break
In the course of the lively story, Belushi sings and dances at a wild toga party, sabotages the ROTC, lusts after the campus
beauty queen, starts a food-flinging riot in the school cafeteria, filches exam questions, peeps through the windows of a
sorority house, puts a horse in the dean's office, and rallies his frat brothers in their efforts to demolish the annual
homecoming parade.
The scenes were so funny to be in, Belushi reports, the cast and crew "broke up" so much during filming that additional
takes were often necessary, for that reason alone.
The film reunited Belushi with producer Matty Simmons, the publisher of the National Lampoon, and Ivan Reitman. He
starred in the Lampoon stage hit Lemmings and The National Lampoon Show, the latter co-produced by Reitman.
"Most actors want to be something else," Belushi observed. "It's tough enough just being a good actor. I'm happiest when I
have just one good thing to do.
"On 'Animal House,' he said, "I was in heaven."
French one sheet poster
Tim Matheson
We're college students we can do anything," Tim Matheson proudly boasted in the campus comedy. As Otter, the cool, hedonistic leader of a rowdy fraternity, circa 1962, Matheson leads his brothers in a series of wild adventures.
This cool, wry and unflappable character provided Matheson with a star-making variety of attitudes and
activities, from motel trysts and tongue-in-cheek speeches to sophisticated bedroom farce and colorful slapstick action.
In the course of the lively story, the "animals" sabotage the ROTC, fraternize with the dean's wife and the mayor's daughter,
throw a wild toga party, put a horse in the dean's office and demolish the gala annual homecoming parade.
Otter, the house's rush chairman, is a notorious stud determined to make the most of his college playtime. Yet, when a crisis
strikes, he assumes leadership of the trouble-prone group. Co-writer Douglas Kenney described Otter as a classical "make-out"
artist with "a strange gentleman's streak."
(l-r) James Widdoes andTim Matheson
Karen Allen
He speaks up for the "losers" in the house, talks back to the tyrannical dean, lobs golf balls off a bully's ROTC helmet
and defends the frat when it goes on trial as the result of the outrageous behavior of its members.
"He's not the chapter president, but he's the group's real leader," said Matheson on the set,
"He's not ambitious. He only steps in when things go too far."
When the frat has its charter revoked, Otter takes three pals on a "road trip" to a nearby girls' college. He cons his way into dates for all, ending up at a black cafe, where they find they are less than welcome.
"If he weren't a Delta," said Matheson, "Otter wouldn't be in a fraternity at all. The only group he would join would be a
gang of misfits like this, fun-loving guys who wouldn't have anything to do with a traditional fraternity."
Matheson himself spent just one semester in college "and hated it." He had already been acting professionally and didn't feel
he could get much from the classes, especially when their schedules made him unavailable for auditions. When he landed a role
in a TV pilot, he dropped out to concentrate on his flourishing career. He's one of those young veterans who developed his talent early on, in dozens of vehicles like Clint Eastwood's Magnum
Force and Universal's high school comedy, Almost Summer.
Matheson's starring role as the collegiate leader of the "animals" looks like the kind of rich, winning characterization that
helped him graduate to later movie roles.
Verna Bloom
"It's my first comedy part ever" exclaimed delighted Verna Bloom on the set about her starring role. "I have friends who are directors who tell me I'm the funniest woman in the world, but never give me a comedy role."
In "Animal House" Ms. Bloom finally gets to show her comic talent as Marion Wormer, wife of the stuffy dean of students at a
small northeastern campus, circa 1962.
Marion, said Ms. Bloom in a later interview, is "stuck in the rut of college life in a small town with a boring guy."
To relieve her boredom and frustration, she turns to drink and then to the Deltas, a notoriously rowdy fraternity.
The stifled woman is drawn to them, Ms. Bloom feels, because "they share a spirit of fun the Delta spirit. These guys are
totally outrageous."
Verna Bloom
Shopping for vegetables in her mink, she meets Otter, the house's No. 1 stud, played by Tim Matheson. Ms. Bloom calls him "a
charming guy who comes along at the right moment." He invites Marion to a toga party, where she is toasted as the queen of
the evening and soon retreats to Otter's Playboy-style bedroom.
