I Laughed So Hard I Split My Toga
National Lampoon's Animal House
Cast: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Stephen Furst, Tom Hulce
Director: John Landis
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Who dumped a whole truckload of fizzies into the swim meet?
Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the Alumni dinner?
Who else? The Deltas.
Contrary to the belief of Dean Wormer (John Vernon), the Deltas aren't all bad.
Why, just look at Otter (Tim Mathison). That nice boy needed to be comforted after finding out that his fianceé, Fawn Liebowitz, died in a kiln accident. So he made out with her roommate, Lisa (Shelly Dubinsky) instead. Never mind that the only way Otter knew Fawn was through her obituary in the local newspaper.
And then there's D-Day (Bruce McGill). He's so talented, he can play the theme song to the Lone Ranger on this throat with his fingertips, immediately after performing the death-defying act of riding his motorcycle up the Delta House stairway.
Oh, and who can forget Boone (Peter Riegert)? His love affair with Katy (Karen Allen) is one to remember. Too bad he did a few joints with Dave Jennings, the hip college professor (Donald Sutherland)!
That other guy? The one pissing on the rose bushes? Holding a fishbowl-sized glass of beer? Showing around the new recruits? Asking the age-old question, "What am I?"* Using a ladder to spy on those spunky little sorority sisters having a topless pillow fight?
Ah, you must be speaking of Bluto (John Belushi). He's just a little mischievous.
Nah, these aren't the bad guys.
Those would be those wicked Omegas. Neidermeyer, (Mark Metcalf) for one. Satan incarnate on a white horse, complete with riding crop and military uniform. Then there's Greg Marmalard (James Daughton).who chokes the life out of stuffed Teddy Bears. New pledge Chip Diller (Kevin Bacon) loves to be spanked (THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER).
The story of the Deltas v. Faber College is simple. It's 1962. Dean Wormer hates the Deltas. Dean Wormer wants the Deltas out of Faber College. Dean Wormer enlists his smarmy brown-nosing frat boys from Omega to ruin the Deltas. And the fun begins.
Animal House was a stepping stone for a great many actors: for Allen, Bacon, Belushi, Tom Hulce (Delta pledge "Pinto"), and Riegert, it was their first film. Amazingly, while only a handful of names from the cast appear to have gone on to successful film/T.V. careers, many, many of the cast have a significant number of credits to their name.
I Laughed So Hard I Split My Toga when I watched Bluto and D-Day help Flounder (Stephen Furst) take revenge on Neidermeyer. Neidermeyer's horse, that is. And the horse was a great actor too, playing a horrid, Delta-hating equine to the hilt.
I Laughed So Hard I Split My Toga when no-name Charming Guy with Guitar (folk-singer Stephen Bishop) serenaded doe-eyed college belles with "The Riddle Song" and Bluto smashed Bishop's guitar against the wall. "Sorry," he shrugs as he hands Bishop the now-useless instrument.
I Laughed So Hard I Split My Toga as scene after scene, Belushi was his typical light-footed self, sneaking up the front lawn of the administration building, using his facial expressions to their fullest capacity when trying to cheer up a despondent Flounder (after the boys trashed Flounder's brother's car during their road trip).
I Laughed So Hard I Split My Toga during the final melee that masqueraded as the Homecoming Parade. Stork (Douglas Kenny) leading the marching band down a dead end alley; Hoover looking like a bad Secret Service Agent carrying around a briefcase filled with gosh-knows-what; Belushi dressed as a pirate, eyeing the delicious Mandy Pepperidge (Mary Louise Weller) just before he swoops down and captures her.
Delta House reminds me of a frat house from my college days in Grand Forks, North Dakota. I'm sure there's one on every campus. Sure it's an exaggeration (well, maybe), but we all knew the "bad boys" that did nothing by party their entire college careers away. And like Bluto, they are probably wildly successful today.
