Rarely do I witness films become outdated and completely made irrelevant by later iterations, remakes, or spiritual successors, but it happened here.
This is a movie about college debauchery starring Bing Crosby as a man in his late middle age who goes back to school.
It's in the vein of Animal House or any such fraternity farce, just much tamer. He impresses his classmates, gets into some wild antics, goes drinking and dancing, joins a fraternity, etc. In short, everything you can see in Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds but much blander. If you've seen the later movies in this genre, you've seen wilder and more updated versions of this.
And this was meant to be a college exploitation film, the plot is duly inane. Bing Crosby is a rich guy who wants to go back to school in his 50s to get a college degree. It's never clear why. There's no drama about it. It's not like he made a promise to his late mother or anything. He "falls in love" with a female teacher near his age he only met a few times. We don't really see why or how, she's just kind of similar in age to him. OK. He doesn't get into the fraternity but then gets in for no reason. He doesn't seem to care. OK. And, yes, this apathy is a recurring theme - he plays the role with extreme stoicism. Imagine Charles Bronson in a college farce.
In other words, things just happen to Bing Crosby and he's just taking it all in. And they don't do much with what they have. He's old but he does the same thing as young people without skipping a beat. And since they all dress, move, and talk similarly, he never even looks that old. He's supposedly extremely rich, but you wouldn't be able to tell if it hadn't been stated. The actor, Bing Crosby, is supposedly a renowned singer, but he only sings one or two short songs.
It's watachable, but I can't see why someone would watch this when not only are there better films in the genre, but the definitive version of this plot has already been made into one of the greatest comedies of all time. Maybe just for the 60s outfits.
Honourable Mentions: Back to School (1986). A remake? Rodney Dangerfield stars as a lewd, gaudy, freewheeling retail magnate with a stone-faced bodyguard who goes back to college to help his son gain a spine. Rodney Dangerfield's and Paulie's (from Rocky) finest performances, the definitive middle-aged-man-goes-back-to-school movie, and one of the greatest comedies ever made.
This is a movie about college debauchery starring Bing Crosby as a man in his late middle age who goes back to school.
It's in the vein of Animal House or any such fraternity farce, just much tamer. He impresses his classmates, gets into some wild antics, goes drinking and dancing, joins a fraternity, etc. In short, everything you can see in Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds but much blander. If you've seen the later movies in this genre, you've seen wilder and more updated versions of this.
And this was meant to be a college exploitation film, the plot is duly inane. Bing Crosby is a rich guy who wants to go back to school in his 50s to get a college degree. It's never clear why. There's no drama about it. It's not like he made a promise to his late mother or anything. He "falls in love" with a female teacher near his age he only met a few times. We don't really see why or how, she's just kind of similar in age to him. OK. He doesn't get into the fraternity but then gets in for no reason. He doesn't seem to care. OK. And, yes, this apathy is a recurring theme - he plays the role with extreme stoicism. Imagine Charles Bronson in a college farce.
In other words, things just happen to Bing Crosby and he's just taking it all in. And they don't do much with what they have. He's old but he does the same thing as young people without skipping a beat. And since they all dress, move, and talk similarly, he never even looks that old. He's supposedly extremely rich, but you wouldn't be able to tell if it hadn't been stated. The actor, Bing Crosby, is supposedly a renowned singer, but he only sings one or two short songs.
It's watachable, but I can't see why someone would watch this when not only are there better films in the genre, but the definitive version of this plot has already been made into one of the greatest comedies of all time. Maybe just for the 60s outfits.
Honourable Mentions: Back to School (1986). A remake? Rodney Dangerfield stars as a lewd, gaudy, freewheeling retail magnate with a stone-faced bodyguard who goes back to college to help his son gain a spine. Rodney Dangerfield's and Paulie's (from Rocky) finest performances, the definitive middle-aged-man-goes-back-to-school movie, and one of the greatest comedies ever made.