Trivia and Fun Facts About Animal House
John Landis Film was Highest-Grossing Comedy of Its Time
The 1978 comedy 'National Lampoon's Animal House' made John Belushi a star and launched careers of Tim Matheson, Tom Hulce, Karen Allen, Peter Riegert, and Kevin Bacon.
Revenge of the Nerds, Old School, Accepted, and other collegiate underdog stories take their inspiration from National Lampoon’s Animal House, a comedy classic about a misfit fraternity listed among the American Film Institute’s (AFI) 100 Funniest Movies of All Time.
About the Production of the Animal House Movie
- Set at the fictitious Delta House at the equally fictitious Faber College in the 1960s, Animal House was based on a collection of real-life college experiences by the screenplay’s three writers, Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, and Chris Miller.
- This was only the third film directed by John Landis, who went on to direct other hits including The Blues Brothers (1980), An American Werewolf in London (1981), Coming to America (1988), and a series of Michael Jackson videos including “Thriller.” Landis appears briefly in Animal House as a cafeteria dishwasher.
- The film won a People’s Choice Award (USA) in 1979 for Favorite Non-musical Motion Picture and in 2001 received a National Film Registry Award from the National Film Preservation Board (USA). Writers Ramis, Kenney, and Miller were nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen.
- The low-brow comedy includes classic scenes such as the food fight, toga party, and Belushi’s impression of a pimple. It’s memorable lines live on in today’s culture including, “Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son,” “That boy is a P-I-G pig,” and “Toga! Toga!”
About the Animal House DVD
- National Lampoon's Animal House (2003 Double Secret Probation Edition)
- The 25th anniversary edition stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom Hulce, Cesare Danova, and Donald Sutherland in a spoof about the most delinquent fraternity house on campus.
- Director: John Landis
- Run Time: 109 minutes
- Rating: R (for nudity, profanity, crudeness, and sexual references)
- DVD Bonus Features: Music Video (“Shout” remake by MxPx); “Where Are They Now?” (mockumentary featuring the original cast); “Did You Know That?” (anecdotes about the original production of the film); and “The Yearbook: An Animal House Reunion.”
About The Real Animal House Book
- The Real Animal House: The Awesomely Depraved Saga of the Fraternity That Inspired the Movie
- Author: Chris Miller
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 2006
- Description: In this memoir, the Animal House co-screenwriter reveals additional stories from his college days that were too perverse, degrading, and abusive to make it past the movie censors. In the book, Miller relives his days at Alpha Delta Phi fraternity as the real “Pinto,” the naïve central character in the film. Unlike the R-rated film, no antics are deemed too vile to be included in this book. Among the previously untold stories: fraternity members hold vomiting contests and find new uses for body hair/fluids. The book provides a foreword by Harold Ramis and a “Where are They Now?” section in the back of the book.
Additional sources: The Internet Movie Database and Now Showing: Unforgettable Moments from the Movies by Joe Garner (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2003).
The copyright of the article Trivia and Fun Facts About Animal House in Comic Films is owned by Leslie Halpern. Permission to republish Trivia and Fun Facts About Animal House in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
