Product Details

• Actors: Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Keith Gordon, Robert Downey Jr.
• Directors: Alan Metter
• Writers: Rodney Dangerfield, Dennis Snee, Greg Fields, Harold Ramis, Peter Torokvei
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Mono)
• Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: June 26, 2003
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (113 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000A14TA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,952 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Back to School" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the mid-1980s, standup comic Rodney Dangerfield underwent a renewed wave of popularity, finding a surprisingly enthusiastic baby-boomer audience. What else to do but make a movie that shows off Dangerfield's alternately knowing and boorish humor? This may not be on the AFI list of great films, but it delivers laughs aplenty in its story of a rough-edged tycoon who made his fortune in clothes for the stout and tall and decides to attend college in order to be closer to his son (Keith Gordon). There's not much plot, but lots of room for Dangerfield's one-line riffs. The goggle-eyed comic veteran displays surprising charm, enough to make his romance with professor Sally Kellerman believable. Look for cameos by late comedian Sam Kinison and author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. --Marshall Fine

Product Description

Rodney Dangerfield (Caddyshack, Meet Wally Sparks) makes the grade with this laugh-riot comedy that's in a class of its own! Higher education will never be the same when co-stars Sally Kellerman, Robert Downey, Jr., Sam Kinison, Ned Beatty and more join the maniac as he takes on the brainiacs! Thornton Melon's (Dangerfield) son is a college misfit, so Thornton's lending some fatherly support...by enrolling as a fellow freshman! Who cares if the owner of the "Tall and Fat" clothing empire never finished high school? Thornton's pockets are deep enough to buy a ticket to class...and hire NASA to do his homework! But when he ticks off his professorand then steals his girlfriendThornton takes things just a little too far. Now, he'll have to hit the booksinstead of his bank accountor go back to being the world's wealthiest dropout! "Dangerfield is sensational" (The Hollywood Reporter) in this howlingly funny comedy that scores an A+!

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Farewell, Rodney, You've Graduated At Last October 6, 2004

By Kevin Killian HALL OF FAME

Format:VHS Tape

As the word reaches us that Rodney Dangerfield has died without waking up from his coma, we take this occasion to salute him by viewing one more time his comedy classic, "BACK TO SCHOOL." Adrienne Barbeau is in it, playing a trophy wife of yesteryear, grasping and unfaithful, she's only in it for the money any more. Thornton Melon runs a men's store called, "TALL AND FAT," and I would have liked to see a whole sequel to BACK TO SCHOOL that focussed on the day to day life of running this haberdashery. Anyway he's rich enough to be able to afford to hire Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. to write a term paper for him. Sam Kinison is in the movie too as the history professor--crazy and out of this world! And Sally Kellerman is more subdued than usual playing Diane Turner, the English professor who, in a memorable scene, makes Rodney analyze the meaning of Dylan Thomas' famous poem, "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night."

Robert Downey Jr is in the movie too, he's always good for a laugh or two. And Keith Gordon plays the son, maybe his best part after the young son of Angie Dickinson in DRESSED TO KILL. But most of all the picture belongs to the one and only Rodney Dangerfield. Rodney, we will miss your attitude and your "I get no respect" whining. You always saw things the way the common man did. We salute you for your tremendous achievements. As Dylan Thomas said,

"And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

51 of 60 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, but make sure you get the NEWER DVD release! June 12, 2004

By A Customer

Format:DVD

After his appearance on Leno recently, it seems Rodney Dangerfield is losing his touch due to age and his admitted pot smoking. He still had it in Back to School, however. This has always been a good way to spend 90 minutes or so to get some laughs. Along with Caddyshack and Easy Money, it's his best work.

Be careful of which DVD version you buy. There are two floating around out there and they both look the same until you make a close inspection of the back cover. MGM quietly slipped this new transfer out there with the same cover without as much as a peep. The original copy was non-anamorphic widescreen and was a poor transfer with some framing issues. The new one is a great improvement with anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 Surround Sound. You have to look at the bottom left of the back cover. You will see 16:9 Widescreen 1.85:1 versus the old one which did not have the '16:9' printed above the word Widescreen. The free booklet with the older copy was nice but the new anamorphic transfer and 5.1 trump the importance of the little booklet included in the older DVD release. I don't know why they didn't throw in the old booklet but its importance is negligible. You don't buy DVDs for booklets anyway.

