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Old School (2003 film)

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Old School is a comedy motion picture released by DreamWorks SKG in 2003, about three thirty-somethings who seek to re-live their college days by starting a fraternity, and the tribulations they encounter in doing so. The film, which stars Luke Wilson (Mitch), Vince Vaughn (Beanie) and Will Ferrell (Frank), was directed by Todd Phillips and Written by Phillips and Scot Armstrong.

Old School
Directed byTodd Phillips
Written byScot Armstrong
Todd Phillips
Produced byDaniel Goldberg
Todd Phillips
Joe Medjuck
StarringLuke Wilson
Will Ferrell
Vince Vaughn
Jeremy Piven
Distributed byDreamWorks SKG
Release dates
February 21, 2003
Running time
92 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$24,000,000

The movie was envisioned by director Todd Phillips as a comedy parallel to the cult-classic Fight Club.

This movie is considered a forerunner to the frat pack since three of its stars are core members of that group.

Settings

The setting of this film was at a city in New York. Most of the film involved a fictional university called Harrison University. The universities that were used to film the movie include UCLA and Harvard University. The setting includes various characters’ houses. The time period of this film is present day.

Character Analysis

Template:Spoiler

Mitch Martin

Also known as “The Godfather.” He is the one who held everything together. He is a real estate lawyer. In the beginning of the movie he catches an early flight home to propose to his girlfriend. When he arrives at the house he finds out that she is being unfaithful to him. He moves out of the house, and gets house near a college campus. His friend Bernard Campbell throws Mitch a party called “Mitch-a-palooza.” This gives them enough street-credit, so his friend Bernard Campbell creates the fraternity “Lambda Epsilon Omega” for him.

Frank Ricard

Also known as “Frank the Tank”, a nickname that has followed him from his college days, much to his spouse's concern. He is the impressionable one in the trio. In the beginning of the movie he is getting married with Marissa Jones, but does not know if it is the right idea. During “Mitch-a-palooza”, he becomes drunk and streaks all over town. His wife catches him running in the street and this wrecks his whole marriage. It seems that it's a bad thing at first, but he ends up happy.

Bernard Campbell

Also known as “Beanie”, a support group rolled into one. He is the cocky one in the trio and perhaps the real ringleader behind setting up the fraternity. He is settled and has a family and kids but remains envious of his friends' lifestyles. He meets a girl and is tempted but never goes through because he says he is married. He does not have a college education but manages to create six Speaker Cities, a chain that sells electronics. He is a salesman and ultimately a good guy.

Dean Gordon Pritchard

Also known as “Cheese”, the Dean is removed from college life. He is the unscrupulous dean of the university. He is an overachiever who has an anger management problem. He grew up with this trio in college, who tormented him, but now he is in position to turn the tables. He tries to disband the fraternity, but fails at the end and loses his house and his job to the fraternity.

Nicole

The love interest of Mitch Martin after the break-up with his fiancée. It is revealed that she had a crush on him in high school. She spends most of the film involved with another man however.

Heidi

Mitch Martin’s fiancée. She is a cute, pretty, and vacuous L.A. girl. She is caught in bed watching an adult film and this turns Mitch Martin on. When a couple comes out of her bathroom blindfolded "to double team his girlfriend", he leaves the house and they break up.

Lara Campbell

Bernard Campbell’s wife. The couple has been married for a long time. She does not take any nonsense from Bernard.

Marissa Jones

The new wife to Frank. She catches him streaking and realizes she married the wrong guy. They break up at Blue’s funeral.

Mark

He is vying with Mitch for Nicole’s affection, but as her boyfriend, he has the upperhand. He is a jerk, and Nicole breaks up with him at the end of the film. Dies along with Pritchard when a lit cigarette causes him to speed his sports car off a bridge and coincidentally, onto Pritchard as he fishes in a stream, which finishes things off with an enormous explosion.

ΛΕΩ Lambda Epsilon Omega

The fraternity that the guys started. Original pledges include:

Themes

Brotherhood or friendship is manifested throughout the movie, especially through the character’s efforts to establish a fraternity. As the movie progresses, so does the strength of the character’s bonds to each other. In that same sense, the camaraderie exhibited by all the characters allows them to transcend Dean Pritchard’s vengeful and destructive nature. The need for friendship is further exemplified by the widespread and uncontrollable desire of the characters to join the fraternity.


Plot

Mitch, the protagonist, is an everyday sort of guy. In this respect, he holds a job while pursuing the family life with a dog and a serious girlfriend. However, once he comes back from a business trip he is shocked to find out that his girlfriend takes part in orgies with a variety of people. She claims it’s purely sexual but nevertheless Mitch doesn’t want anything to do with her any longer. Thus, he buys a house on the college campus which will later become the headquarters for his fraternity. His friend Frank gets married but it is immediately evident that there are structural tensions between the couple. For this reason, it comes as no surprise that their marriage lasts no longer than a couple of days. Frank gives his all to be a good husband, but he is unable to sustain married life. The cataclysmic cause of his marriage’s demise is his drunken and naked run through the neighbourhood. Frank is kicked out of his house and thus goes to Mitch’s house to crash.

