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National Lampoon's Animal House
Directed by	John Landis
Produced by	Ivan Reitman Matty Simmons
Written by	Harold Ramis Douglas Kenney Christopher Miller
Starring	John Belushi Tim Matheson John Vernon Tom Hulce Peter Riegert Stephen Furst
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	July 29, 1978 (premiere)
Running time	109 min.
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000
IMDb profile

For the Japanese magazine once known as Animal House, see Young Animal

National Lampoon's Animal House (often called Animal House) is a 1978 comedy film in which a misfit group of fraternity boys take on the system at their college. It is considered to be the movie that started the gross-out genre^{[citation needed]}, predating Porky's and American Pie.

It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, John Vernon, Thomas Hulce, Cesare Danova, Peter Riegert, Mary Louise Weller, Stephen Furst, James Daughton, Bruce McGill, Mark Metcalf, James Widdoes, Verna Bloom, Martha Smith, Kevin Bacon (in his film debut) and Donald Sutherland. The movie was adapted by Douglas Kenney, Christopher Miller and Harold Ramis from stories written by Miller and published in National Lampoon magazine. It was directed by John Landis.

In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Produced on a small ($3 million) budget, the film has turned out to be one of the most profitable of all time; since its initial release, Animal House has garnered an estimated return of more than $200 million in the form of video and DVDs, not including merchandising.

This film is first on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". It was #36 on AFI's "100 Years, 100 Laughs" list of the 100 best American comedies.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Characters 2.1 Deltas 2.2 Omegas 2.3 Other significant characters 3 Whatever Happened to The Class of '63? 4 Ask For Babs 5 Double Secret Probation 6 Analysis 7 Origins and production notes 8 Location 9 Soundtrack and score 9.1 Soundtrack album listing 9.2 Other songs in the film 10 Casting 11 DVD editions 12 TV series, sequel 13 The smashed guitar 14 Cultural influences 15 Trivia 16 Goofs 16.1 Anachronisms 16.2 Continuity 16.3 Mistakes 17 See also 18 References 19 External links

[edit] Plot summary

It is Rush Week 1962 at Faber College, a mediocre school whose motto is "Knowledge is Good." Vietnam, the Sexual Revolution and the counterculture movement are but blips on the horizon. A 1950s mentality still pervades the campus, typified by the Omegas—the most prestigious, elitist fraternity. At the other end of the spectrum stands the Delta Tau Chi House, a repository for every campus misfit.

Two freshmen, Larry Kroger (Thomas Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst), described respectively as "a wimp and a blimp", are trying to pledge a good fraternity. They first try their luck at the Omega House rush party, but they are totally out of their league. The Omegas quickly steer them to an area where they have segregated the other "undesirables": Mohammed, Jagdish, Sidney, and Clayton (who is blind).

They try the Deltas next door, despite their reputation as "the worst house on campus". As they approach, a headless female mannequin comes flying out of a window and lands at their feet. They meet "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi), outside taking a leak. Bluto turns to greet them and urinates on their legs without noticing it. Another member, "D-Day" (Daniel Simpson Day) (Bruce McGill), rides his motorcycle through the front door and up the stairs, where he gives a surprisingly good rendition of the William Tell Overture—using his throat as a percussion instrument. Since the Deltas "need the dues" (and because in Dorfman's case, he's a legacy since his brother Fred was a '59 Delta), they are accepted and given the nicknames "Pinto" (Kroger) and "Flounder" (Dorfman).

Meanwhile, Dean Wormer (John Vernon), is trying to kick the Deltas off campus. Since they are already on probation, he puts them on "double secret probation" and tells Greg Marmalard (James Daughton), the Omega president, to get the sneaky Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf) working on a way to get rid of the Deltas once and for all.

