Back to School

Back to School is a 1986 American comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Terry Farrell, William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison, Paxton Whitehead and Robert Downey Jr. It was directed by Alan Metter.

The plot centers on a wealthy but uneducated father (Dangerfield) who goes to college to show solidarity with his discouraged son Jason (Gordon) and learns that he cannot buy an education or happiness.

Author Kurt Vonnegut has a cameo as himself, as does the band Oingo Boingo, whose frontman Danny Elfman composed the score for the film.

The University of Wisconsin–Madison was used as a backdrop for the movie, although it was called "Grand Lakes University." The diving scenes were filmed at the since-demolished Industry Hills Aquatic Club in the City of Industry, California.

Before the end credits, the message "For ESTELLE Thanks For So Much" is shown. This is a dedication to Estelle Endler, one of the executive producers of the film, who died during filming. She was Dangerfield's long-time manager, who helped him get into films such as Caddyshack.

The diving competition scene from this film was parodied in the music video for Canadian rock band Sum 41's 2001 single "In Too Deep".

Plot
The young Thornton Meloni (Jason Hervey) returns from school one day to his father's tailor shop, bearing a report card with poor grades. His ambition is to go into his father's line of work, but his father reprimands Thornton for neglecting his education.

As decades pass, Thornton changes his last name to "Melon" and becomes a corporate giant, with a successful plus-size clothing store. Feeling dejected when his college-student son Jason (Keith Gordon) cancels a visit, he returns home to a party hosted by his wife Vanessa (Adrienne Barbeau). Finally weary of Vanessa's nasty attitude and adultery, Thornton leaves her, and asks his bodyguard Lou (Burt Young) to drive him to Jason's college campus.

On the campus, Thornton learns from Jason that he's unhappy with college life. He is a towel boy for the diving team instead of a member, is antagonized by team member Chas Osborne (William Zabka), has no friends except for his roommate Derek Lutz (Robert Downey Jr.), and intends to drop out. Thornton motivates him to stay in college by deciding to enroll alongside him. Despite Thornton's lack of qualifications, the dean David Martin (Ned Beatty) admits him when he bribes Martin with a donation for a new campus building.

Thornton's bribery earns him the wrath of Dr. Philip Barbay (Paxton Whitehead), dean of the business school. The wrath is further exacerbated by Thornton's attitude during Barbay's class and his romantic interest in the literature professor Dr. Diane Turner (Sally Kellerman), whom Barbay is dating. Meanwhile, Jason begins to attract the interest of Valerie Desmond (Terry Farrell), a girl that Chas has been trying to impress. Jason's popularity on campus also increases thanks to his father's generosity and party-throwing. Jason even earns a spot on the diving team as well after Thornton — a former diver himself — convinces the diving coach (M. Emmet Walsh) to reconsider him.

As a student, even though Diane is inspiring a deeper appreciation of literature, Thornton prefers partying to studying. He hires a team of professionals to complete his assignments, including hiring author Kurt Vonnegut to write a paper on Vonnegut for literature class. To Thornton's surprise, Diane gives the paper a failing grade for obviously not being his own work, and she becomes estranged by his partying behavior. Jason is also upset with Thornton for him trivializing his education, while mistakenly believing he bribed the diving coach into accepting Jason on the team.

In addition, Dr. Barbay accuses Thornton before Dean Martin of academic fraud. Barbay challenges Thornton to pass an oral examination from all of his professors, facing expulsion if he fails any part of it. Believing he has no chance of passing, Thornton packs up and prepares to leave. But Jason stops Thornton and successfully encourages him to stay and prepare for the challenge.

With limited time to prepare, Thornton crams for the examination with help from Jason, Derek, Lou and Diane. When the big day comes, Barbay begins by intimidating Thornton with a single, 27-part question. Nevertheless, Thornton answers every part, though the effort was so much that he wants to forfeit. Dr. Turner inspires him to finish, and he does.

At the championship dive meet that day, Thornton and Jason reconcile, while Jason's team takes the lead. To spite Jason for his performance and for winning over Valerie, Chas fakes a cramp in an attempt to make his team lose. The coach decides to recruit Thornton as a last-minute replacement, and he helps the team win by performing the legendary "Triple Lindy" dive. Afterwards, Thornton learns from Diane that he has passed the examination with all D's, except for a single A from Diane. At the end of the school year, Thornton gives a commencement speech as a freshman student.

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 Lutz
 * Paxton Whitehead as Dr. Phillip Barbay
 * Sam Kinison as Professor Terguson (a.k.a. Turgeson)
 * Terry Farrell as Valerie Desmond
 * M. Emmet Walsh as Coach Turnbull
 * Adrienne Barbeau as Vanessa Melon
 * William Zabka as Chas Osborne
 * Ned Beatty as "Dean" David Martin
 * Severn Darden as Dr. Borozini
 * Robert Picardo as Giorgio
 * Jason Hervey as Young Thornton
 * Edie McClurg as Marge Sweetwater
 * Kurt Vonnegut as Himself (cameo)

Reception
The film received mainly positive reviews from critics, and is the 6th highest-grossing film of 1986, as well as the second highest grossing comedy film of the year, behind "Crocodile" Dundee (records state that in addition to the rental and theatrical gross it received, it went on to gross $108,634,920 globally). Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times noted that "Dangerfield seems to be setting the film's brisk pace and flawless timing himself." Nina Darnton wrote in The New York Times that "the film is a good-natured potpourri of gags, funny bits, populist sentiment and anti-intellectualism." Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer shows that 85% of 33 critics' reviews were positive. Roger Ebert's Chicago Sun-Times review read: "This is exactly the sort of plot Marx or Fields could have appeared in. Dangerfield brings it something they might also have brought along: a certain pathos."

Soundtrack
The soundtrack was released on MCA, available in LP or Cassette (no CD), but cues from the score were released that year with selections from the score of Pee-wee's Big Adventure (both re-recordings made in London) on CD. Original film recordings were issued in 2010 on The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box.