By Brian Boone

Here’s a respect-filled look behind the scenes and the making of one of the best school movies of all time, Back to School, starring the legendary Rodney Dangerfield.

Last-Minute Rewrite

In the original script, approved and used as the film went into production, centered on a character who was a working-class guy who decided to attend college with his son and paid his way through by working at a car wash. Just a few weeks before cameras rolled, Dangerfield decided that Thornton Melon was too similar to the crass goofball he played in Caddyshack, and so producers ordered a rewrite to make the character a self-made millionaire and dropout completing his education.

The Standup Gives Back

An icon of standup comedy, Rodney Dangerfield tried to find roles in the film for the young comics he mentored. It couldn’t happen for Bob Saget or Jim Carrey, but it did for acerbic, screaming comic Sam Kinison. Screenwriters designed the role of angry history instructor Professor Terguson just for Kinison.

Proof You’re Never Too Old

Rodney Dangerfield didn’t find fame as a comic until the 1970s, and after his film debut in Caddyshack in 1980, he didn’t headline a movie until Back to School, released in 1986. At 64 years old, he’s one of the oldest “new stars” in movie history. 

Great Taste, Less Filling

Dangerfield was moderately famous after Caddyshack, appearing on The Tonight Show dozens of times and in a series of Miller Lite commercials. Those ads represented everything Back to School costar and love interest Sally Kellerman knew about Dangerfield before filming.

Place that Product

Because of Dangerfield’s airtight contract with Miller Lite, all of the party and drinking scenes in this hard-partying college comedy prominently and solely feature that brand of beer.

Off the Deep End

While he probably couldn’t execute the elusive “Triple Lindy” seen on screen, Dangerfield really was a high-diver when he was young, a fact screenwriters pulled for Back to School.

Elfman’s Film Origins

Danny Elfman would become one of the most celebrated and prolific film composers in Hollywood. Back to School was one of his very first features, with producers taking a risk hiring a musician best known at the time for his art-rock collective Oingo Boingo. The Back to School music went on to serve as a temporary score in dozens of in-production films, or used in trailers for other movies, or held up as an example of what they wanted by comedy directors when approaching score composers.

Get A Room!

In the scene where Thornton (Dangerfield) and Professor Turner (Kellerman) walk home after a date, Dangerfield spots a couple of dogs being intimate. “Get a room!” he quips. That became a popular real-life comment to make as a response to public displays of affection — and Dangerfield originated the phrase with this ad-libbed scene.