Back to School

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For the event in the marketing cycle, see Back-to-school. For the Deftones single, see Back To School (Mini Maggit)

Back to Heaven
Back to School theatrical poster.
Directed by	Alan Pasta
Produced by	Chuck Russell
Written by	Steven Kampmann William Porter Peter Torokvei Harold Ramis
Starring	Rodney Dangerfield Sally Kellerman Burt Young Keith Gordon Ned Beatty William Zabka Sam Kinison Robert Downey, Jr. Paxton Whitehead
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Thomas E. Ackerman
Editing by	David Rawlins
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	June 13, 1986
Running time	96 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Back to School is a 1986 movie starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, William Zabka, Sam Kinison, and Robert Downey, Jr. The plot centers on a wealthy but uneducated father (Dangerfield) who goes to college to show solidarity with his troubled son (Gordon) and learns that he cannot buy his education.

Author Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 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 the fictional "Grand Lakes University."

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 Soundtrack
- 4.1 Track listing (Soundtrack)
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Plot

Thornton Meloni (Dangerfield) is a truly successful rags-to-riches story. The son of an Italian immigrant tailor, he is shown as a boy in his father's shop one day, bearing his report card, which has less than stellar grades. When he tells his father his ambition is to work in the shop with him, his father tells him that "if a man's got no education, he's got nothing", and that he can do whatever he sets his mind to.

After this scene, the movie picks up with a series of snapshots from that point on until present day, showing Thornton opening his first "Tall and Fat" clothing store, then his second, and then with his newborn son, and more stores, and finally becoming a corporate giant, complete with a TV schedule where he asks "When you go jogging, do you leave potholes?", telling potential customers to "eat all you want" because of his line of clothing for the amply-proportioned.

It's also revealed during a meeting at his corporate office that Thornton has changed his last name to "Melon" at some point in his life. After taking a call from his son Jason (Gordon) cancelling pre-arranged plans to come home for a visit, Thornton goes home for the evening to his wife Vanessa, a materialistic, money-hungry and younger woman obsessed with social-climbing and unable to bear her casually-mannered husband, who threatens to expose her adulterous affairs after she threatens to sue him in a divorce settlement.

After Vanessa leaves, Thornton tells his driver Lou (Young) to pack and drive him to Grand Lakes University, Jason's college. Jason is revealed to be a misfit who works as a towel boy for the swim team, after not making the cut during tryouts, largely due to the efforts of swimming rival Chas Osborn (Zabka). His friend Derek (Downey) is a blue-haired emo with a communist agenda.

After Thornton arrives, he learns of Jason's struggles. When Jason tells his father he intends to drop out, Thornton repeats to Jason his father's words. After Jason appears unmoved, he offers to go to college with his son if he'll stay. Reluctantly, Jason agrees.

However, without any transcripts or SAT scores, Thornton's efforts seem to be stilled, according to David Martin, the university's dean (a play on Dean Martin). When asked how he can possibly admit an unqualified student, the next scene cuts to a groundbreaking new Thornton Mellon School of Business on the university grounds, an obvious allusion that Thornton bribed his way into an admission, and an act that also earns Thornton the wrath of Dr. Philip Barbay (Whitehead), dean of the new school, who makes no effort to hide his disdain for Thornton.

Thornton also strikes up a romance with Dr. Diane Turner (Kellerman), an attractive professor who is also dating Dr. Barbay, who becomes further enraged when he learns of Thornton's overtures.

Over the course of Thornton's tenure as a student, it's revealed that he has hired a team of professionals to complete his assignments for him, one of them writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr., an act that surprisingly gets him a failing grade with Dr. Turner. Eventually, Thornton's fraud is revealed by Barbay, who challenges him before Dean Martin with an oral examination. If Thornton fails any part of it, he will be expelled. His hand forced, Martin yields to Barbay.

With limited time to prepare, Thornton crams for his exams, with help from Jason, Derek, Lou and Dr. Turner. On the day of the exam, Barbay begins with his series of questions. He begins by telling Thornton that he has only one question for him...but in 27 parts, making it virtually impossible for him to pass, and thus seal his fate. Incredibly, Thornton manages to pass the exam, much to the amazement and frustration of Barbay.

