Double Secret Probation

John Landis has made some of my favorite films including Trading Places, Coming To America and American Werewolf in London. Although The Blues Brothers will always remain my top Landis movie thanks to its intoxicating mix of rhythm and blues musical and absurdist comedy, I think that National Lampoon’s Animal House will forever be his best, out and out comedy. Seen through the eyes of a pair of college freshmen, Pinto and Flounder, it’s the loose tale of the anarchic Delta fraternity house during a year on the Faber College campus as the schools management team with an opposing frat house to bring them down.

What follows is a collection of crazy, crude and absurd gags as the Delta House guys drink, cheat, party and road trip their way to a good time.The gags and set-pieces are flawless whether it’s toga parties, the odd musical number (Shout courtesy of Otis Day and the Nights), food fights, equine related pranks or the wily scheming of Dean Wormer. The cast are on perfect form whether it’s the charismatic Tim Matheson, the naïve Stephen Furst, the Leslie Neilson straight faced approach of legend John Vernon and the inescapable genius of a magnetic John Belushi. His appearance throughout the film may be little more than a glorified cameo, but he steals every scene he’s in.

Silly, low-brow, stupid, splapsticky and anarchic Animal House is a text book example of how cinema can translate to great comedy.