Flounder joins the ROTC. Neidermeyer, his pompous cadet commander, despises the overweight Flounder on sight and begins berating him. Two Deltas, "Otter" (Tim Matheson) and "Boon" (Peter Riegert), witness this and object to the mistreatment (only they are permitted to abuse their pledges). They take turns hitting golf balls, aiming for the horse Neidermeyer is riding. A ball ultimately strikes the horse, causing it to rear up unpredictably. A second ball beans Neidermeyer on the head, knocking him out of the saddle. The already-spooked animal bolts, dragging a screaming Neidermeyer behind, entangled in the stirrups.

Later, Neidermeyer, now wearing a neck brace, orders Flounder to clean his horse's filthy stable stall. Bluto and D-Day talk Flounder into sneaking the animal into the Dean's office. They give him a gun and talk him into shooting the hated animal. Unbeknownst to Flounder, the gun is loaded with blanks, but the noise of the shot causes the horse to have a heart attack and die anyway. The Deltas panic and flee. The next day, a chainsaw is required to remove the horse, in rigor mortis, from the Dean's office.

In the cafeteria the next day, Bluto provokes Greg and Omega pledge Chip (Kevin Bacon) with his impression of a zit and triggers a wild food fight. Not done, Bluto and D-Day rummage through a trash bin to steal the answers to an upcoming psychology test. Unfortunately, the exam stencil had been planted by the Omegas, and the Deltas get every answer wrong. Their grade point averages drop so low that the Dean only needs one more incident to revoke their charter.

Undeterred, they organize a toga party. Pinto invites the teenaged cashier at the local supermarket, Clorette (Sarah Holcomb), who turns out to be the under-aged daughter of shady Mayor Carmine DePasto (Cesare Danova). When she gets drunk and passes out, Pinto is tempted to take advantage of her (an angel and a devil appear over his shoulders and have a frank discussion of his choices); in the end, he takes her home in a shopping cart. A drunken Mrs. Wormer (Verna Bloom) crashes the party (both figuratively and literally) and spends the night with Otter. That turns out to be the last straw. Wormer gets the fraternity's charter revoked, and everything is confiscated, "even the stuff we didn't steal!"

To take their minds off their troubles, Otter, Boon, Flounder, and Pinto go on a road trip. They pick up some girls from a liberal-arts college and by mistake, go to a club with an all-black clientele. Some of the hulking regulars are not amused and intimidate the guys into leaving without their dates.

Things go from bad to worse. "Babs" (Martha Smith) reveals to Marmalard that his girlfriend, Mandy (Mary Louise Weller), and Otter are having an affair. Marmalard and some of his fellow Omegas lure Otter to a motel and beat him up. The Deltas' midterm grades are so bad that they are all expelled from school (and their draft boards notified of their availability) by the ecstatic Wormer.

For revenge, the Deltas decide to wreak havoc on the annual Homecoming parade, inspired by Bluto's impassioned speech invoking the memory of the "Germans" bombing Pearl Harbor. In the resulting mayhem, Bluto steals a car, abducts Mandy and drives off into the sunset... and eventually to Washington, DC.

[edit] Characters

[edit] Deltas

• Eric "Otter" Stratton (Tim Matheson), a smooth Playboy-style sex maniac (the nickname suggests a sleek player), whose room is an uncannily pristine seduction den amid the sheer filth of the rest of the Delta house;
• Donald "Boon" Schoenstein (Peter Riegert), Otter's best friend, who is forever having to decide between his Delta pals and his girlfriend Katy;
• John "Bluto" Blutarsky (John Belushi), an abject, drunken degenerate with a style all his own; GPA of 0.0;
• Robert Hoover (James Widdoes), the affable, frequently nervous, reasonably clean-cut president of the fraternity, who desperately struggles to maintain a façade of normalcy to placate the Dean;
• Daniel Simpson Day (Bruce McGill), "D-Day", a tough biker with a penchant for riding up the stairs; has no grade point average: all classes incomplete;
• "Stork" (real name not mentioned). During his first year, many thought the Stork was brain damaged; This character was played by Animal House co-writer Douglas Kenney and speaks only once ("Well, what the hell're we s'posed ta do, ya moe-ron?!").
• And the two pledges:
  • Larry "Pinto" Kroger (Thomas Hulce), a shy but normal fellow;
  • Kent "Flounder" Dorfman (Stephen Furst), a hopeless, fat, clumsy loser—a "total zero" even by Delta standards.

