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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 11332
Released: August 14, 2007 |
| Our Price: $6.09 |
| Used Price: $5.98 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
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+!Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 027616083135 Manufacturer No: M108313
Description of Back To School (Extra-Curricular Edition):
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
Back To School (Extra-Curricular Edition) Reviews:
rodney dangerfield 
2008-10-05 - i just love rodney dangerfield!!! i've seen this movie several times but never on dvd. my son is a junior in college and i just had to get it for him. also with this dvd you get extra bonus features which you don't get if you have just the vhs from long ago!!!
Finally Rodney Dangerfield's Greatest Film Gets The Respect It Deserves.
2008-09-11 - What would comedy be without Rodney Dangerfield? After decades of trying to make it big, took his self-depreciating stand-up act of one-liners to new heights in the 1980's & paved the way for thousands of a new generation of comics to do the same. Eventually Hollywood called, and after a noticable bit part (Caddyshack) and a middle-of-the-road starring piece (Easy Money), it was time for Rodney to get the respect he always deserved with what now most consider his greatest film, 1986's Back To School.
Playing Thornton Melon, a successful clothing chain owner, he decides to join his college-going son by enrolling himself, having a grand ole party and fun every step of the way. This was a role tailor made for Dangerfield, and still after all these years is as funny and fresh as ever. However, MGM first released this film in 2000 with a bare-bones edition that at the most would earn it a D+. So seven years later, it now has been given an "Extracurricular Edition" that for the most part makes the grade.
First off, the picture has been completely cleaned-up, barely a blemish or speck to be seen all the while with still keeping it's '80's film look. 2000's included a new 5.1 audio mix but now offers the original 2.0 as well for purists. But the main reason to double-dip would be the brand-new-to-DVD extras that fill most of it's second layer. Ranging from 5 to 18 minutes each, there's six new featurettes here discussing the making of the movie, to the styles of the film's signature dive "The Triple Lindy", to a very thoughtful looking back of the life of Rodney Dangerfield as told by those who knew him personally (Rodney passed before this version came out in 2004). Each new feature is entertaining, informative and quite a trip to see some of it's actors & crew today, like Harold Ramis, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young (with even a feature about his rise in acting from Rocky to BTS), 80's Blond-Haired Bad Boy William Zabka (yeah, he talks about his career typecasting here...finally!), and as Rodney's son Keith Gordon (wow, he really looks different now!). These are worth the double-dip alone besides the great presentation of the movie it belongs to. Of course it would have been nice to have a commentary track with these people and more stock footage of maybe Rodney himself being interviewed during the time of the film, but MGM did do a pretty good job here and what we got should do quite nicely.
Back To School unfortunately did such a good job for Rodney, that he never made another comedy that came close to it in his career again (No, Natural Born Killers doesn't count...put down that Little Nicky case too). But he'll always be remembered in film history as the funniest, oldest college freshman ever. A great look back at what fun we had at the movies in the 1980's and at a man that always received our respect no matter how many times he said he didn't.
(RedSabbath Rating:9.0/10)
back to school 
2008-07-16 - [[A
SIN:B000QQKVY8 Back To School (Extra-Curricular Edition)]]
my husband just loves silly movies.The sillier the better.
classic comedy
2008-06-14 - Great Movie to watch anytime of day. Classic Rodney at his best. Manages to workin a lot of his stage material throughout the movie. Also features a young Robert Downey Jr.
Rodney's finest moment.
2008-06-13 - One of the better 80's comedies.
Juvenile, yes.
Funny, yes.
Not life changing or movie changing.
If your in the mood for a blast from the past chuckle.
Rent it, when the just released section is sold out.