At home in her own boudoir, she teases her prim and proper husband while he rants on the telephone, trying to find a way to
expel the Deltas.
"Something about his annoyance really tickles her," says Ms. Bloom. "She tries to get to him, almost like a kid trying to get
attention. And partly to turn him on a little, to see if there's any juice left."
At the annual homecoming parade, Marion's boredom is dispelled in a grand manner when the Deltas invade the pageant in their
own float and demolish the grandstand.
This change-of-pace comedy role for Ms. Bloom followed a string of dramatic successes on stage and film. They include the role
of Charlotte Corday in Marat/Sade on Broadway; her striking film debut as the Appalachian woman in "Medium Cool"; the role
of Peter Fonda's wife in The Hired Hand; the part of Clint Eastwood's lover in High Plains Drifter, and the drunken
wife of Charles Durning in the TV drama The Dancing Bear.
lives in New York. She was raised in Lynn, Massachusetts, where she was a
member of a high school sorority called Delta Kappa.
"They couldn't hold a candle to the "animal house" Deltas, not even in an initiation ceremony," Ms. Bloom notes, with a grin.
Special Artwork for a Jacksonville, FL showing
Donald Sutherland
International star Donald Sutherland returned to outrageous comedy with his portrayal of Jennings, a very "with it" professor. It was in Robert Altman's outrageous comedy, M*A*S*H* (1970), in which he played "Hawk-eye," that Sutherland was
'discovered' . . . after 13 previous films in which he had built a solid reputation as a character actor.
Since then, the tall, Canadian-born star has fulfilled his promise in a variety of roles. They included the tender police
detective in Klute; Julie Christie's mourning husband in Don't Look Now; the moronic Homer Simpson in Day of the
Locust; one of The Dirty Dozen; the flamboyantly outspoken Greenwich Village priest in Little Murders; the title role of
Fellini's Casanova; the brutish estate foreman in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1900, and a professional assassin in The
Disappearance.
Donald Sutherland preparing for a take
Sutherland said working on this film was the funniest experience he ever had on the set, and it was a grand time for everyone who was involved. "They were all comedians, and I just got into the groove and I laughed more than I ever have in that production period. The cast was fantastic and although they got a little wild on location, I appreciated their professionalism on the job.
Spanish Poster
Shooting and Locations
After the president of the University of Missouri read the script and turned down Universal for location shooting there, as the same school did for The Graduate, Oregon was deemed to be the best place to film. The movie was filmed in just 36 days, on location in Eugene and Cottage Grove,
Oregon. The Omega House was 729 East 11th Street in Eugene, Oregon, and the Delta House was at 751 East 11th Street, only a few blocks away. Since then, the Dela House has been demolished., but not after picketing and many attempts to preserve the house by the fans and have it listed as a historical sight. The filmmakers achieved an amazing average of over 30 camera setups per day.
After a nationwide search for locations, the Eugene area was chosen because it had a beautiful college whose architecture
could double for that of a northeastern U.S. campus where the outrageous comedy capers take place, but without the hazard of
snow.
Original Alpha House at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Nearby was a fraternity row where adjacent Delta and Omega Houses could be established, and the town of Cottage Grove,
whose main street provided the quaint setting for the climactic Homecoming Parade.
The exterior of a State Corrections Division's "halfway house" was given a dilapidated look by art director John Lloyd to
turn its front into that of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity, the "animal house."
A real fraternity house next door was given expensive-looking furniture, a cocktail piano and a large dog, so it could become
the affluent Omega Theta Pi House, the home of Delta's patronizing neighbors.