Fortunately, Mitch encounters his high school crush, Nicole, at Frank’s wedding party. However, he doesn’t make a good impression with her, as he exhibits his inebriated state by spilling hot coffee on her dress. To make matters worse, he attempts to fix his mishap by sticking his hand up her dress so that he could get the stain out. Luckily, she forgives him the next day. Mitch’s other best friend Bernard throws a party for Mitch so that he could get his mind of his ex-girlfriend. Called Mitch-a-palooza, the rapper Snoop Dogg performs at the large house party. This party is a huge success and also puts Mitch and his friends at the top of the college social scene. The party "gives them street-cred" as Bernard says.

Unfortunately though, the next morning Dean Pritchard enters Mitch’s house and tells the guys that the house is specifically designated for social services and community housing. Therefore, Mitch, Frank, and Bernard must fulfil the Dean’s criteria in order to keep Mitch’s house. For this reason, it is Bernard’s idea to start a fraternity that is open to anyone. The Dean is a childhood acquaintance of the guys, but since he was the butt of most of their pranks his actions throughout the movie are vindictively rooted. He makes it his aim to destroy the fraternity. Although Mitch is initially reluctant to accept the notion of turning his house into a fraternity, he is essentially obliged to agree with the idea. The fraternity thrives from the start and Mitch gets coined "the Godfather". He still tries to keep his work life and fraternity life apart. Regardless, he is approached by countless people even at work who want to become members of his fraternity. The fraternity is an outlet for the stress and boredom that is associated with the monotonous nine-to-five lifestyle for many members.

However, the guys’ dreams are constrained. The death of one of the fraternity members certainly doesn’t help matters, but the main obstacle is still Dean Pritchard. The fraternity is boarded up by the Dean because he claims the group violated an assortment of university policies. He also claims that the students who participated in the non-sanctioned fraternity are subject to expulsion. Nonetheless, Mitch finds out that the group has the right to bypass this legality by completing a series of activities that range from academics and athletics to community service, debate and school spirit. The men are able to complete all of the activities successfully but since the deceased member of the fraternity was still on their roster, the group’s averages were brought down. Consequently, Dean Pritchard tells them the university’s decision stands.

Frank is able to obtain a tape that reveals the Dean bribing a student. Accordingly, the Dean’s credibility is destroyed. With this fact, it is hard for the university to withhold their decision and they decide to reinstate the fraternity’s charter. In addition, the fraternity’s old house is replaced with Dean Pritchard’s house (definitely an upgrade). Despite Bernard and Mitch withdrawing from the fraternity, Frank maintains his ties and persists with his leadership in the organization.

Quotes from the Film

  • Mitch: True love is hard to find, sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like a goddamn magic show ready to double team your girlfriend.
  • Frank: We're going streaking!!!
  • Frank: (After getting picked up by his wife and friends while running up the street naked and drunk) Do you think KFC is still open?
  • Pledge’s Wife: What are you doing?!?!?
  • Frank: You tell anyone about this and I'll fucking kill you! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, we'll have him home by midnight, okay sweetheart?
  • Psychiatrist: Frank, this is a safe place. A place where we can feel free sharing our feelings. Think of my office as a nest in a tree of trust and understanding. We can say anything here.
    • Frank: Anything? Well, uh I guess I, deep down, am feeling a little confused. I mean, suddenly, you get married, and you're supposed to be this entirely different guy. I don't feel different. I mean, take yesterday for example. We were out at the Olive Garden for dinner, which was lovely. And uh, I happen to look over at a certain point during the meal and see a waitress taking an order, and I found myself wondering what color her underpants might be. Her panties. Uh, odds are they are probably basic white, cotton, underpants. But I sort of think well maybe they're silk panties, maybe it's a thong. Maybe it's something really cool that I don't even know about. You know, and uh, and I started feeling... what? what I thought we were in the trust tree in the nest, were we not?
  • Beanie: Earmuffs.
  • Frank: You're my boy, Blue! You're my boy.
  • Mitch: At this point, you might be asking yourself, 'Why am I holding this thirty pound cinder block in my hands? You might also ask yourself, 'Why does this cinder block have a long piece of string tied to it? And finally, 'Why is the other end of this string tied securely to your penis?'
  • Beanie: You think I like avoiding my wife and kids to hang out with nineteen year old girls everyday?
  • Mitch: Yes, I do.

Fun Film Facts

  • The guy who shows up at Mitch’s door early in the film asking about the gangbang is director Todd Phillips.
  • Hayden Hall, home to the two young ladies from the KY wrestling scene, is actually a dorm from New York University.
  • The infamous Mitch-a-Palooza was the last scene shot for this film.
  • The wedding band from Frank's reception is a real rock band known simply as The Dan Band.
  • Frat Pack member Ben Stiller's producing partner Stuart Cornfeld appears as the mean cab driver in the beginning of the film, which can be viewed as the producer replacing Stiller in his absence as another frat pack connection.
  • The initials of the fraternity ΛΕΩ means "i say" in modern greek.

Similar Films

Awards

Production Facts

The budget of this movie was approximately $24,000,000. It took approximately forty days to complete. Some of the cast was relatively unknown.

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