Revenge of the Nerds
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Revenge of the Nerds | |
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Revenge of the Nerds movie poster |
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Directed by | Jeff Kanew |
Produced by | Ted Field Peter Samuelson |
Written by | Jeff Buhai Tim Metcalfe |
Starring | Robert Carradine Anthony Edwards Timothy Busfield Curtis Armstrong Ted McGinley Bernie Casey John Goodman |
Music by | Thomas Newman |
Cinematography | King Baggot |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date(s) | July 20, 1984 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $8,000,000 (estimated) |
Gross revenue | $40,900,000 (USA) (sub-total) |
Followed by | Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise |
Allmovie profile | |
IMDb profile |
Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 American comedy film starring Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi, Larry B. Scott, John Goodman, and Donald Gibb. The film was directed by Jeff Kanew. It chronicles the story of a group of nerds trying to stop harassment by the persecuting jock fraternity, the Alpha Betas. Exterior scenes such as the arrival of the nerds at college and the fraternity houses were filmed at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. The original residence of the Nerds, from which they were ousted, was in fact Cochise Hall.[1] Their subsequent residence was Bear Down Gymnasium.[2]
This film is number 91 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".
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[edit] Plot summary
Lewis Skolnick (Robert Carradine) and Gilbert Lowell (Anthony Edwards) are nerds, and best friends who have just graduated from high school. Gilbert is comfortable with his reputation as a nerd, though Lewis hates being thought of as such. They enroll in fictional Adams College due to its acclaimed computer science department. The college also displays unethical favoritism toward its football team, the Atoms. This gives the coach (John Goodman), who is an arrogant bully, and his team, stocked mainly by the equally obnoxious jocks of the Alpha Beta fraternity, considerable power on campus. The Administrative Dean (David Wohl) is largely intimidated into complicity in this favoritism by the football coach.
The Alpha Betas carelessly burn down their fraternity house during a party and pressure the dean to let them take over the freshman dorm while their house is being rebuilt. The freshmen are forced to bunk in the gym until they can find new housing or join fraternities. The nerds and many other social outcasts, including Lewis and Gilbert, are rejected, and their attempts to approach the fraternities on their own lead to them being publicly humiliated and harassed.
The nerds eventually find a rundown house that they renovate. However, the Alpha Betas and their associated sorority, the Pi Delta Pis, harass them, including throwing a rock that reads "NERDS GET OUT" through one of the new house's windows.
When the nerds approach the campus police, they are referred to the Greek Council, which oversees fraternity affairs, only to find that Stan Gable (the head of the Alpha Betas) is the president. He overrules their complaint because they are not a fraternity. The nerds realize the only way they can gain representation on the Greek Council are to start an Adams College chapter of a national fraternity, but all of the fraternal organizations reject them, with the exception of Lambda Lambda Lambda, the only one to which they did not send a group picture. It is, however, a predominantly black organization and only one of the nerds is black (he is also openly homosexual). The head of the national organization, U.N. Jefferson, is uninterested in having them join. However, the nerds hold the Lambdas accountable to their own fraternity code that, as a petitioning group, they have the right to join with probationary status pending ultimate approval by the president. The nerds attempt to organize a party to impress the fraternity officials. However, they are tricked by the Pis, who falsely offer to be their dates only to completely snub them on party night. Another sorority, Omega Mu (known as the Mus, which sounds like "Moos"), come in their place, but they consist of social rejects themselves and the resulting awkwardness deadens the atmosphere. In desperation, Booger resorts to lighting large marijuana joints to liven up the affair, which proves successful. However, the party is spoiled by the Alphas who let greased pigs loose in the frat house. U.N. Jefferson and the other Lambda officials seem to change their attitudes, seeing firsthand the discrimination the nerds deal with and start to inwardly sympathize with them.
