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What would comedy be without Rodney Dangerfield? After decades of trying to make it big, took his self-depreciating stand-up act of one-liners to new heights in the 1980's & paved the way for thousands of a new generation of comics to do the same. Eventually Hollywood called, and after a noticable bit part (Caddyshack) and a middle-of-the-road starring piece (Easy Money), it was time for Rodney to get the respect he always deserved with what now most consider his greatest film, 1986's Back To School. Playing Thornton Melon, a successful clothing chain owner, he decides to join his college-going son by enrolling himself, having a grand ole party and fun every step of the way. This was a role tailor made for Dangerfield, and still after all these years is as funny and fresh as ever. However, MGM first released this film in 2000 with a bare-bones edition that at the most would earn it a D+. So seven years later, it now has been given an "Extracurricular Edition" that for the most part makes the grade. First off, the picture has been completely cleaned-up, barely a blemish or speck to be seen all the while with still keeping it's '80's film look. 2000's included a new 5.1 audio mix but now offers the original 2.0 as well for purists. But the main reason to double-dip would be the brand-new-to-DVD extras that fill most of it's second layer. Ranging from 5 to 18 minutes each, there's six new featurettes here discussing the making of the movie, to the styles of the film's signature dive "The Triple Lindy", to a very thoughtful looking back of the life of Rodney Dangerfield as told by those who knew him personally (Rodney passed before this version came out in 2004). Each new feature is entertaining, informative and quite a trip to see some of it's actors & crew today, like Harold Ramis, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young (with even a feature about his rise in acting from Rocky to BTS), 80's Blond-Haired Bad Boy William Zabka (yeah, he talks about his career typecasting here...finally!), and as Rodney's son Keith Gordon (wow, he really looks different now!). These are worth the double-dip alone besides the great presentation of the movie it belongs to. Of course it would have been nice to have a commentary track with these people and more stock footage of maybe Rodney himself being interviewed during the time of the film, but MGM did do a pretty good job here and what we got should do quite nicely. Back To School unfortunately did such a good job for Rodney, that he never made another comedy that came close to it in his career again (No, Natural Born Killers doesn't count...put down that Little Nicky case too). But he'll always be remembered in film history as the funniest, oldest college freshman ever. A great look back at what fun we had at the movies in the 1980's and at a man that always received our respect no matter how many times he said he didn't. (RedSabbath Rating:9.0/10)Read full review
very fun and upbeat. life lessons if you look for them! ..............................................................................................
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