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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Back to School (1986)

Back to School (1986)

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Released 13-Sep-2005

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Comedy Scene Selection Animation
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1986
Running Time 92:39 (Case: 96)
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Ads Then Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Alan Metter
Studio
Distributor

MGM
Starring Rodney Dangerfield
Sally Kellerman
Burt Young
Keith Gordon
Robert Downey, Jr.
Paxton Whitehead
Terry Farrell
M. Emmet Walsh
Adrienne Barbeau
William Zabka
Ned Beatty
Severn Darden
Sam Kinison
Case ?
RPI $14.95 Music Rodney Dangerfield
Danny Elfman


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
German for the Hearing Impaired
French
Italian
Spanish
Dutch
Portuguese
Greek
Bulgarian
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    During the 1980s, Rodney Dangerfield was a bit of an American icon. With those huge bug-eyes, and a loud irascible personality, his face was well known around the comedy circuit. Having seen Dangerfield in this show, I was afraid the poor man had some kind of nervous system disorder, perhaps cerebral palsy. With his constant shakes and tremors, he really looks unwell. That also makes this show hard to enjoy because I’m always worried that he’s going to have an attack or fall over and go into respiratory distress.

    The plot of this show follows rich businessman Thornton Melon (Dangerfield), who divorces his new wife and decides to go to college to help his son Jason (Keith Gordon) who, along with his roommate Derek (Robert Downey, Jr.), is busy failing, while also not hooking up with the girl he likes, Valerie (Terry Farrell), or making it onto the diving team. In steps Dad Melon, who turns college on its head, and with a little sexual interest from a teacher, Dr. Diane Turner (Sally Kellerman), only has to thwart the snobbish Dr. Borozini (Severn Darden) to get his degree.

    I watched this with my friends hoping for a good beer and pizza movie. They hated it. I got a couple of chuckles, but then I was expecting much worse than what I actually got. That said, with 7 votes against 1, I think I’m outvoted.

    The real problem with this show is that it hasn’t dated entirely well, and while it hovers on the absurd, it never gets to that Monty Python-esque stage that is truly laugh out loud funny. It has its moments, but unless you’ve got a nostalgia spot for this one, it’s probably not going to win you over.

    Set for a remake that is, at the time of publishing this review, currently in production, all I have to say is: “If that dress had pockets, you’d look like a pool table.” Nuff said.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced, I watched it in regular standard definition and upscaled to 1080i at 50Hz (which is best for PAL).

    This transfer is a touch soft, which probably won’t trouble you on a smaller screen, but blown up on a big screen it started to get to me a little.

    Shadow detail is a bit murky and inky and can be a bit grainy at times.

    There is definitely some background aliasing going on here, but nothing too distracting. That’s the worst of it for film-to-video transfer artefacts, though.

    There is some dirt and a few hairs here and there. Nothing glaringly awful, though.

    There are subtitles available in a wide variety of languages as set out above. I watched the subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired. They are quite accurate.

    This is a single layer disc.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in an unremarkable Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo (192Kb/s) mix in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Polish. I listened to the English track and sampled the other tracks.

    The audio tracks are fairly monaural, but not significantly flawed. Considering this film is entirely dialogue driven, that’s not such a bad thing, as you don’t really need heavy use of the surrounds and subwoofer.

    Dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

    The rears and the subwoofer were silent.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, static and silent.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The R1 release is apparently identical content wise, so that just leaves the NTSC picture format (which explains the different running times) and region coding as a difference. As I don’t have an R1 copy, I can’t do a direct comparison for you. But, if you want to own this, I recommend buying whichever you find the cheapest.

Summary

    Back To School is a nostalgic 80s trip for those of you who saw this when it first came out. I’m more of The Blues Brothers vintage personally, so this was not quite my thing.

    This DVD transfer is acceptable if utterly unremarkable.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Edward McKenzie (I am Jack's raging bio...)
Friday, August 04, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDMomitsu V880N Deluxe, using DVI output
DisplaySony VPL-HS50 WXGA LCD Cineza Projector with 100" Longhorn Pro-series 16:9 Screen. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationMarantz SR7000
SpeakersDigital Accoustics Emerald 703G - Centre, Front Left & Right, Rear Left & Right Satellites, Subwoofer

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