The nerds, led by Lewis, decide to retaliate. They first execute a panty raid on the Pis, which is actually a diversion during which Lamar and Wormser install hidden cameras in the sorority's attic. The nerds also saturate the Alpha's jock straps in liquid heat (a liniment that produces sensations of heat) to create an agonizing and embarrassing experience at football practice. U.N. Jefferson is pleased with the nerds' creativity, and a charter is granted for the chapter, officially making the nerds members of Lambda Lambda Lambda (Tri-Lams).
However, the harassment by the Alphas only worsens, and the obviously biased Greek Council refuses to respond. Deciding that they must take power themselves, the nerds compete in Adams College's homecoming carnival, the winner of which will lead the council. The events are a series of athletic contests, a fund-raiser at the carnival, and a final skit.
The Tri-Lams and Mus team up, and have a difficult time in a couple of events, but manage to win a few others using their superior ingenuity. Some of the skills come naturally, such as Booger's being able to belch the loudest. They design an ergonomically advanced javelin for Lamar to win the javelin throw, and during a tricycle race/binge drinking contest they give Takishi a chemical that will neutralize the effects of alcohol, allowing him to win the race as he stays sober. They gain ground in fund-raising by selling plates with nude photos of the Pis, to include Betty Childs (a Pi and Gable's girlfriend) which not only allows them to beat the Alpha Betas, but also humiliate their female counterparts.
During the carnival, Stan spurns an offer from Betty to have sex with her in the Fun House. Seizing an opportunity, Lewis pilfers parts of Stan's Darth Vader costume and tricks Betty into thinking he is Stan. Lewis and Betty have sex, after which Lewis reveals his identity to Betty. She is not upset; in fact she immediately decides that she likes Lewis better. The nerds seal their victory in the talent show with a spectacular song and dance routine using computers and sound effects, which far outshines the Alphas' crossdressing skit. Lambda Lambda Lambda is declared the official winner and will come to power on the Greek Council next year, to which the nerds announce they nominate Gilbert to succeed Stan as council president. Adding insult to injury, Betty officially dumps Stan for Lewis after the Tri-Lams' victory.
Following a jingoistic speech by their coach, the Alphas retaliate by wrecking the Lambda house, and the nerds are again disheartened. Lewis is depressed and comes to grips with the fact he is a nerd and social outsider. At that point, Gilbert tells Lewis and the other nerds that Lambda Lambda Lambda was the first time he was part of an accepted social group, and that he is not going to let this good thing go to pot. Gilbert then personally confronts the Alphas at the homecoming rally. When Gilbert is about to be beaten, the otherwise timid dean, himself a nerd, finally stands up to the coach and exercises his rightful authority, ordering the Alpha Betas to release Gilbert. As the Dean is about to be beaten up himself, U.N. Jefferson arrives with a group of muscular Lambdas from black colleges to confront the Alpha Betas while Gilbert is given a chance to speak his mind to the audience. He poignantly speaks about how he and his friends were harassed, but in spite of this, he re-affirms that he is a nerd and proud of it. Lewis also appears, and is finally proud to be a nerd as well. Their friends gather around in support and call on any of the audience who have ever felt left out or picked on to join them. The entire audience does so, and the Alphas find themselves hopelessly outnumbered.
The film ends with the Dean taking charge of the campus and ejecting the Alphas from their building for the Lambdas' use until the Alphas repair the damage they caused to the Lambda's house. When the coach complains about the players having nowhere to live, Dean Ulich points out that they are jocks, so they should be right at home sleeping in the gym.
[edit] Cast
- Robert Carradine as Lewis Skolnick
- Anthony Edwards as Gilbert Lowell
- Timothy Busfield as Arnold Poindexter
- Andrew Cassese as Harold Wormser
- Curtis Armstrong as Dudley "Booger" Dawson
- Brian Tochi as Toshiro Takashi
- Larry B. Scott as Lamar Latrell
- Ted McGinley as Stan Gable
- Donald Gibb as Fred "The Ogre" Palowakski
- Julia Montgomery as Betty Childs
- Michelle Meyrink as Judy
- Bernie Casey as U.N. Jefferson
- David Wohl as Dean Ulich
[edit] Notable bit parts
- John Goodman plays Coach Harris
- James Cromwell is briefly shown as Mr. Skolnick
- Matt Salinger, son of J.D. Salinger as Burke, an Alpha Beta who is Stan's lieutenant
[edit] DVD release
On January 3, 2007 Revenge of the Nerds was released as a special edition DVD entitled "Panty Raid Edition" (The special edition name was changed from "The 'We've Got Bush' Edition", with preliminary artwork shown on websites such as The Digital Bits). Special features included : Audio Commentary, Making of Documentary, Deleted Scenes, Television Pilot, and two theatrical trailers.
