nicholasofpain at 2013-12-04 23:53:37:
Love this movie so much.
Daniel Cossu at 2013-12-05 01:16:44:
Thanks, John. Nice job! Look at that awesome one sheet. It tells you everything you need to know about the movie and it makes wanna go see it because you know you're gonna have a great time. What happened to great posters like this? Today's comedy posters are a joke compared to this one.
Scott at 2013-12-05 02:10:09:
Nick and Daniel, concur. Back to School is perhaps the ultimate in high concepts. Literally, you have the movie in the TITLE. Re poster: There are several other 80s movies we'll be seeing with similar approaches including Night Shift. Re BTS: I sold a pitch with Dangerfield sort of attached called Mr. President. Just after BTS so he was at that time one of the hottest stars in Hwood. There are so many great jokes in BTS. To wit: "My wife was an Earth sign. I was a Water sign. Together we made mud."
jhenderson at 2013-12-05 08:20:50:
Thanks, Daniel. I had never seen this poster until Scott added it my post. I agree with you about modern posters. They're terrible.
jhenderson at 2013-12-05 08:28:31:
Scott, the one-liners in this movie are great and they never stop coming. "Lay off Vanessa. She gives great headache." "YOU spend too much money? Nah. A lot of people go to Switzerland to get their watch fixed." And I will always, always laugh any time someone mentions Klimt. This was a lot of fun, Scott. Thanks!
Scott at 2013-12-05 11:10:37:
I was up for a rewrite of a project called "The Scout" to which Dangerfield was attached at the time (subsequently made with Albert Brooks in the lead). Read through the draft. There were several unfinished sides of dialogue that read: [Joke here]. In general, the best humor derives from character in the context of situation. But with a persona like Dangerfield, where you EXPECT jokes, there's also that. Here are a few more jokes from Back To School: "Please, try to understand. I don't have the background for this. I mean, the high school I went to, they asked a kid to prove the law of gravity, he threw the teacher out the window!" "The football team at my high school, they were tough. After they sacked the quarterback, they went after his family." "I can't figure women out. Today, they're... independent. They only think about themselves. Why, during sex, Vanessa - she used to scream out her own name!"
jhenderson at 2013-12-05 11:23:41:
It's one of the few movies I can think of where the comedian's persona is used to create the humor of the situation. Most of the jokes are just jokes but throughout most of the movie, Melon uses humor as defense or to ingratiate himself with people. Once he realizes he can't pay his way to Jason's heart and he decides to study and pass his tests on his own, the level of one-liners decrease. He's also far less obnoxious, especially in the final exam scene and the high dive sequence.