History Film / BackToSchool

# "Say when!" "Right after this drink!"
# "If we finish this bottle of wine, you won't have to beg."

--> '''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]]"

ButLiquorIsQuicker

* HonestAdvisor: Lou is this to Thorton. He doesn't mince words about his dislike for Thorton's new wife, or if he "looks fat" in his new commercial.

** Edie [=McClurg=] breaks as Thorton's meek secretary types out notes during a lecture because he found the actress's MinnesotaNice performance too hilarious.

* TechnicianVersusPerformer: This is the core of the conflict between Thornton and Professor Phillip, as it reflects on academic teaching vs. [TaughtByExperience real world experience]]. As a professor, Phillip's class is based mainly on theoretical principles of business. Thornton, [[SelfMadeMan a self-made retailer]], explains the more creative business practices and the shady backroom deals that happen in the real world.

** Thorton walks in on a woman taking a shower and claims that he didn't see anything while staring bug-eyed at her body,

* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: 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.

* BackToSchool: Dur-hey.
* BlatantLies: "Is the work you turned in your own?" "I can't lie to ya, Music/DeanMartin. ''*{{beat}}*'' ''...Yes it is''."
** Special mention to the scene as described in Fanservice Extra below.
* {{Bowdlerise}}: As usual, the TV cut includes some of the harsher language dubbed over. One example:

* {{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. Jason's ActuallyPrettyFunny bit mentioned above was the result of his actor being unable to stop doing this because of Edie [=McClurg=]'s timid MinnesotaNice performance as the secretary.

* DumbIsGood: The film has a strong Anti-Intellectual bend, arguing that experience trumps brilliance (which is more in line with Anti-Intellectualism as a real-world philosophy than is "being stupid is great"). 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.
** "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 "ivory tower" elitism, it's worth noting that Thorn only passes (barely, at that) because he finally knuckled down and started taking his education seriously.

* TheCameo: Creator/KurtVonnegut appears as himself to write Thornton's essay on Kurt Vonnegut. [[spoiler: It gets Thornton an F.]]

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Thornton commissions Creator/KurtVonnegut to write an interpretation of SlaughterhouseFive for a literature class. When Dangerfield turns it in [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} as his own work]], the professor gives it an F, saying "I don't know who wrote this essay, but he obviously doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut."

* GenreSavvy: Thornton shows this time and again, being a canny businessman who, while he may not have much in the way of formal education, nevertheless knows how the business world and human nature works very well. During the economics class, when he's good-naturedly pointing out all the mistakes that the teacher made in his hypothetical scenario, the students all turn around and ''start taking notes on what he's saying.'' This discomfits the teacher greatly. Earlier, in the scene in the bookstore where he tells his son to put the used books back and buy new ones, his son says the used book are good because they've already been underlined. Thornton responds with this gem: "Yeah, and the guy who owned them before you may have been a moron!" Then he buys the books for everyone in the store. He repeatedly shows that he knows how handle situations and to get people to come around to his way of thinking. Lastly, in the bar fight scene, when the football players are looking for some ass to kick, he knows the answer to the situation is to call over his bodyguard/best friend, who's the one guy in the place whose ass they ''can't'' kick.

* BlatantLies: "Is the work you turned in your own?" "I can't lie to ya, Dean Martin. ''*{{beat}}*'' ''...Yes it is''."

* {{Main/Corpsing}}: He's facing away from us, but Rodney is pretty clearly losing it in the scene where Sam Kinison screams at him about the Korean War. Jason's ActuallyPrettyFunny bit mentioned above was the result of his actor being unable to stop doing this because of Edie [=McClurg=]'s timid MinnesotaNice performance as the secretary.

* DeadpanSnarker: Watching Dangerfield and Downey on the same screen is like watching Master and Protege.

* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Thornton commissions KurtVonnegut to write an interpretation of SlaughterhouseFive for a literature class. When Dangerfield turns it in [[UsefulNotes/{{Plagiarism}} as his own work]], the professor gives it an F, saying "I don't know who wrote this essay, but he obviously doesn't know the first thing about KurtVonnegut."

* BlatantLies: "Is the work you turned in your own?" "I can't lie to ya, Dean Martin... ''{{beat}}'' ''Yes it is''."