[edit] Shelved remake
A remake of the original Revenge of the Nerds 1984 film was slated for release in 2007; however, the project was canceled in 2006.
The cast included Adam Brody (who also co-produced), Dan Byrd, Katie Cassidy, Kristin Cavallari, Jenna Dewan, Chris Marquette, Ryan Pinkston, Efren Ramirez, and Nick Zano. It was to be directed by Kyle Newman and executive produced by McG. The script was written by Gabe Sachs & Jeff Judah, Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson and Adam F. Goldberg.[3] Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia at Agnes Scott College, the Georgia State Capitol, and Inman Park.[4] Filming was originally scheduled to take place at Emory College but university officials changed their minds after reading the script.[5]
In November 2006, the film was shelved by Fox Atomic. Producers found it difficult to shoot on the smaller Agnes Scott campus and studio head Peter Rice was disappointed with the dailies.[6]
[edit] References in popular culture
- In the 2003 biographical film American Splendor, Harvey Pekar belittles his friend Toby Radloff for naively believing that the characters in the movie represented Toby. He notes that unlike Toby, a 28 year old file clerk living with his grandmother in a poor neighborhood, those characters were college students from suburban, middle income families who will eventually earn degrees, get good jobs, and stop being nerds. This view is indirectly alluded to in Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation where Lewis is depicted as having become a successful computer expert but has abandoned his nerdiness for a more yuppie lifestyle.
- During a sketch on the stop-motion animation show, Robot Chicken, which featured an elementary school show and tell, Ogre bursts into the room, yelling his signature "NEEERRRDDD!!!"
- The song "Computer Camp Love" by Datarock heavily references some plot ideas of the film, and actually directly quotes an exchange of lines between Lewis, Gilbert and Booger in the first verse.
- Rapper Lupe Fiasco has a mixtape loosely based around the film called Fahrenheit 1/15 Part II: Revenge of the Nerds.
- In the television show Family Guy, a parody is done of the clean-up montage done by the nerds. In the movie the nerds clean up their house, while on Family Guy, Peter and his friends clean up the local bar, The Drunken Clam. However, unlike the nerds, Peter and his friends fail to renovate the building. Another reference appears in a later episode, where the nerds are at a showing of Schindler's List, and Booger says, "We have bush!"
- On The Simpsons episode "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times", a parody of Revenge of the Nerds is "Revenge of the Geeks."
- In the 2006 video game Bully there is a clique at the academy known as "The Nerds" whose theme song when retaliating against the player's bullying or simply attacking the player is a generic version of the "Revenge of the Nerds" theme.
- The rap group Salt 'N Pepa's first song on record titled "The Show Stoppa", which was an answer record to Doug E. Fresh's "The Show", uses the melody from the homecoming rally/end credits song as the bridge.
- On the television show American Dad, a minor character named Snot is an homage to Booger. Additionally, Curtis Armstrong also provides the character's voice.
[edit] External links
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[edit] References
- ^ ResLife: Cochise Hall
- ^ Revenge of the Nerds (1984) - Filming locations
- ^ "Nerds" Get Revenge on Agnes Scott Campus. Collegenews.org (2006-11-03). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ Longino, Bob (2006-10-14). 'Nerds' will hang out in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ Grossberg, Josh (2006-11-22). No Revenge for New Nerds. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ LaPorte, Nicole; Alex Romanelli (2006-11-21). Atomic blast to 'Nerds'. Variety. Retrieved on 2008-06-08.