Universal President Ted Tanen earmarked the project
The Muppets spoofed the film
The cast would stay on location at the now famous Roadway Inn, in which one of the rooms became known as "party central." Landis had flown the actors in five days early to let them bond and get to know each other, something that he always felt was necessary for a better film. James Widdoes, who plays Robert Hoover in the film, stated during a publicity tour for the movie, ""It was like freshman orientation. There was a lot of getting to know each other and calling each other by our character names. This tactic encouraged the actors playing the Deltas to separate themselves from the actors playing the Omegas, helping generate authentic animosity between them on camera. Belushi and his wife, Judy, had a house in the suburbs in order to keep him away from alcohol and drugs." Landis had warned the cast not to mix with the members of the school for liability purposes, but some cast members were invited to a fraternity party. In reality, only two people had invited them who were not from that fraternity, and they were not welcomed in a friendly way. As they left, Widdoes threw an alcoholic beverage at some members and a big fight broke out. Peter Riegert, Tim Matheson and a few others finally got back to the hotel but McGill had a black eye and Widdoes losing several of his teeth.
College founder Emil Fabers head-piece attached to the car which was transformed by Daniel Simpson
The shoot would be short, and the cast, even though many partied on a nightly basis, many of those nights unknown to Landis, they did their jobs during the day without problem, as there was no extension necessary for on-location filming. The cast and crew returned to Hollywood to film inside the sound stages, even though many shots were taken inside the original houses, many of the bedrooms of the fraternity house were sets. Another several months were used for post production and the film was ready to be released. Little did Universal and the cast and crew know what was in store as far as popularity for their "little" film.
The "Deathmobile" on display in 1993
Rare on-set shot, directing
Elmer Bernstein, composer
Elmer Bernstein, composer of the score, had been honored with 10 Academy Award nominations and the Oscar itself for Thoroughly Modern Millie. In his later years reflecting back, he said that the experience of working on the music for the film was unique for him. This was the first really zany adult comedy he had written for, and spent several months composing the music while he was viewing daily takes. He wanted the tone of the film to reflect not only the slapstick years, but also the school experience of the 1960's. "I watched the dailies and felt that I needed a certain tone. I wanted not only rock and roll but some rhythm and blues. I changed some of the main themes several times until I found one I was completely satisfied with, and went to the producers and director with these themes. I invited them over to my home, I sat down at a piano to play them my main themes, which is very difficult as far as expressing film music. They were experienced enough in making movies to know how the end result would sound with a band and orchestra instead of my piano. I am sure they had listened to some of my previous music in films that might have been similar and that's why I got the job." I also was a big fan of stereophonic soundtracks, as any composer would be, and pushed the studio and production company to make the film in stereo. Unfortunately, at the time Universal didn't feel the film would be such a big hit, and would not allow extra budget to transfer the music stereo tracks and produce stereo prints. I still think the score comes across well. All-in-all it was a wonderful experience."
Elmer Bernstein
Bernstein also won an Emmy for the score for The Making of a President; two Golden Globes from the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association, for To Kill a Mockingbird and "Hawaii"; the Western Heritage Award for his music for The Hallelujah Trail,
and a Tony nomination for his only score for the Broadway stage, How Now Dow Jones.
Bernstein wrote the music for approximately 70 major films. One of his most famous was The Ten Commandments, in which surprisingly and unfortunately, he did not win an Oscar. Singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop composed and performs two songs for the film: "Animal House" and "Dreams." He also has a
cameo role as a starry-eyed folksinger who has a run-in with John Belushi.
In 1977, Bishop won the Rock Music Award as Best New Male Vocalist, as well as two Grammy Award nominations. His album,
"Careless," which has been certified "gold," contained two hit singles, "On And On" and "Save It For A Rainy Day."
Donald Sutherland and John Belushi at the premiere party
Original advance publicity poster
Release and Popularity
When National Lampoon's Animal House was released, the film got mixed reviews, but not from the public and fans who were laughing in the isles. There were lines around the block as word spread about the film's crazy antics and its hilarious spoofs of fraternity life. The cast was sent around the country on publicity tours, Universal promoted the film in the appropriate magazines and newspapers (targeting magazines like Playboy, After Dark, TV Guide, Sports Illustrated and other publications with younger readers). The success of Animal House paved the way for hundreds of similar comedies, especially raunchy comedy films, many of which tried to capture the essence of the film, but there were few that ever came close. In 1979, John Vernon and Stephen Furst starred in the TV series "Delta House," created due to the success of Universal's film. But it only lasted one season. Television was a completely different medium and the series suffered due to the fact that raunchy comedy was severely limited. There were only 13 episodes. National Lampoon went on to make dozens of films, and only the "Vacation" series became real hits for them. In 2001, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally significant
For discussion on this and other Silver Screen columns, see The Silver Screen forum thread Here
This movie brings back memories. I was in the Navy when I saw this on the big screen. I laughed my butt off. This is a great movie and if you like college gigs, I'd recommend this flick with two thumbs up. Ordered mine a long time ago.
