I'm not surprised that people are divided on this movie. Some say it's a cult classic, others say that it's massively over-rated. My take on ANIMAL HOUSE is that it's a movie that has to be understood in terms of the times -- not 1962, when the movie was set, but 1979, when the movie came out. I believe that the music, much more than the comedy, is what caused the film to become a sensational hit.
If you were in high school in the Seventies, forced to listen to gutless, spineless, empty album oriented rock like Fleetwood Mack and the Eagles, it was a staggering revelation to watch fraternity boys from just fifteen years ago partying to songs like "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen. Still more shocking was the performance of "Shout" by Otis Day and the Knights. Try to imagine hearing that song for the first time if you were a kid who thought "rock" meant Stevie Nicks whining and warbling about "crystal visions" and Don Henley rasping listless, creepy nonsense about "some dance to remember, some dance to forget." The movie itself, as a movie, is rather episodic, and uneven. Some bits work, some don't. Belushi is sometimes screamingly funny, like when he smashes the folk singer's guitar with a casual "sorry." But again, notice how the real point is music -- Belushi is sacred in the movie only because he responds to this music like no one else. He's like a holy fool. He is the one who senses that folk music is a pointless dead end in pop culture. On the other hand, when "Shout" is going on he literally writhes in ecstasy on the floor. The shocking thing is that, for millions of teens at the time, this was not a melodramatic stunt -- he really captures what it feels like to hear that kind of rock and roll for the first time.
ANIMAL HOUSE is not really a great comedy. But in some ways it is the greatest rock and roll movie ever made -- miles ahead of gutless swill like Cameron Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS.
If you were in high school in the Seventies, forced to listen to gutless, spineless, empty album oriented rock like Fleetwood Mack and the Eagles, it was a staggering revelation to watch fraternity boys from just fifteen years ago partying to songs like "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen. Still more shocking was the performance of "Shout" by Otis Day and the Knights. Try to imagine hearing that song for the first time if you were a kid who thought "rock" meant Stevie Nicks whining and warbling about "crystal visions" and Don Henley rasping listless, creepy nonsense about "some dance to remember, some dance to forget." The movie itself, as a movie, is rather episodic, and uneven. Some bits work, some don't. Belushi is sometimes screamingly funny, like when he smashes the folk singer's guitar with a casual "sorry." But again, notice how the real point is music -- Belushi is sacred in the movie only because he responds to this music like no one else. He's like a holy fool. He is the one who senses that folk music is a pointless dead end in pop culture. On the other hand, when "Shout" is going on he literally writhes in ecstasy on the floor. The shocking thing is that, for millions of teens at the time, this was not a melodramatic stunt -- he really captures what it feels like to hear that kind of rock and roll for the first time.
ANIMAL HOUSE is not really a great comedy. But in some ways it is the greatest rock and roll movie ever made -- miles ahead of gutless swill like Cameron Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS.