Animal House [HD/DVD Hybrid] DVD

National Lampoon's Animal House
Director John Landis put himself on the map with this low-budget, fabulously successful comedy, which made a then-astounding 62 million dollars and started a slew of careers for its cast in the process. National Lampoon's Animal House is set in 1962 on the campus of Faber College in Faber, PA. The first glimpse we get of the campus is the statue of its founder Emil Faber, on the base of which is inscribed the motto, "Knowledge Is Good." Incoming freshmen Larry "Pinto" Kroger (Tom Hulce) and Kent "Flounder" Dorfman (Stephen Furst) find themselves rejected by the pretentious Omega fraternity, and instead pledge to Delta House. The Deltas are a motley fraternity of rejects and maladjusted undergraduates (some approaching their late twenties) whose main goal -- seemingly accomplished in part by their mere presence on campus -- is disrupting the staid, peaceful, rigidly orthodox, and totally hypocritical social order of the school, as represented by the Omegas and the college's dean, Vernon Wormer (John Vernon). Dean Wormer decides that this is the year he's going to get the Deltas expelled and their chapter decertified; he places the fraternity on "double secret probation" and, with help from Omega president Greg Marmalard (James Daughton) and hard-nosed member Doug Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf), starts looking for any pretext on which to bring the members of the Delta fraternity up on charges. The Deltas, oblivious to the danger they're in, are having a great time, steeped in irreverence, mild debauchery, and occasional drunkenness, led by seniors Otter (Tim Matheson), Hoover (James Widdoes), D-Day (Bruce McGill), Boon (Peter Riegert), and pledge master John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi). They're given enough rope to hang themselves, but even then manage to get into comical misadventures on a road trip (where they arrange an assignation with a group of young ladies from Emily Dickinson University). Finally, they are thrown out of school, and, as a result, stripped of their student deferments (and, thus, eligible for the draft). They decide to commit one last, utterly senseless (and screamingly funny) slapstick act of rebellion, making a shambles of the university's annual homecoming parade, and, in the process, getting revenge on the dean, the Omegas, and everyone else who has ever gone against them. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Cast John Belushi as John "Bluto" Blutarsky Tim Matheson as Eric "Otter" Stratton John Vernon as Dean Vernon Wormer Verna Bloom as Marion Wormer Tom Hulce as Larry "Pinto" Kroger Stephen Furst as Kent "Flounder" Dorfman Cesare Danova as Mayor Carmine DePasto Donald Sutherland as Prof. Dave Jennings Mary Louise Weller as Mandy Pepperidge James Daughton as Greg Marmalard Bruce McGill as Daniel Simpson "D-Day" Day Mark Metcalf as Doug Neidermeyer DeWayne Jessie as Otis Day Karen Allen as Katy James Widdoes as Robert Hoover Martha Smith as Babs Jensen Sarah Holcomb as Clorette DePasto Kevin Bacon as Chip Diller Peter Riegert as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein Douglas Kenney as Stork Joshua Daniel as Mothball

Crew John J. Lloyd - Art Director Michael Chinich - Casting Peter V. Herald - Co-producer Deborah Nadoolman - Costume Designer Jean-Pierre Dorleac - Costume Designer Clifford C. Coleman - First Assistant Director Robert P. Cohen - First Assistant Director John Landis - Director Gary McLarty - Second Unit Director Ann Mills - Editor Richard Meyer - Editor George Folsey, Jr. - Editor Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score) Mark Goldenberg - Composer (Music Score) Peter Bernstein - Composer (Music Score) Stephen Bishop - Songwriter Gerald Soucie - Makeup Lynn Brooks - Makeup Marilyn Phillips - Makeup Steve Yaconelli - Camera Operator Dean Edward Mitzner - Production Designer Philip H. Lathrop - Cinematographer Charles Correll - Cinematographer Ivan Reitman - Producer Matty Simmons - Producer Anne McCulley - Set Designer Hal G. Gausman - Set Designer Henry Millar - Special Effects Bill Varney - Sound/Sound Designer Bill Randall - Sound/Sound Designer William Kaplan - Sound/Sound Designer Bud Ekins - Stunts Gary McLarty - Stunts Jim Halty - Stunts Gary McLarty - Stunts Coordinator Douglas Kenney - Screenwriter John Hughes - Screenwriter Chris Miller - Screenwriter Harold Ramis - Screenwriter Stephen A. Hope - Music Editor Stephen Bishop - Musical Performer Sam Cooke - Featured Music

