Up the Creek

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Up the Creek
Up the Creek theatrical poster
Directed by	Robert Butler
Produced by	Michael L. Meltzer Joel Chernoff
Written by	Jim Kouf Jeff Sherman Douglas Grossman
Starring	Tim Matheson Stephen Furst Dan Monahan Sandy Helberg Jeff East James B. Sikking Julia Montgomery
Music by	William Goldstein Cheap Trick
Cinematography	James Glennon
Editing by	Bill Butler
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	April 6, 1984
Running time	96 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
IMDb profile

Up the Creek is a 1984 comedy movie, directed by Robert Butler. While the movie itself is not as popular as other "college romp" films, its cast was surprisingly strong. The four lead parts are all came to the film with experience in significant comedies, most notably Animal House and Porky's.

[edit] Plot summary

Bob McGraw, Max, Gonzer, and Irwin are 4 losers at Lepetomene University, the worst college in the United States. They are forced and bribed by Dean Burch to participate in a collegiate raft race. The gang are up against other colleges in the race, among which is Ivy University, prep schoolers who, with the help of an Ivy alumnus named Tozer, plan to cheat their way to the Winner's Circle. Their adversaries also include the Washington Military Institute, disqualified for their attempts to sabotage the other schools rafts. Captain Braverman, the leader of the Military men, has it in for McGraw because he personally curtailed the attempts to sabotage the other rafts. It is all down river adventure for the Lepetemene gang.

Tagline: Get set to get wet ... at the funniest, raciest, wildest white-water raft race ever!

The schools in the movie are various parodies. For example, Ivy University is completely made up of rich "preps" and the students from Texas are all wearing cowboy hats. All of the Universities feature single gender teams made up of very similar characters. Heather's team are all preppy girls, Lepetomene's are losers, etc.

This movie fits the "college romp" genre of films similar to Animal House. It features college students, lots of sex, alcohol, and drug humor/references, and several topless scenes that have little, if anything, to do with the storyline. These movies were extremely common in the late seventies and early eighties.