“Bluto’s right. Psychotic… but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons, but that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!”
A group of misfit college fraternity brothers (The Deltas) lead a non stop party of boozing, carousing, peeping, pranking and all out destruction at their small town college. What really made John Landis’ 1978 comedy classic so special and authentic was the fact the screenplay (written by Harold Ramis, Doug Kenney and Chris Miller) was based on real people and true events. The cast of collegiate crazies featured the late great John Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky, a whiskey swigging, furious force of nature. Tim Matheson as Eric Stratton aka Otter, the frat’s resident ladies man/leader. James Widdoes as Hoover, the easygoing, clean cut vice president. Peter Riegert as Boon, Otter’s best friend and cohort in causing mayhem. Tom Hulce as Larry Kroger aka Pinto, a wet behind the ears, nerdy newbie who is recruited into the Deltas along with pal Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst) aka Flounder, a cheerful chunker who must face the wrath of Doug Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf), the rival frats’ sadistic military obsessed fascist leader. The Delta’s also have to contend with another enemy: Dean Wormer (John Vernon) a vindictive schlub who wants to kick them all out of the school for good. The supporting cast is a delightful mix of colorful character actors: Karen Allen, Donald Sutherland and Verna Bloom just to name a few.
Even 33 years later, National Lampoon’s Animal House remains a special slice of American life kind of film where viewers young and old can go back in time and just get caught up in the raucously hilarious foodfight of filmmaking. Hey, this is the godfather of the “college frat comedy” subgenre we’re talkin’ about!
Now if you take a look at the insanity captured in the cool caricatured poster it will give you a clue as to just what kind of movie you’re going to be watching!
