ANIMAL HOUSE (1978) *** Patti Smith once famously said (or anyway, should be famously, it was one of the great quotes of the 20th century), "the Rolling Stones redeemed the white man forever." This is an attempt to do the same sort of thing with fraternities. There are two types of people who are going to thoroughly enjoy this movie: (1) frat boys who want to believe that they are a part of something great and full of honor and hedonism, and (2) people who can be thoroughly amused just watching John Belushi change facial expressions, like me. It is a film not as great as its reputation, but Belushi's summation of Pearl Harbor is one of the greatest lines in Hollywood history. So it's fun and entertaining, but does it achieve its goal? Well, in a word, no. I've seen Soy Cuba/Ya Kuba (a much better film) and it did not convince me that Castro's revolution was an entirely beneficial one. And I've seen frats and frat boys. I have, it should be said, had the honor of being friends with a number of frat boys, and they're as outstanding people as you'll find anywhere, but, again, you can say the same things picking out individuals who just happen to be from most any group or walk of life. The fraternity system-far from being the party represented by Belushi & associates, is little more than an intake system for Corporato, molding perfectly sensible people into limitations on their rugged individualism that will enable them to function better as cogs of the machine. There is an element of sowing your wild oats to it, but I don't recall those independent enough to remain outside the system having any trouble doing that either, generally better and with more style. So I say it fails in its big mission, but it's a good film anyway. Tim Matheson and Donald Sutherland (as that teacher you thought was cool, then) are very good, not as great as Belushi but he didn't carry it without them. Lots of good actors in this one, not just Belushi, the great one. It should be remembered that Robin Williams-who was at Belushi's death scene hours earlier and left, urging John to do so as well, has gone on record as saying Belushi died effectively at the hands of the CIA. There's always going to be plenty of work to do, if you're man enough to deserve to ride in that pirate float.
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