Animal House: yes, it is a car movie
Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!
Animal House! Released: July 28, 1978. Starring: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Donald Sutherland and Karen Allen. Directed by John Landis, produced by Ivan Reitman. And it's as terrific and funny today as it ever was.
And, yes, it's actually a film for car enthusiasts: the 1964 Lincoln Continental (complete with signature suicide doors), the 1961 Buick Electra 225 Convertible, the MGA "date night" car, and the 1959 'vette are all classics. And just look at all those other classics in the front yard of the Delta frat house.
- the cars of Delta House
We remember seeing this film on opening day - and the theater was packed. Every single seat was taken and the audience was totally involved in the film - it as raucous as a toga party. The movie was an immediate smash hit and has been a cult classic ever since.
There are any number of infamous quotes from the film, such as the immortal "If you lay one finger on that poor sweet helpless girl, you'll despise yourself forever". See more quotes on IMDB: www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/quotes And when you get the DVD or Blue Ray, be sure to listen to the "making of" commentary to hear about the night the actors went to a real frat house party - and got their butts kicked big time!
The 4th generation Lincoln Continental ('61-'69) is one of our favorite classic cars of all time, one of the must-haves for our own garage someday. The Continental starts out immaculate... then suffers greatly in the road trip ("You f***** up, you trusted us. Hey, make the best of it!"), and is then reborn ("Ramming Speed!") near the end of the film.
The Lincoln Deathmobile. Would Ford Motor Company approve?
Whatever happened to the prop Lincoln? There were multiple versions made for the movie, and since then any number of fakes have popped up. You can see one of the fakes at Universal Studios in California. Fans of the movie (who, like us, can recite every line verbatim) will spot the differences from the original immediately.
We have a duplicate of the infamous College sweatshirt that was made by the same person who made it for John Belushi many years ago. It's always interesting to see who in restaurants and bars recognizes it.
College, just College
One of the best books ever written about the movie is "A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever". Doug Kenney played "The Stork" in the film, and then died tragically a few years later. We finished this book in a weekend, and very much enjoyed remembering the glory days of National Lampoon and Animal House. Available in print or Kindle.
Do you like car movies, where cars at the theme or the major supporting element? Be sure to visit our site www.CarMovieEnthusiast.com for over 250 car movies reviews!
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