BTW, if you're interested, the "Deathmobile" can be seen at Universal Studios Hollywood on the tour. The car is outside rusting away, but you can still tell it is the "Deathmobile".
The memories that the magazine, SNL and this movie bring back are incredible as I had just graduated from university just weeks before the premiere. Needless to say, Belushi's Animal House and The Blues Brothers are my all-time favorite comedy movies. Yet another great read, and interesting graphics - that French poster is a hoot!
On a final note, whatever happened to my man - Otis Day? Some reports say that he and the Knights have spent decades touring America as the "best R&B/Soul party band" based on the notoriety and fame afforded them by Animal House.
Nice writeup Robert. I'm glad you chose this movie. Animal House is IMO the best comedy of all time. As with Arthur and Tootsie, almost every line is funny. I am looking forward to this Blu-ray with great anticipation.
In high school I traded a Led Zepplin banner for a poster of the whole Animal House crew in front of the Delta house flipping off the camera. Man, I wish I still had that poster.
Stork: Well, what the hell are we supposed to do you MOrons?
Loved and article and LOVE the movie! Very disappointed when reading the site's review of the new BD. I was hoping for a proper and faithful film-like transfer.
Donald Sutherland has told a story that he was offered a piece of the film in lieu of salary. He didn't think the film would be a success and he received relatively little to appear (the interview said $50K, but IMDB claims $75K, although that $50K is $117,000 in 2011 dollars, not bad pay for a small role that probably didn't take more than a day or two to shoot). Had he taken the piece (which was supposedly gross participation, so it wouldn't have been subject to "Hollywood accounting"), he would have earned $ millions.
@ifireun: According to the album credits, "Otis Day", played by DeWayne Jessie, who later legally changed his named to Otis Day and toured as such, did not actually sing the songs in the film. The album gives credit to a Lloyd Williams, who is DeWayne Jessie's younger brother according to a YouTube posting. And Robert Cray was an uncredited band member in the film. Kenny Vance, a former member of The Tokens ("The Lion Sleeps Tonight") was also involved in production of the film's music. It would be nice to know the real details about all this and whether "The Knights" actually played the songs heard in the film, but I doubt we ever will.
After the movie came out, Universal Studios actually DID offer you a discount if you "Asked for Babs."
(But they had to discontinue, after home video came out, and everyone had seen the movie.)
And what, no mention of "Delta House", the short-lived ABC spinoff series that brought back most of the entire cast (sans Belushi, of course)?
Added by Robert Siegel: Actually I did mention it in the last paragraph.
I watched the 30 year anniversary documetary. It's funny that Flounder is now skinny and D-Day is fat.
Speaking of Flounder, when I was in a fraternity I was the only guy who didn't have a nickname. Guess what I ended up with. And now 20 years later I'm the only one who's known by his nickname.
Nice article. Brings back some fond memories. However my frats were anything but Delta Tau Chi. I was a member of a few including well respected honor societies like Alpha Epsilon and Gamma Sigma Delta while I was working on my Ph.D dissertation back in the late 70's. My sweetheart and I went to see Animal House when it first hit the box office. She, being a cultured southern belle, was so, well to put it mildly, appalled by the movie that it didn't take very long before she angrily drug me out of the theater. She didn't speak to me for a weeks afterwards being quite disappointed at how I endeavored to watch saw a raw disgusting movie. I went stag later on during the week and saw the rest of it. Man it was a gas. Loved Belushi stuffing himself during the song Louie Louie. I nearly died laughing. It was a riot.
Well that's it. I'm going to get Animal House on blu-ray. It's time for my sweetheart to see the rest of the movie! I'm sure she can handle it by now.
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