[edit] Omegas

• Greg Marmalard (James Daughton), the president of Omega House, who dates Mandy Pepperidge;
• Douglas C. Neidermeyer (Mark Metcalf), an ROTC cadet officer and scion of a military family who hates the Deltas with unbridled passion;
• Chip Diller, an Omega pledge (Kevin Bacon in his on-screen debut).

[edit] Other significant characters

• Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon), who wants to revoke the Deltas' charter and kick them off-campus;
• Marion Wormer (Verna Bloom), the Dean's dipsomaniac wife, who succumbs to Otter's charms;
• Katy (Karen Allen), Boon's fed-up and not-exactly-faithful girlfriend;
• Professor Dave Jennings (Donald Sutherland), who is bored with his job as English professor, smokes marijuana, and tries to turn his students on to left-wing politics;
• Clorette DePasto (Sarah Holcomb), the mayor's 13-year-old daughter, who (possibly) sleeps with Larry;
• Otis Day (DeWayne Jessie, who later legally changed his name to Otis Day), the leader of the band (Otis Day and the Knights) that plays at the toga party;
• Mandy Pepperidge (Mary Louise Weller), a cheerleader and sorority girl who dates Greg, but is not entirely "satisfied" with the relationship;
• Barbara "Babs" Jansen (Martha Smith), a Southern belle who wants Greg for herself and is turned off by the crude Deltas.

[edit] Whatever Happened to The Class of '63?

(As listed before the closing credits)

• Eric Stratton - Gynecologist, Beverly Hills, CA
• Robert Hoover - Public Defender, Baltimore, MD
• Boon & Katy - Married, 1964; Divorced 1969
• Barbara Sue Jansen - "Babs" - Universal Studios Tour Guide
• Greg Marmalard - Nixon White House Aide - Raped in prison, 1974
• Douglas C. Neidermeyer - Shot by his own troops in Vietnam, 1969
• Daniel Simpson Day - Present whereabouts unknown
• Bluto & Mandy - Senator and Mrs. John Blutarsky, eventually President and Mrs. Blutarsky (as seen on the special features of the DVD), Washington, DC.

And Their Pledges

• Kent Dorfman - Sensitivity Trainer, Cleveland, OH
• Larry Kroger - Editor, National Lampoon

[edit] Ask For Babs

After the closing credits, a card appears advertising the Universal Studios tour. To correlate with the film, it reads, "When in Hollywood, visit Universal Studios. (Ask for Babs.)"

Some later Landis films, such as The Blues Brothers and An American Werewolf in London also carried this tagline in their theatrical releases, partially as an inside joke and reportedly as a tongue-in-cheek promotion for Universal's studio tour and its theme park in Los Angeles.

As of 1989, Universal Studios no longer honors the "Ask for Babs" promotion, which was either a discount or a free entry.

[edit] Double Secret Probation

Double Secret Probation is a condition of arbitrarily imposed scrutiny of a given person or group's activities in an organizational or academic setting without procedural warning. In the film, Dean Vernon Wormer tells Inter-Fraternity Council President Greg Marmalard that he has already placed the offending Delta Tau Chi house on "double secret probation". The expanded release of the original movie on DVD in 2003, was titled the Double Secret Probation Edition.

Matthew Cooper used a modified version of the phrase ("Double Super Secret Background") in an email to his bureau chief about a conversation with Karl Rove about the Valerie Plame incident.

