History Film / BacktoSchool

-->'''Phillip:''' He wants you to dress up as WonderWoman, tie him up with a golden lariat and force him to tell the truth?

* RealityIsUnrealistic: Thornton hires Kurt Vonnegut to write His Essay for Him.The professor later claims that whoever wrote it knew nothing about Vonnegut

* ShoutOut: The opening montage shows Rodney playing golf in his [[{{Caddyshack}} Al Czervik]] getup.

* YouFailEconomicsForever: Thornton shows that his econ teacher might understand the theory behind economics better than he does, but he knows next to nothing about how to actually run a business.
** Artistic license comes into play in the professor's structuring of the econ class as well. Generally entry-level economics classes tend to treat econ as a pure social science and don't work towards the practical implications for business so cleanly as portrayed in this film.

* DeathOfTheAuthor: Thornton commissions Kurt Vonnegut to write an interpretation of Slaughterhouse Five for a literature class. When Dangerfield turns it in, the professor says he doesn't know the first thing about Vonnegut.

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: "I don't know who wrote this essay, but he obviously doesn't know the first thing about KurtVonnegut."

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Professor Turgidson (Kinison) states that American troops withdrew from [[VietnamWar Vietnam]] in 1975. The United States actually withdrew in 1973 -- the Fall of Saigon came in '75.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: Thornton recites "Do not go gentle into that good night" from memory as part of his English final. What does that poem mean to him? It means ''he don't take shit from '''nobody!'''''
** Also, the Triple Lindy dive he pulls off that wins the competition for his school.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: The entire dinner party sequence, early in the film.
** "I know you! [=You're 'Tall & Fat'!=]" "[=Oh, yeah? Well, you're short and ugly!=]"
** Everybody gets at least one. Unlike many modern comedians, Dangerfield was more than willing to let other people be funny in his movies
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The title track to the movie; play that song on your first day of classes, and it's gonna be a good semester. "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo also qualifies.

* NarmCharm: The guy pulling off the Triple Lindy dive is so obviously ''not'' Rodney, that it's actually kind of funny.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Robert Downey, Jr. is Jason's buddy, Derek.
** [[{{Rocky}} Paulie]] is Thornton's chauffer.
** SamKinison is Thornton's unhinged history professor.
** Jason gets together with [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Jadzia Dax]].

With that, Thornton decides -what the hell- he's enrolling too! He gets in good with the Dean by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney addressing all of his concerns with a big, fat donation]], and before long becomes the #1 party animal on campus. Just a few things stand to ruin Thornton's fun, though: a stuffy economics professor who doesn't appreciate Thornton buying his way through school, and a son who's beginning to develop the same gripe. Fortunately, Thornton also falls for a beautiful and very intelligent female English professor who can see that he can excel in his studies if he makes a real effort at it.

** "Listen, Jason: it doesn't matter how successful a man is, without an education, he's nothin'!" While the movie does poke a lot of fun at the "ivory tower" mentality, Thorn only passes (barely, at that) because he finally knuckled down and started studying.

With that, Thornton decides -what the hell- he's enrolling too! He gets in good with the Dean by [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney addressing all of his concerns with a big, fat donation]], and before long becomes the #1 party animal on campus. Just a few things stand to ruin Thornton's fun, though: a stuffy economics professor who doesn't appreciate Thornton buying his way through school, and a son who's beginning to develop the same gripe.

** And lastly, Adrienne Barbeau -yep, [[MostCommonSuperPower all three of her]]- is Thorn's newly-minted ex.

* DumbIsGood: The film has a strong Anti-Intellectual bend, arguing that experience trumps intelligence (which is what real Anti-Intellectualism is). Thornton is a lovable slob who is successful because he's worked hard and had real-world experience. His opponent is a petty, overly-intellectual educator who teaches how to run a business but has never run one himself. This can be seen in [[spoiler:Kurt Vonnegut's paper about Kurt Vonnegut receiving an F.]] Although Thorton's whole motivation for returning to school is to prevent his son from dropping out, it's more about not giving up than receiving an education.

** Everyone gets one.Unlike many modern Comedians,Dangerfield is more than willing to let other people be funny in His Movies

* DumbIsGood: The film has a strong Anti-Intellectual bend, arguing that experience trumps intelligence. Thornton is a lovable slob who is successful because he's worked hard and had real-world experience. His opponents are petty, overly-intellectual educators. This can be seen in [[spoiler:Kurt Vonnegut's paper about Kurt Vonnegut receiving an F.]] Although Thorton's whole motivation for returing to school is to prevent his son from dropping out, it's more about not giving up than receiving an education. In fact, almost all we see of Jason's school participation is his diving.

* DidNotDoTheResearch: Professor Turgidson (Kinison) states that American troops withdrew from [[VietnamWar Vietnam]] in 1975. We actually withdrew in 1972 -- the Fall of Saigon came in '75.
* DumbIsGood: The film has a strong Anti-Intellectual bend, arguing that experience trumps intelligence. Thornton is a lovable slob who is successful because he's worked hard and had real-world experience. His opponents are petty, overly-intellectual educators. Although Thorton's whole motivation for returing to school is to prevent his son from dropping out, it's more about not giving up than receiving an education. In fact, almost all we see of Jason's school participation is his diving.

* DumbIsGood: Played with. The movie provides a fairly accurate depiction of what Anti-Intellectualism is actually like[[hottip:PROTIP:It doesn't mean "pro-stupidity," it means "experience trumps brilliance"]] when we note that Thornton has made a fortune running his own business, and then see how it really pisses him off to have his egghead econ professor -who's run nothing but his classroom- tell him he's doing it wrong.

* YouFailEconomicsForever: Thornton does this to the professor on the first day of economics class.

** SamKinison is Thorn's unhinged history professor.

** And lastly, AdrienneBarbeau -yep, [[MostCommonSuperPower all three of her]]- is Thorn's newly-minted ex.

* DeadpanSnarker: Watching Dangerfield and Downey on the same screen his like watching Master and Protege.
* DumbIsGood: Played with. The movie provides a fairly accurate depiction of what Anti-Intellectualism is actually like[[hottip:PROTIP:It doesn't mean "pro-stupidity," it means "experience trumps brilliance"]] when we note that Thornton has made a fortune running his own business, and then see how it really pisses him off to have his egghead econ professor -who's run nothing but his classroom- tell him he is doing it wrong.

* DumbIsGood: Played with. The movie provides a fairly accurate depiction of what Anti-Intellectualism is actually like[[hottip:HINT:It doesn't mean "pro-stupidity," it means "experience trumps brilliance"]] when we note that Thornton has made a fortune running his own business, and then see how it really pisses him off to have his egghead econ professor -who's run nothing but his classroom- tell him he is doing it wrong.