“I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.”
— ERIC “OTTER” STRATTON
Ever since the first time I saw “Animal House” in 1978, it has been one of my two or three favorite movies
Friends and acquaintances who know me as a serious, mature adult capable of deep thoughts always ask me how a movie whose greatest quote is “You fucked up, you trusted us” could possibly mean so much to me.
Or my other favorite quote, “The Negroes took our dates.”
They don’t understand how not only does the movie fit into the great tradition of the ’70s — probably the last great decade of American cinema — it also might just be the quintessential movie about being a guy.
Think about it. Not one person in that movie has any sort of awakening in which he realizes he needs to grow up, settle down or get on with his life. Otter becomes a gynecologist, Boon and Katy get married and divorced and Niedermayer is fragged by his own troops in Vietnam.
Yes, Bluto becomes a U.S. senator, but if you think he grew up at all, just look at the example of our recent president from Texas.
Then there’s my favorite of all — “Daniel Simpson Day, whereabouts unknown.”
Think about all the movies “Animal House” inspired, and think of all the “bromances” you’re seeing these days. None of them even compare. Even the good ones — “Talladega Nights,” “Wedding Crashers” and others like them — always show the protagonist learning some sort of lesson. Growing up. Getting in touch with his feelings. Appreciating friends and family.
Becoming a man.
Not in “Animal House.”
In that movie, Pinto does have sex with the mayor’s 13-year-old daughter. The bad guys do beat the good guys, such as they are. And in the end, in their “really futile and stupid gesture,” the Deltas do get revenge for their expulsion by trashing the entire downtown area.
And they don’t get punished for it.
It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen in the last 44 years that is funny just for funny’s sake, one of the few that doesn’t worry about who is offended.
I suppose I wouldn’t love it so much if I hadn’t been in a fraternity, although our chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon was much less outrageous. We did have one guy who was a little too tightly wound, talking about the .44 Magnum he kept in his apartment in case anyone tried to break in.
My brother Steve — my younger sibling and my fraternity brother — turned to me and said, “Best argument for gun control I’ve ever heard.”
Comedy.
There’s nothing better.
***
A brief note. I am feeling somewhat nostalgic because our national fraternity shut down its chapter at my school. I was one of the founding brothers — No. 5 on the chapter annals dating back to 1978 — and I was the first president of the chapter after we earned our charter.
Most of the guys I saw “Animal House” with were my chapter brothers.
Ramming speed!!!