[edit] Analysis

The film has become known as the archetypal fraternity film; for better or worse, it has promoted many stereotypes and formed a distinct image of fraternities in American culture. Decades after its release, Animal House still exerts a powerful influence on today's college students. Despite having been born well after the film was released, students—especially men—on American campuses can often be seen wearing shirts emulating the Belushi character's generic "College" model. Quoting liberally from the film is a popular leisure activity, particularly at social events^{[citation needed]}. In addition, the film is notable for having introduced the toga party to popular college culture. Before the movie's release, toga parties were apparently quite rare^{[citation needed]}, but after 1978 many campuses experienced a massive upsurge of them.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Origins and production notes

• Animal House was based on Chris Miller's experience at his own fraternity (Alpha Delta Phi) at the Ivy League's Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. Additional inspiration came from Harold Ramis's experiences at Washington University in St. Louis where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity.
• The film was shot in 28 days.
• To purposely form cliques, director John Landis invited the Delta house actors to the set five days before the Omega house actors.
• Larry Kroger, the main character of the film, was first created in the famous National Lampoon Yearbook, of which he is the main character (or at least the owner). Mandy Pepperidge and Fawn Rosenberg also appear there, albeit modified.

[edit] Location

The filmmakers had submitted the script to a number of colleges and universities, and the movie was set to be filmed at the University of Missouri-Columbia until the president of the school read the script and refused permission. The University of Oregon agreed because after consulting with student government leaders and officers of Pan Hellenic Council, the Director of University Relations advised the president that the script, although raunchy and often tasteless, was a very funny spoof of college life. The president had been a senior administrator of a major California university years before. After reading the script for The Graduate, he consulted with other senior administrative colleagues who advised him to turn it down, as they believed it to be without artistic merit. The Graduate went on to become a classic. He was determined not to make the same mistake twice, even allowing the filmmakers to use his office as Dean Wormer's. As Landis relates in the DVD special features, Oregon was pretty much their last hope for a shooting location. After signing the contract for location use with the University, film representatives told University staff that the company had contacted 25 other colleges and universities seeking a location. For educational purposes, the location contract required that the film company to accept an intern selected by the university's film studies program to work on the movie during its location shooting in Oregon. The intern subsequently was invited to attend Assistant Director's School in Hollywood, based on her participation in the "Animal House" filming.^{[citation needed]}

This movie was filmed in Cottage Grove, Oregon and at the University of Oregon, in Eugene and features numerous sites from that campus and the surrounding area. Johnson Hall, the university's administration building, is prominently featured throughout the film (including UO President William Boyd's office), as is Gerlinger Hall (the women's dorm), the Erb Memorial Union (renovated since that time), Carson Hall (Dormitory), Fenton Hall, Straub Hall, Earl Hall, Hayward Field, the Knight Library (the building behind Emil Faber's statue), and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (seen in the opening credits). Despite all the campus locations, UO officials insisted that the university not be identified by name in the film's credits.

The actual house that was depicted as the Delta House was originally a residence in Eugene, the Dr. A.W. Patterson House. Around 1959, it was acquired by the Psi Deuteron chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity and was their chapter house until 1967, when the chapter was closed due to low membership and the house was sold and slid into disrepair, with the spacious porch removed and the lawn gravelled over. It was the sad state of the house that probably made it attractive as the chapter house for a degenerate fraternity. The interior of the Sigma Nu house was used for nearly all of the interior scenes. The individual rooms were filmed on a soundstage. At the time of the shooting, the Phi Kappa Psi and Sigma Nu fraternity houses sat next to the old Phi Sigma Kappa house. The exterior of the Omega House was actually that of the Phi Kappa Psi House. The Patterson house was demolished in 1986.[1] A suite of physicians' offices now occupies the site. A large boulder placed to the west of the entrance to the parking lot displays a bronze plaque commemorating the Delta House location. Local fans of "Animal House" arranged for its placement when their efforts to preserve the original building failed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Soundtrack and score

Animal House: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Image:Animalhousesoundtrack.jpg
Soundtrack by various artists
Released	1978
Genre	Rock and roll, R&B, film score
Length	36.23
Label	MCA
Professional reviews
All Music Guide Image:3.5 stars.svg Link

The soundtrack is a mix of rock and roll and R&B, mostly of songs that were popular around the approximate time period in which the film is set.

