A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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Positive Messages
a little
In its own way, this comedy shows the importance of hard work in achieving one's goals, as well as the importance of self-reliance in becoming who you want to be.
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Positive Role Models
a little
For all his faults, Thornton Melon is a self-made millionaire who must learn to put the same amount of work into getting his college education as he has into earning his fortune.
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Violence & Scariness
a little
In one scene, a huge fight breaks out in a bar. Punches are thrown, tables and chairs are broken, and bottles are smashed. There is a joke involving hom*osexual rape.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
some
Early in the film, the father of a son in college enters a dorm building looking for his son. He inadvertently looks into a shower stall and sees a woman's exposed breasts. This same man's wife is shown in the kitchen of their mansion engaged in foreplay. When his wife wants a divorce, the man shows her a series of Polaroids in which it's strongly implied that she has committed adultery on numerous occasions. Two male college students watch a female student walk by and make a lewd comment about her rear end. In one scene, the main character is shown shirtless from the waist up, moaning and making requests as if he's having sex; the camera pulls back to reveal he's getting a massage from his chauffeur. Overall, there is frequent sexual innuendo and sexual puns throughout the movie.
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Language
a lot
Frequent profanity: "f--k," "p---y," "goddamn," "bastards." In one scene, a history professor refers to Asians as "rice eaters." In another scene, while a character is admiring a painting by Gustav Klimt, Klimt's last name is turned into a pun to sound like the word "c--t."
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Products & Purchases
very little
Characters are often seen drinking from cans of Miller Lite beer.
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
some
Binge drinking is shown at a wild party. A college student, while trying to explain the party to the main character, is obviously intoxicated as he slurs his speech and eventually vomits on a tree. Characters drink beer at bars and champagne at parties. The chauffeur in the film is shown smoking a cigar.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Back to School is a 1986 comedy starring Rodney Dangerfield as a successful businessman who decides to attend the college his son attends to finally get his degree. There is brief nudity (bare breasts), frequent profanity (including "f--k" and "p---y"), and plentiful sexual innuendos in Dangerfield's frequent and hilarious quips. In one scene, a history professor refers to Asians as "rice eaters," and, in another scene, Dangerfield makes a joke involving hom*osexual rape. As an '80s college movie, there are the requisite scenes of blowout parties with binge drinking. Still, for teens and those older, Back to School is a classic of its genre -- a movie in which Dangerfield's pitch-perfect one-liners shine in every scene. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
What's the Story?
Thornton Melon (Rodney Dangerfield) is a self-made multimillionaire who owns a chain of "Tall and Fat" stores throughout the country. He goes to visit his son Jason -- whom he believes has joined a fraternity and is on the diving team -- only to find out when he gets there that Jason wants to drop out of school. Determined to prove to his son that "you can be who you want to be," Melon decides to go back to college and earn the degree he never received when he was younger. Melon's antics endear him to most of the students and professors, and he even finds a potential love interest in his English professor (Sally Kellerman). But when he fully embraces the collegiate party lifestyle and delegates the writing of his papers to employees, Melon is threatened with expulsion and must actually get the education he signed on for and prove to everyone that he has what it takes to stay in college.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about '80s movies set in colleges. Why do you think this was such a popular genre during that decade?
What aspects of the movie seem dated to you? Do the dated aspects make this film more or less enjoyable? If you could remake the movie, who would you cast in the roles?
Could the story of the movie alone sustain interest, or is the entertainment value primarily from Rodney Dangerfield's constant quips and one-liners?
