It was only in the past year or two that I learned that Dean Wormer actually meant ‘Fizzies,’ and not mispronouncing ‘feces.’ I’d never heard of Fizzies before–but did know what feces meant, and it did sound like something you wouldn’t want in a public fountain.
I enjoy it. The extent to which it shows its age has more to do with the canned-sounding dialogue and campy situations which just don’t play well today.
It’s not really rocket science, some people can enjoy dark humor and some people can’t. This movie is quite dark, and I don’t see it celebrating either pompous frats or party frats, nor certainly any of their antics.
At least once a month I’ll blurt out, “Thank you God!”
Nitpick: She was the daughter of the car dealership owner/Mafioso.
In the National Lampoon’s Animal House book I cite above, there’s a picture of Dean Wormer surrounded by vignettes of the Delta House incidents he’s describing – including the swimming pool full of Fizzies, so you can see what it meant.
Having grown up in that era, I remember Fizzies, which were sort of Alka-Seltzer-like soft drinks that contained artificial flavor and artificial sweetener* instead of aspirin, so when you dropped them in water they efferversced to produce a carbonated beverage. The image of a swimming pool full of Fizzies is a delightful one.
*It’s not that they were a diet drink. To have contained enough sugar to make an acceptable soft drink, the tablets would’ve had to have been huge. You can fit much more sweetness from artificial sweetener in a small space than you can with sugar. I hate artificial sweeteners, so I never liked Fizzies. They’ve revived the brand a few times – although it never caught on – and it still tastes as bad as ever.
You shall immediately make your departure from the landscaped green area surrounding my domicile.
He was the mayor.
Neighbors would have been far better without the ridiculous Looney Tunes music score.
There are clips on YouTube with the rejected Tom Scott score—I’m not wild about that either, but it’s better than what they ultimately went with.
BTW, the novel by Thomas Berger is one of my favorite books of all time.
I give this post 1,000 likes.
I will never find Animal House not funny. I still laugh hysterically when Flounder’s picture is thrown on the wall and Bluto screams.
Incidentally, the Deltas didn’t just represent “straight white Christian … men”, they were “straight white **Protestant **Christian men”. People from Catholic backgrounds were only just beginning to enter the higher social ranks and that was mostly because an Irish-Catholic (JFK) was then president.
Another thing to keep in mind about viewing Animal House today is it was set in 1962 but made in 1978. In terms of change, 1962 and 1978 was more like a century than merely 16 years. The jokes centering around racism and sexism were from the perspective of a supposedly more enlightened time looking at the backward attitudes of the “bad old days” even though they were still recent enough for most people above the age of 21 to have seen or experienced first-hand.
He was also the mayor.
This thread compelled me to re-watch Animal House (which I find hilarious, for the record, and always have.)
I see no evidence that the Deltas only represented Protestant men. I do see evidence to the contrary. Dorfman and Schoenstein sound like Jewish names, and I think Blutarsky can be presumed to be Polish and hence most likely Catholic. There is no reason to assume these men are Protestant. You say that people from Catholic backgrounds were just beginning to enter the higher social ranks, but the Delta house does not represent the higher social ranks.
The higher social ranks would have been represented by the Omega house, the WASP frat. Although even that house has a member named Auerbach (introduced near the beginning of the movie, when Dorfman and Kroger are thinking about pledging the Omega house), and Auerbach is often a Jewish name, although non-Jewish ethnic Germans might also have it. But, in the main, there can be no doubt that the Omega house is supposed to represent the old-money WASP elite - a group much beloved as targets of ridicule because making fun of them is always “punching up”. Caddyshack also comes to mind.
But Caddyshack is super over rated.
<ducks>
My mistake. I was in a hurry and got the names of the two rival frats confused. I was referring the WASPy frat that Marmalard and Neidermeyer belonged to when I said groups like them represented the ruling straight white male Protestant Christian power structure. The Deltas, on the other hand, seemed to come from mostly ethnic Catholic or Jewish working class backgrounds.
I loved it as a teen in the Seventies, but haven’t seen it in thirty plus years. Would it still make me laugh? I dunno. But I will never get judgmental about it or any other raunchy teen comedy.
I dunno. I remember when they had, “just called the Jewish frat and none of our answers were right …” I’d assumed strict segregation was in force in the 1960’s – Jewish men went only to the Jewish frat, and were automatic legacies. Unless someone was a complete basket case. Like Fred.
But Exapno Mapcase: is right, it seems like the Deltas were punching up, when in reality, they’re lower down on the totem pole, but still enjoying the fruits of being higher up in the scheme of things. They thought they were the equivalent of Otis Day and the Nights – Otis didn’t agree. They still had backward ideas about women, to the point he didn’t even notice he was drifting away from his girlfriend. He really was surprised she hooked up with the English teacher.
Its the same as Caddyshack. On some level, its simply a vehicle for jokes, without any deep meaning. No one should watch an episode of South Park and say, “OK, this is the one that will save the world.” Even if they are occasionally insightful.
One thing to point out is the Otter - Eric Shoenstein - is most clearly an elite. He may or may not be jewish - the name is not indicative - but based on his attitude, attire, car and decor of his room in the house that kid comes from some real money. In that time - as in our own - that implies privilege and pride of place.
He may be slumming, but he knows he’s slumming and enjoys it.
Otter isn’t Schoenstein.
I can’t remember the real name of Otter’s character. Schoenstein’s first name is Boone, which might actually be a nickname rather than a real name. (According to my father, who grew up during the time that movie was set, though he was in elementary school rather than college, Daniel Boone was a hugely popular character at that time, so maybe it has something to do with that.) So, Boone Schoenstein is one character, and Otter is another character.
This. Blazing Saddles still kills me. AND makes me sad. Because the big picture issues addressed are still painful. And can be laughed at AND examined at once.
OTOH, I saw Animal House in the theaters when it was released. My cousin and I were so breathtakingly stoned that we started laughing at the opening credits and never stopped. I saw it a few weeks later with some other friends, quite straight, and laughed just as hard.
I was exactly the right age. Still in H.S. I went to art school for college and was never exposed to Greek life.
My Dearly Beloved™ ( who went to a Land Grand Institution that to this day has a large sprinkling of Greek houses right on campus, and who lived in a sorority house while attending said Land Grant Institution ) and I watched it a year or so ago. There are some hilarious lines that hold up. But agreed with others- the base sexist attitudes isn’t funny. At all. Then again, at 16 hearing Sarah Holcomb confess her true age on the 50 yard line of the football stadium was MUCH FUNNIER than hearing her say it as a 54 year old man with a 24 year old daughter. --shrug–
To me, it’s dated. Most films are. I also completely appreciate it for what it was. Lowbrow stoner humor. I want to see a timeless comedy, a biting satire with nuance and subtlety? I’ll watch Young Frankenstein or Dr. Strangelove. 
Oddly, I saw Peter Riegert just last night while watching an older episode of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.
Otter is Eric Stratton. Boone is Donald Schoenstein.
Tim Matheson says he’s never escaped that role. When he costarred on “West Wing,” everyone still called him “Vice President Otter.”
The smashing of a guitar will never be funny.