The Robert Downey Jr Film Guide
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The Robert Downey Jr Film Guide |
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Back to School (1986) |
Summary |
In an attempt to help his miserable son, a relatively uneducated businessman buys his way into college. |
Direction |
Alan Metter |
Downey Factor |
Low. He was not really a star at this point. |
Character |
Derek Lutz, the weirdo roommate of Rodney Dangerfield's son. |
Looks |
Young, oddly dressed (even by '80s standards), occasionally has blue hair. |
Performance |
Decent entirely comedic performance. It is what it is. |
Line |
Violent ground-acquisition games such as football are in fact a crypto-fascist metaphor for nuclear war. |
Dies, Gay or Villain |
No, no, no. |
Other Actors |
Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Ned Beatty, Keith Gordon |
Connection |
Alan Metter's Girls Just Want to Have Fun. Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers. Keith Gordon's The Singing Detective. |
RDJ Says |
That was fun. My hair. I was such a nerd, I thought the higher my hair, the cooler I was ... I was doing Back to School and Saturday Night Live at the same time. So I'd fly back to Los Angeles for a couple of days during the week to shoot the movie and then fly back and, "Live from New York, it's a tired young man!" |
Lit Reference |
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Dangerfield and Kellerman discuss The Great Gatsby in this movie, and Thornton Mellon shares common threads with Gatsby (nouveau riche man trying to use money to acquire something that can't be purchased) |
Release |
June 1986 |
Availability |
Often aired on basic cable in the US, should be at your local video store. Released on DVD in Region 1. |
Rotten Tomatoes |
87% Fresh | 23 Reviews |
Critical View |
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The most interesting thing about Back to School, which is otherwise a pleasant but routine comedy, is the puzzle of Rodney Dangerfield. Here is a man who reminds us of some of the great comedians of the early days of the talkies. Kim Newman, Empire Magazine: Unlike many other star comedians, Dangerfield isn’t afraid to let anyone else be funny. |
Foreign Titles |
Argentina: De Vuelta al Colegio (Return to School) Brazil: De Volta as Aulas (Back to School) Germany: Mach's Nochmal, Dad (Make It Again, Dad) Israel: Back to Youth (English translation) Italy: A scuola con Papà (To School with Dad) Poland: Powrót do Szkoly (Back to School) Spain: Regreso a la Escuela (Back to School) |
2 Reasons to See It |
1. His hair. 2. Rodney Dangerfield does the Triple Lindy. |
Overall |
It's an amusing movie to check out on an idle afternoon, but if it doesn't sound like you're thing, it's not worth seeing just for Downey. |
If You Liked It |
You might also like Weird Science (1985), Johnny Be Good (1987), hanging out at the Friar's Club |
Photos |
Video |