The original score was by film composer Elmer Bernstein, who had been a Landis family friend since John Landis was a child. According to the DVD special features, Bernstein was easily persuaded to score the film, but was not sure what to make of it. Landis asked him to score it as though it were serious. Bernstein said that his work on this film opened yet another door in his diverse career, to scoring comedies (he would write the so-called "God music" segment in the Landis picture The Blues Brothers, for example).

In the film, the R&B band Otis Day and the Knights, is depicted performing Shout! at the Delta house toga party and later at an all-black club doing "Shama Lama Ding Dong". On the soundtrack album, the tracks are credited to a singer named Lloyd Williams. In the film, Otis Day is portrayed by actor DeWayne Jessie, who later legally changed his name to Otis Day and formed a real-life Otis Day and the Knights. Additionally, blues guitarist and singer Robert Cray is seen in the film, playing bass in the Knights.

Due to music licensing concerns, some DVD releases of the film have a new score that replaces the original songs heard in the film.<ref>Olsen, Eric. August 25, 2003. Animal House Soundtrack, Blogcritics.org (retrieved on October 19, 2006).</ref>

[edit] Soundtrack album listing

1. "Faber College Theme", composed by Elmer Bernstein
2. "Louie, Louie", written by Richard Berry; performed by John Belushi
3. "Twistin' the Night Away", written and performed by Sam Cooke
4. "Tossin' and Turnin' ", written and performed by Bobby Lewis
5. "Shama Lama Ding Dong", written by Mark Davis; performed by Lloyd Williams
6. "Hey Paula", written by Ray Hildenbrand and performed by Paul & Paula
7. "Animal House", written and performed by Stephen Bishop
8. Intro
9. "Money (That's What I Want)", written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford; performed by John Belushi
10. "Let's Dance", written by Jim Lee; performed by Chris Montez
11. "Dream Girl", written and performed by Stephen Bishop
12. "Wonderful World", written and performed by Sam Cooke
13. "Shout!", written by Rudolph Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Jr. and Ronald Isley; performed by Lloyd Williams
14. "Faber College Theme", composed by Elmer Bernstein

[edit] Other songs in the film

• "Louie, Louie", written by Richard Berry; performed by The Kingsmen.
• "Theme from A Summer Place", composed by Max Steiner; performed by Percy Faith and his Orchestra
• "Who's Sorry Now", written by Ted Snyder, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby; performed by Connie Francis
• "Washington Post March", composed by John Philip Sousa
• When Kroger and Dorfman go to the Omega pledge party, "Tammy" is being played on the piano. It was a song done by Debbie Reynolds in the late 1950's.

[edit] Casting

• The highest-paid member of the cast was Donald Sutherland. Sutherland's casting was essential for the movie's being picked up by Universal. Universal was reluctant to produce a picture with no stars, and Sutherland was one of the biggest stars of the 1970s. For two days work on the picture, Sutherland was offered either a $40,000 flat fee or a percentage of the film's gross; assuming that the movie would be quickly forgotten, he opted for the sure money, a decision which (by his own admission) has cost him millions.
• D-Day was based on Dan Aykroyd, who was a motorcycle aficionado. Aykroyd was offered the part, but he was already committed to Saturday Night Live. That did not stop Belushi from playing Bluto, even though he was also on SNL. He flew between Eugene, Oregon and New York City twice a week in order to finish the movie and rehearse for/film SNL.
• D-Day's rendition of the William Tell Overture on his windpipe was a special talent of Bruce McGill's.
• The roles of Otter and Boon were originally written for Chevy Chase and Bill Murray respectively, but both declined due to previous commitments.
• Jack Webb and Kim Novak were the original choices to play the Wormers. Director John Landis chose John Vernon as Dean Wormer after seeing him in the Clint Eastwood film The Outlaw Josey Wales.
• Meat Loaf was the second choice for Bluto, in case Belushi dropped out.
• To get the role of Neidermeyer, Mark Metcalf lied about his ability to ride horses. After he got the role, he immediately took equestrian classes. Dee Snider, lead singer of the heavy metal music group Twisted Sister, was so enamored of Metcalf's performance that he had the actor perform a similar role in the music videos for two of Twisted Sister's songs, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock"; the latter video featured Stephen Furst (Flounder) in a brief cameo at the end.
• John Belushi's then girlfriend (later wife), Judy Jacklin (now Judith Belushi-Pisano), is an uncredited extra in several toga party scenes.

