History Film / BackToSchool

* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Thornton has very little formal education, just a lifetime of business experience at his "Tall & Fat" stores. When Diane names some literature she hopes he has read, he can only relate it all to movies made from that literature starring portly actors.

Newly separated from his shrewish, unfaithful wife, Thornton decides to head off to the university to visit his son, Jason (Creator/KeithGordon). Once he gets there, Jason has to spill the beans on how college life is working out: he lied about the grades, the friends and the diving team and he's about to drop out. Thornton can't quite convince him not to, seeing how ''he'' never went to school and things turned out fine.

Newly separated from his shrewish, unfaithful wife, Thornton decides to head off to the university to visit his son, Jason. Once he gets there, Jason has to spill the beans on how college life is working out: he lied about the grades, the friends and the diving team and he's about to drop out. Thornton can't quite convince him not to, seeing how ''he'' never went to school and things turned out fine.

While perhaps not as well-known as ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', ''Back to School'' is one of Creator/RodneyDangerfield's funniest films and is definitely worth checking out for any fan of 80s comedy or the man himself. The other most notable thing about this film is that Creator/DerekSavage (yes ''that'' Derek Savage) appears as an extra.

* {{Corpsing}}:
** He's facing away from us, but Rodney is pretty clearly losing it in the scene where Creator/SamKinison screams at him about the Korean War.
** Keith Gordon is clearly cracking up as Thornton's meek secretary types out notes during a lecture because he found Edie [=McClurg=]'s MinnesotaNice performance too hilarious.

* AndThenISaid: "And she said, "Let's do it! The room's already paid for!"

--> '''Thornton''': And so, to all you graduates, as you go out into the world my advice to you is... don't go! It's rough out there! Move back with your parents. Let ''them'' worry about it!

* BackToSchool: Thorton goes back to college as a successful, middle-aged man to lead his son by example.
* BlatantLies:

** Thorton walks in on a woman taking a shower and claims that he didn't see anything. He then peeks back, staring bug-eyed at her.

--> '''Thornton''': All right, I'll say it: 'Cause Truman was too much of a stupid[[labelnote:Note]](pussy)[[/labelnote]] wimp to let [=MacArthur=] go in there and blow out those Commie pipsqueaks![[labelnote:Note]](bastards!)[[/labelnote]]

--> '''Diane''': Thornton, what does that poem mean to you?\\
'''Thornton''': It means... I don't take nothin'[[labelnote:Note]](shit)[[/labelnote]] from no one.
* BritishStuffiness: The only member of staff who turns his nose to Thornton's antics is the snooty British professor who teaches economics, rightfully finding Thorton's method of getting into college to be a slap in the face to the hard working students who got in properly and thinking of Thorton himself to be crude and boorish.
* ButLiquorIsQuicker

* TheCameo: Creator/KurtVonnegut appears as himself to write [[https://tutoriage.com/chicago-formatting-guide chicago style format ]] essay on Kurt Vonnegut. [[spoiler: It gets Thornton an F.]]
* CoolCar: Thorton's Lincoln limo, complete with a TV!

** Keith Gordon is clearly cracking up as Thorton's meek secretary types out notes during a lecture because he found Edie [=McClurg=]'s MinnesotaNice performance too hilarious.

* DivorceAssetsConflict: When Vanessa tells Thorton she wants a divorce, he gleefully serves her the papers right out of his coat pocket. She sneers at him that it won't be that easy and that it'll cost him, intending to take a good chunk of his fortune. This is averted when Thorton proceeds to pull out a series of Polaroids displaying her rampant infidelity which renders her unable to collect even a penny of his wealth. Knowing that she's been beat, she angrily storms off.

--> '''Diane''': Mr. Melon, how would you characterize ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby''?\\

'''Thornton''': Well ''The Great Gatsby'', he was... great! ''(class laughs)''\\
'''Diane''': ...See me after class.
* FanserviceExtra:

--> '''Diane''': Surely a man of your age and experience must have read some of the things on my list. What about ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''?\\
'''Thornton''': I saw the movie. Creator/OrsonWelles. Great actor, big actor. He was a Tall and Fat customer for years.\\
'''Diane''': How about ''Theatre/CatOnAHotTinRoof''?\\
'''Thornton''': I saw the movie. Burl Ives. Great actor, extra stout. He was a customer, too.\\
'''Diane''': ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire''.\\
'''Thornton''': Great movie. Creator/MarlonBrando. He wasn't that big then, but he ballooned up nicely. I'd say, pound for pound, our finest American actor.\\
'''Diane''': Don't you ever read?\\
'''Thornton''': Who has time? I see the movie. I'm in and out in two hours.\\
'''Diane''': Oh, Thornton, don't you see? The reason you want to read these works is so you can experience them for yourself, so you can share the thoughts and feelings of the writer, without the interference of your actor and director and professor's point of view getting in the way. To truly share and understand the common feelings of all mankind, the feelings of being alive.
* GoodParents: Thorton's father in 1940 is none too happy about Thorton's bad grades, but rather than use corporal punishment as was standard at the time, he instead gives Thorton a pep-talk about how important having an education is. However, it does take Thorton 46 years to get the hint.

* NouveauRiche: The SelfMadeMan Thorton blows through money being a party animal on campus and frequently shows that he's willing to simply buy whatever he desires rather than earn it.

* PlagiarismInFiction: Thornton Melon turns in an essay about a book by Kurt Vonnegut, written by Kurt Vonnegut himself, which he passes off as his own. The English professor gives him an F, telling him that whoever wrote the essay "doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut." Later on, Thornton gets called in by the dean of the college, with accusations that Thornton has committed academic fraud by turning in homework done by someone else

* SlobsVsSnobs: A rare occasion when the slob is wealthier than the snobs: Thorton is a NouveauRiche SelfMadeMan whose irreverent personality runs against the snobby culture of academia.

* DivorceAssetsConflict: When Vanessa tells Thorton she wants a divorce, he gleefully serves her the papers right out of his coat pocket. She sneers at him that it won't be that easy and that it'll cost him, intending to take a good chunk of his fortune. This is averted when Thorton proceeds to pull out a series of Polaroids displaying her rampant infedelity which renders her unable to collect even a penny of his wealth. Knowing that she's been beat, she angrily storms off.

-->'''Thornton:''' You're ''perfect''!

* ActorAllusion: One of the last shots in the opening montage is of Creator/RodneyDangerfield golfing. This was taken directly from ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}''.

While perhaps not as well-known as ''Film/{{Caddyshack}}'', ''Back to School'' is one of Creator/RodneyDangerfield's funniest films and is definitely worth checking out for any fan of 80's comedy or the man himself.

* LargeHam: In true Rodney Dangerfield fashion Thorton is this to a T.

* ButNotTooForeign: Nothing is really made of it, but the flashback at the beginning reveals that Thornton's given surname was ''Meloni'', and he changed it somewhere along the way.

* PunnyName: The Dean's last name is Martin; this cracks Thornton up to no end.

-->'''Jason:''' "I wanna write that paper, I'm ''gonna'' write that paper, because that's the whole point of coming to college: to ''learn'' something! But you're not gonna learn a goddamn thing if you've got everybody doing your work for you!"

* YourCheatingHeart: Thornton catches his wife cheating during a party. The marriage is so unhappy that he could care less and happily serves her divorce papers that he has in his pocket.