One more thing. Always buy DVD releases of films in their OAR(Original Aspect Ratio). Don't buy Fullscreen copies if the movie was originally released in Widescreen to theaters. The only time you should buy (Fullscreen, 1.33:1, 4X3) is if that was the OAR, which is usually only television these days and much older films from the early 50's and beyond. Why would you want to watch a film with the sides chopped off? You'll learn to live with the 'black bars' and realize that you're not losing any picture on the top or bottom.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A CLASSIC! Dangerfield's best! September 22, 2002

By Todd E. Newman

Format:DVD

This is one of those movies I can watch every six months because of the great humor and story Dangerfield stars in. Dangerfield goes back to college to be closer to his son and the funny one-liners and humor really come together in this funny and intriguing comedy. I also enjoyed Dangerfield's acting in which he has to earn the respect of his son at school and how he cares about father-and-son issues. I think Dangerfield is at his best here and it's unfortunate we haven't seen another film like this from him and I simply have to call this film a comedy classic!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Keith Gordon + College + Rodney Dangerfield = Comedy Classic March 19, 2004

By Robert J. Schneider

Format:DVD

Coming three years after making a big splash with his first-ever starring role, in the 1983 Horror classic CHRISTINE, Keith Gordon returned in this, the 1986 Comedy classic BACK TO SCHOOL, starring one of the most beloved comedians of all time, Rodney Dangerfield.

The story actually begins in 1940, where young Thornton Meloni (Jason Hervey, who would become famous two years later as Fred Savage's older brother on the TV show "The Wonder Years") is being exhorted by his immigrant father to stay in school and not to take over his tailoring business. The kid ends up not listening to him and becomes a high school dropout, taking over the business and changing it to a "Tall & Fat Store" while taking the "i" off the end of his last name and making a fortune. The fifty-something adult Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) is having an awful second marriage to Vanessa (Adrienne Barbeau in full vamp mode), but is proud of his college freshman son Jason (Keith Gordon), whom he thinks is in a popular fraternity and on the school's diving team. Soon after arriving for a surprise visit, however, Jason admits the truth that he's not in a frat, is not popular and is, in fact, the 'towel boy' for the diving team. Jason wants to leave school because it's not going the way he thought it would. The tall, beautiful Valerie (Terry Farrell) won't even notice him, and his roommate and only friend Derek (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a complete weirdo with wild hairstyles that appear to change daily. Rich Dad has an idea: he'll enroll as a freshman himself and that will influence Jason to have a better time and to stay in school!...

After pulling some strings, including donating a huge sum for a brand-new School of Business (it is, after all, not everyday that a well-respected university will take on a student who never finished high school, even someone as rich as Thornton Melon), fun-loving Thornton proceeds to throw his weight around, changing Jason & Derek's room into a plaza suite (complete with a hot tub), throwing awesome parties and even romancing his English professor (Sally Kellerman), much to the chagrin of her uptight boyfriend, Business professor Phillip Barbay (Paxton Whitehead), who would like nothing better than an excuse to drum the impudent Thornton Melon out of the university! Meanwhile, Thornton uses his considerable influence on Coach Turnbull (M. Emmett Walsh) to let Jason officially join the squad, which upsets the snobby star diver Chas (William Zabka) who suddenly finds himself competing for his girlfriend Terry, who begins to take a liking to Jason.

If this all sounds like too much plot for this 96-minute movie, let me just say that BACK TO SCHOOL makes very efficient use of its time (no slow points here), and equally good use of Mr. Dangerfield's comedic talents, that the plot itself is almost secondary to the one-liners Rodney uses in his usual self-deprecating way. Plus, the cameos are real fun, especially Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as himself, being hired to write a paper for Jason about--what else?--Kurt Vonnegut Jr.! The music is very upbeat 80's here (as you would expect for a movie of this type); however, it does mark the film scoring debut for Danny Elfman of Oingo Bongo who appears in the film (as themselves) performing their great classic "Dead Man's Party" (which, incidentally, had been on the soundtrack to WEIRD SCIENCE a year earlier).

Even if certain occurrences are patently unbelievable, such as the oral exam scene late in the film, BACK TO SCHOOL is so much fun to watch that it doesn't matter what happens, just as long as Rodney's and Gordon's characters win in the end and make us laugh while doing it. It is of definite interest to us Star Trek fans that Terry Farrell would eventually go on to play Lt. Dax on TV in "Deep Space Nine." Also, watch quickly for a cameo by Robert Picardo (who would join the aforementioned Jason Hervey two years later in "The Wonder Years" playing the dreaded Coach Cutlip, then later on joining Ms. Farrell in the Star Trek series in his wonderful role of the holographic Doctor) as the guy Thornton catches Vanessa fooling around with at a big party. Oh, and Sam Kinison is hilarious in a small role, playing himself as a shell-shocked History professor who never quite came out of Vietnam.

Everybody is great in this mid-80's comedy classic. Lastly, you have to love a Rodney Dangerfield movie that features a university dean by the name of Dean Martin (the always-wonderful Ned Beatty). BACK TO SCHOOL really takes us back to school on what a great film comedy should be. Add this one to your DVD library! Even with the lack of a lot of extras, it's still very much worth it.

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