[edit] DVD editions

The "Double Secret Probation Edition" DVD released in 2004 features the members of the cast reprising their respective roles in a "Where Are They Now" mockumentary; those whose characters were still alive, that is. Neidermeyer was said to have been "killed in Vietnam by his own troops"; Bluto, however, played by the long-deceased Belushi, is characterized as the President of the United States. It also features John Vernon (in one of his last performances) as a now-retired, presumably mentally defunct Vernon Wormer, who still flies into a rage upon hearing anything about Delta Tau Chi.

One slightly scary fact is revealed in the DVD special section on the making of the film. On the eve of shooting, key members of the cast made the rounds on campus and had a violent encounter with members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity who had no idea who they were and thought they were trespassers. Several of the actors suffered minor injuries in the scuffle which, as the actors told it in 2004, was a very close call.

[edit] TV series, sequel

Main article: Delta House

The film inspired a short-lived half-hour television sitcom, Delta House, in which John Vernon reprised his role as the long-suffering, malevolent Dean Wormer. The series also included Steven Furst as Flounder, Bruce McGill as D-Day and James Widdoes as Hoover. Tim Matheson declined. The producers had the right to call the show Animal House but for some reason, the network decided against it. Michelle Pfeiffer made her acting debut in the series.

Animal House also inspired Co-Ed Fever, another sitcom but with none of the involvement of the film's producers or cast. The pilot of the series was aired by CBS on February 4, 1979, but the network canceled the series before airing any more episodes.<ref>Co-Ed Fever episode list from TV.com</ref>

The film's writers planned a movie sequel set in 1967 (the "Summer of Love"), in which the Deltas have a reunion for Pinto's marriage in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. The only Delta to have become a hippie is Flounder, who is now called Pisces. Later, Chris Miller and John Weidman, another Lampoon writer, created a treatment for this screenplay, but Universal nixed it because the sequel to "American Graffiti," which had a few hippie-1967 sequences, had not done well. When John Belushi died, the idea died along with him.

[edit] The smashed guitar

In one scene during the toga party, John Belushi's character, Bluto Blutarsky, smashes an acoustic guitar belonging to a folk singer (portrayed by singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop, who is credited as "Charming Guy With Guitar") who is serenading a group of girls with the time-worn folk tune "The Riddle Song" ("I gave my love a cherry that had no stone", etc.) One of the girls he is serenading is John Belushi's wife, Judith.[2] Bluto then hands him a splintered piece and says "Sorry." To this day, Stephen Bishop keeps the smashed guitar as a souvenir.^{[citation needed]}

In an episode of 8 Simple Rules, directed by "Hoover" actor James Widdoes, Rory sings while playing his guitar, then Kerry breaks it and says "Sorry!". This sight gag has been imitated on TV several times, most memorably by Worf on Star Trek: The Next Generation and (loosely) on The Simpsons episode, "Bart of Darkness" where during a heat wave, a hippie on the street with a guitar sings John Denver's "Sunshine on my Shoulders" before getting punched in the face by a passerby. During the second season of the television show Scrubs, Dr. Perry Cox abruptly ends a song by Colin Hay in the same manner.

Bishop wrote and performed the "Animal House Theme," and claims to have framed the smashed guitar. The hole the guitar made in the wall was the only damage done to the house where the movie was filmed, and this hole has been preserved as a memento from the making of the movie.