He later learns that he has passed all his classes with a D, except from Diane, who has given him an A. The movie closes with Thornton lecturing the graduating class.

[edit] Cast

Rodney Dangerfield as Thornton "Thorny" Melon
Sally Kellerman as Dr. Diane Turner
Burt Young as Lou, Thornton's driver
Keith Gordon as Jason Melon
Robert Downey, Jr. as Derek Lutz
Paxton Whitehead as Dr. Phillip Barbay
Sam Kinison as Professor Terguson
Terry Farrell as Valerie Desmond
M. Emmet Walsh as Coach Turnbull
Adrienne Barbeau as Vanessa Melon, Thornton's wife
William Zabka as Chas Osborne
Ned Beatty as Dean Martin

[edit] Trivia

Most of the outdoor scenes at the college were shot on location at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The swim stadium scenes were filmed at the Industry swimming complex at the Industry Hills Sheraton and Country Club in the City of Industry, about 25 miles southeast of Hollywood, California. Some additional scenes were filmed at California State University, Los Angeles, California.
Dangerfield always looked out for younger comedic talents. He was a big proponent for Sam Kinison's part as a crazed professor in Back to School (They also considered Jim Carrey, but he was rejected as too young). Later when Chuck Russell (Producer) got the chance to direct 1994's the Mask, he was finally able to use Jim Carrey, transforming the Mask from a "very dark horror film" to a comedy.
Alice Cooper's song "The Great American Success Story" was apparently intended to be the theme song. Its lyrics summarize the plot and include Dangerfield's signature quip "he don't get no respect", and the chorus contains the title phrase. The song was not used in the film, and there is no mention of the connection in the liner notes of the album.
One of the last shots in the opening montage is of Rodney Dangerfield golfing. This was taken directly from his second film, Caddyshack.
Rodney Dangerfield, Robert Downey, Jr., and Edie McClurg would later all appear in the film Natural Born Killers.
In the original script, Dangerfield's character was poor, but Harold Ramis suggested that it be changed to make him rich.
The room in which Thornton Melon takes his three-hour oral exam is the same room in which Alex Owens makes her successful dance audition in Flashdance.
The song playing at Chaz's fraternity party (before the girls abandon it for Melon's) is "Everybody's Crazy", a song from Michael Bolton's days as a metal singer.
Owing to Dangerfield's contractual obligations with the Miller Brewing Company and his appearances in Miller Lite beer commercials at the time, only Miller beer was allowed to be shown.
Ned Beatty's character is called "Dean Martin" throughout the movie (he is the Dean of the university), his actual first name is identified once in the dialogue as "David."
The nickname of the Grand Lakes University swim team is "Hooters."
A menu item at the Tex-Mex restaurant Moe's Southwest Grill is called "The Triple Lindy" in honor of the dive Melon did.
Kurt Vonnegut played himself in a cameo for the film in which he is hired by Thornton Melon to write a paper on the topic of the novels of Kurt Vonnegut. (As a joke, recognizing the work as not Melon's own, Professor Turner tells him, "Whoever did write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut.")
The scene where Rodney Dangerfield does the Triple Lindy into the pool has been duplicated in the music video for the Sum 41 song "In Too Deep" where the drummer Steve does the Triple Lindy into the pool at a swimming contest.

[edit] Soundtrack

'Back to School'

Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	1986
Genre	Pop, Rock, Soul
Length	35:34
Label	MCA

The soundtrack was only released in LP format, but the score was later released with selections from the score of Pee-wee's Big Adventure on CD.

[edit] Track listing (Soundtrack)

"Back to School" (Jude Cole) – 4:16
"Educated Girl" (Bobby Caldwell) – 4:07
"Learnin' and Livin'" (Tyson & Schwartz) – 3:25
"Everybody's Crazy" (Michael Bolton) – 4:37
"I'll Never Forget Your Face" (Philip Ingram) – 4:07
"Twist and Shout" (Rodney Dangerfield) – 2:51
"Dead Man's Party" (Oingo Boingo) – 6:17
"On My Way" (Tyson & Schwartz) – 3:30
"Respect" (Aretha Franklin) – 2:24

[edit] References

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