Animal Antics (A/C BP #4)

Director: John Landis

Producers: Ivan Reitman, Matty Simmons

Writers: Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenny, Chris Miller

Starring: John Belushi, Tom Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, Donald Sutherland

Length: 109 minutes

Rating: Restricted (R)  

Do you remember when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Didn’t think so! Bluto (Belushi), one of the mischievous members of the Delta fraternity, seemed to think so though.  I speak of National Lampoon’s Animal House, while arguably the pioneer of explicit college movies, one of the greatest college films of all time. Animal House presents a set of strengths and weaknesses in providing an accurate and impressionable view of college life, while also maintaining its comedy status.  

It’s 1962 at Faber College as freshmen Lawrence Kroger (Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Furst) seek to integrate themselves into the college way of life by joining a fraternity. While initially rejected by the more elite Omega house, Kroger leads the duo to the Delta fraternity - of which his member was once a member. From here onward, the viewer gets to taste a little slice of college life as the story follows the Delta house through all its misadventures, from giving a horse a heart attack, food fights, and expulsion.  

Animal House highlights a select and optional part of the college experience to portray: frat life. The most prominent part of this lifestyle is the party environment, an activity Delta house thrives on. Every evening at the Delta house there is a wild, upbeat party, not that the day time stops Bluto from having a drink. Kroger and Dorfman, eventually initiated into the frat as Pinto and Flounder respectively, are pulled into the party scene from the moment they enter the frat house. With plenty of beer to go around and a fun – although a bit chaotic – atmosphere, the freshmen fit right in modeling the peer pressure and belongingness students are faced with in the college experience. Pinto is faced with another internal conflict when faced with the option of taking advantage of his passed out date at one of the house’s toga parties. In all, frat life looks wild.  

Naturally, college administration needs to maintain the integrity of the school. This leads Dean Wormer (Vernon) take direct action to maintaining Faber. Wormer takes drastic actions, such as placing Delta on “double secret probation” and recruiting members of the Omega house to find a way to remove Delta’s charter. Wormer’s plans inevitably succeed after Deltas violate their probation after failing a psychology exam and get caught during another massive party. The Deltas, now expelled, nearly give up before Bluto’s encouraging WWII inspired speech brings senior members to take revenge against Wormer at the homecoming parade.  An end film epilogue reveals some depth to an otherwise lacking character development as many Deltas go on to live successful lives. 

Although frat life doesn’t display all of the college experience, Animal House does a damn good job of showing how wild college can be. While providing an accurate setting of the time, Animal House also establishes many of the frat stereotypes thought of today: parties, alcohol, drugs, scandalous activities, and more. Although presented in a dramatized manner, it’s undeniable that such parties happen in frats in modern context. Animal House still presents this raunchy part of the college experience by humorous means that is sure to leave an impression too great for such a small review. Animal House is a must-see.