[edit] Cultural influences

• This film is credited for introducing "toga parties" into mainstream culture, which were virtually unheard of before.^{[citation needed]} They still remain a popular theme for college fraternity parties to this date, though some Greek societies try to distance themselves from the movie and the stereotypes it created.

• In the motion picture Twilight Zone: The Movie (also directed by John Landis), an American GI, lost in a Vietnamese jungle, tells his fellow soldiers "I told you we shouldn't have fragged Neidermeyer!", an allusion to the epilogue of Animal House.

• National Hockey League players (and brothers) Scott and Rob Niedermayer have reported that young hockey fans familiar with this movie have sometimes approached them in a (hopefully) joking way with one of the movie's famous lines: "Neidermeyer...DEAD!"

• The Futurama episode Mars University is a tribute to Animal House.

• The Simpsons episode, Homer Goes to College, makes many references to Animal House, including the use of the song Louie, Louie and a still image of Homer wearing a toga in the end credits. Margical History Tour features Homer singing a takeoff of the Animal House theme ("Nobody ever went to class. Then we saw Donald Sutherland's ass...then they did the end like American Graffiti, where you found out what happened to everyone") at the end, while a similar "where are they now" sequence played ("The next morning, Homer went to work in a toga.")

[edit] Trivia

• Perhaps surprisingly, the censors cleared a scene that involves statutory rape. The writers wanted the mayor's daughter to be 17 but were concerned that the studio would object. The writers thought that if they made her 13, the censors would then make them change it to 17. Harold Ramis said he was stunned that they did not make them change it.^{[citation needed]}

• Contrary to popular urban legend, John Belushi DID NOT actually chug an entire bottle of Jack Daniels during one iconic scene and force himself to vomit immediately afterwards. It was a bottle of ice tea (evident from the froth, which is something whiskey does not do.) Actually drinking an entire bottle of whiskey without quickly expelling the substance would be extremely painful, and could result in death due to acute alcohol poisoning.

• On Delta's fraternity banner, the motto "Ars gratia artis" can be seen. This is the motto of MGM.

• Otis Day and the Knights were based on two bands that used to play at Chris Miller's fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi: "Lonnie Youngblood and the Redcoats" and "Carl Holmes and the Commanders" ^{[citation needed]}

• Verna Bloom mentioned that her scene with Dean Wormer where she is drunk and he is on the phone with the mayor, was completely improvised as Landis was not happy with the scene as originally written.^{[citation needed]}

• The Faber College football team is called the Mongols. Faber Mongols are a brand of pencil.

• In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Animal House the 19th greatest comedy film of all time.

• Harold Ramis has said that he pictured the day of the Homecoming Parade as the day President Kennedy was shot, even though the dates do not match. ("Where were you in '62?", the same theme as American Graffiti, works better than "Where were ye in '63?") The parade includes a "Camelot" float with a large bust of JFK and a number of Jackie Kennedy lookalikes on it, wearing the same raspberry pink and pillbox hat outfit that Jackie wore at the assassination in 1963. (see anachronisms below). The "deathmobile" is a Lincoln Continental similar to the limousine in which JFK was assassinated.^{[citation needed]}

• The Animal House script reveals why Pinto got his nickname. As a kid, he ran naked in his parents' garage and accidentally got a bit of tar on his "wee wee" thus making it two-tone. ^{[citation needed]} In the original screenplay, the pledges had to reveal a secret about another pledge in order to get into Delta. Dorfman (Kroger's dorm-mate), tells the secret of Kroger's stain. In the movie, when Kroger asks Bluto: "Why Pinto?" Bluto answers: "Why not?" In the original screenplay, after Kroger asks why he'll be called Pinto, every Delta brother turns to him and says: "Because you've got a spotted ****!" This nickname also appears in a National Lampoon magazine, but there the reason for it is stated.