National Lampoon's Animal House
The 1970s were full of movies that constituted cultural phenomena, with The Exorcist, Jaws, The Omen, Star Wars, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind all coming out in about a four-year span. One title that is usually overlooked -- probably because it didn't take itself remotely as seriously as these others -- but had every bit as much impact as any of those films, was National Lampoon's Animal House. Shot during late 1977 and early 1978 on a modest budget, Animal House proceeded to return many times its investment and jump-started the careers of its director and most of its cast. College students who had too much energy and not enough outlets for it suddenly began organizing "toga parties"; interest in fraternities, which had been declining since the mid-'60s, suddenly spiked; and it was suddenly not only okay, but even expected, for college students (who'd come to represent the conscience of the nation in some circles during the Vietnam War) to be goofy again. On the most superficial level, Animal House was no more profound than such collegiate comedies of an earlier era as Too Many Girls (1940), Good News (1947), or The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), and even less serious than Apartment for Peggy (1948) or Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949). What it did do was take audiences back to that earlier era of college humor, add some sex in a carefully calculated manner, and inject just enough of a '70s consciousness so that audiences could laugh at the film -- and at the idea of the film -- and hold those late '50s/early '60s pop and R&B songs in their heads. The movie's impact and the nature of its acceptance can be measured by the fact that the only star to emerge from it was John Belushi, his gonzo portrayal of "Bluto" Blutarsky marking a high-point in his big-screen career that he never again achieved. What's more, the movie's influence is still being felt today in every een comedy by the Farrelly brothers, the Wayans brothers, and any of their rivals, most of whom emphasize gross-out humor to a degree that Animal House director John Landis never would have considered. Ironically, amid the slapstick humor and outsized characterizations that filled the movie, Animal House had a very serious source of inspiration. Co-author Chris Miller did base some of the material on his experiences as an undergraduate at Dartmouth (a fact that Dartmouth has been trying to live down ever since), but the authors also intended part of the plot as an allegory about the Nixon White House. The inspiration for Dean Wormer and the Omegas, and their activities undermining the Deltas, was Richard Nixon and the "plumbers," his dirty-tricks squad, which directed their activities against the president's political enemies. Indeed, if you look closely at the portrayal of the dean by John Vernon and of Omega house leaders Greg Marmalard and Doug Neidermeyer by James Daughton and Mark Metcalf, respectively, it's easy to see similarities to Nixon, his aides H.R. Haldeman and John Erlichman. This doesn't make Animal House into All the President's Men, and knowing it doesn't make the movie any more (or less) funny, though it may make it seem slightly more subversive, as well as more intelligent. Animal House is still best appreciated for what is seen onscreen -- some good jokes and sight gags and memorable characterizations, with Belushi's Bluto proving that "fat, drunk, and stupid" may not get you through life, but it is one way to get through seven years of college. The viewer does best to just sit back and -- echoing Stephen Furst's exclamation as all comic hell breaks loose at the denouement -- say to themselves, "Oh boy, is this great!" ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
 

Library of Congress, U.S. National Film Registry (winner)

General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: Spanish, French Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DDM2.0: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (Recorded in mono, but split to give the illusion of a stereo mix on home theater systems). Additional Features: Includes hot music video "Shout" remade by hit music group MXPX! Where are they now? A delta alumni update: a hilarious all-new mockumentary featuring the original cast Did you know that? Universal animated anecdotes: about the original production of the film DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: R DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 2 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 109 min   DVD Chapters: Disc #1, Side B -- Animal House: Standard Definition 1. Faber College 1962 (Main Titles) [2:35] 2. The Best House on Campus [2:39] 3. The Worst House on Campus [6:35] 4. Double-Secret Probation [1:47] 5. The New Pledges [3:40] 6. The Problem With Milton [1:58] 7. Neldermeyer's Golf Lesson [3:04] 8. A Joint With Mr. Jennings [3:33] 9. A Defenseless Animal [2:09] 10. The Horse's Heart Attack [2:46] 11. The Mayor [1:01] 12. Lunch With Bluto [2:48] 13. Food Fight! [2:29] 14. Mandy's Secret Admirer [2:55] 15. The Psych Test [3:35] 16. Preparing to Party [4:43] 17. The Toga Party [2:38] 18. Shout! (Otis Day & the Knights) [3:25] 19. Toga Love [3:03] 20. Larry's Dilemma [2:29] 21. The Probation Hearing [6:05] 22. Closed Down [1:41] 23. Road Trip! [1:09] 24. Fawn's Fiancé [3:06] 25. The Only White People Here [6:07] 26. The Morning After [1:22] 27. My Brother's Car [2:08] 28. The Deltas Come Undone [4:50] 29. When the Going Gets Tough [2:32] 30. A Really Futile and Stupid Gesture [3:27] 31. The Homecoming Parade [3:24] 32. The Deltas Strike Back [3:33] 33. The Deathmobile [1:45] 34. Where Are They Now? [4:01] 35. End Titles [2:59] 36. When in Hollywood... [:22]