• On November 1, 2006, co-screenwriter Chris Miller's book The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie was released. It chronicles his actual experiences at the Dartmouth fraternity that provided the basis for the movie.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Goofs

[edit] Anachronisms

Although the action takes place only sixteen years prior to the date the film was made, the intervening time span had seen a dramatic change in styles, technological development, politics and social attitudes. As a result, some anachronisms stand out sharply:

• When hapless Delta pledge Pinto attempts to shoplift from a local grocery store, he meets the mayor's gum-smacking 13-year-old daughter, Clorette DePasto, who is working the cash register and whom he later dates at his peril (see above). While a period register is used by Clorette, a second cash register behind Pinto features an LED (Light Emitting Diode) display. Interestingly, 1962 was the very year in which Nick Holonyak Jr. created the first practical visible-spectrum LED, but the technology did not come into everyday use until several years later.

• Similarly, while Boon and Katy are getting stoned at Professor Jennings' apartment, they sing "Hey, Paula", which was not released until 1963.

• At Jennings's apartment, the television unit is a Westinghouse 'Jet Set' model from no earlier than 1965.[3]

• At the party following the induction of Pinto and Flounder into the fraternity, the Delta frathouse jukebox plays the song "Louie, Louie" as performed by The Kingsmen, which would in turn become integral to countless parties staged by U.S. college students seeking to emulate Animal House. However, The Kingsmen did not record their version of the song until April 1963.

• When actress Karen Allen is shown in a kitchen, she passes a refrigerator decorated with a sticker from the Bicentennial—fourteen years in the future, but two years before the film was actually produced.

• The term "Camelot" in reference to the JFK administration came into general usage after his assassination (it comes from an 1964 interview with Jackie where she mentions that the Lerner and Lowe musical of Camelot (1960) had been a favorite of Jack's, and that was how she thought of the White House years)^{[citation needed]}. Also Jackie's raspberry pink outfit with pillbox hat was created in 1963 and worn by her only on the assassination day. It did not exist in 1962 so couldn't have been used for an iconic float, and would have been considered extremely poor taste for a float in 1964.^{[citation needed]}

• Flounder's Lincoln Continental, which the boys eventually convert into the "Deathmobile," was actually a 1964 model, although the "suicide doors" were typical of that period. JFK was assassinated in a 1961 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors.

[edit] Continuity

• During Dave Jennings's (Sutherland's) lecture on Paradise Lost, he writes the word "Satan" on the chalkboard. The word moves from cut to cut.

• Shelly Dubinsky's brooch appears alternately on the left and right sides of her sweater.

• In the scene when Boon and Otter are teeing off golf balls at Niedermeyer, the first time they are shown the golf bag gets set down; then when they go back to the scene, Boon is holding the bag again.

• In the scene between Katie and Larry in the fraternity bar, Larry switches back and forth between holding his beer mug by the handle and holding it by the mug.

[edit] Mistakes

• The full name of the Delta House changes during the movie. When the movers are taking out the contents of the frat house, the name is Delta Chi Tau. Earlier in the movie, it is Delta Tau Chi.

• Although the film takes place in Pennsylvania (the state capital of Harrisburg is mentioned in multiple instances), a Tennessee flag is shown in the courtroom. This is because the set decorator was unable to find a large enough Pennsylvania flag for the scene, and the blue Oregon state flag wouldn't work because it had "State of Oregon" text on the upper part. So the set decorator used the most generic flag he could find, which turned out to be the Tennessee state flag.^{[citation needed]}

• During the parade scene, some members of the Pershing Rifles drill team forget to spin their rifles.^{[citation needed]}

• Many of the crowd extras in the parade scene are wearing late-1970s clothing and hairstyles.

[edit] See also

• Rick Meyerowitz, the illustrator who drew Animal House's iconic poster
• 1950s Nostalgia Films

[edit] References

<references/>

[edit] External links

• National Lampoon's Animal House at the Internet Movie Database
• Entertainment Weekly retrospective article
• Interview (MP3) with John Belushi biographer Tanner Colby and widow Judith Belushi Pisano on the public radio program The Sound of Young America regarding their book, "Belushi." Includes clips from Belushi's work on The National Lampoon Radio Hour.it:Animal House

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