'Animal House': Still raising hell and rooftops in Eugene nearly five decades later

It has been almost 47 years since the movie "National Lampoon's Animal House" was filmed in Eugene and surrounding areas.

Directed by John Landis and released in 1978, the film pitted trouble-making college students against the dean of the fictional Faber College. Many locations on the University of Oregon campus, at nearby Dexter Lake and Cottage Grove are still recognizable in the movie.

Both panned and lauded by critics after its release, the film persevered in what became an iconic connection for Eugene and the University of Oregon, with touchstones sprinkled throughout the community.

• A plaque marks the site of the fictional Delta House — torn down in 1986.

• The song "Shout," performed Otis Day and the Knights in the movie, is traditionally sung between the third and fourth quarters of Ducks home football games at Autzen Stadium. In 2015, it was used in Nike's "Shout" film that replicated the movie's famous toga party scene, with actors replaced by notable UO alumni.

• The Dexter Lake Club in Dexter on Highway 58 east of Eugene, where the band played, leans into its movie role with zebra skin patterned wallpaper and "Animal House" memorabilia decorating the interior. 

• Cottage Grove, the setting for the climactic homecoming parade scene down Main Street, celebrated the movie with a 25th-anniversary parade in 2003 — setting a world record for toga-wearing partiers — and again in 2018 for the 40th.   

• And, of course, Erb Memorial Union's Fishbowl, where the slapstick food fight scene was filmed.

Made for less than $3 million, the motion picture went on to earn an estimated gross of $141 million, making it the highest-earning comedy film of its era.   

Despite all the cringeworthy moments and off-color lines, the film has weathered the test of time to become a cultural icon of college life in the '60s to a new generation of viewers.   

In 2001, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the  National Film Registry .

In his 1978 review for The Globe and Mail, Robert Martin wrote, "It is so gross and tasteless you feel you should be disgusted but it's hard to be offended by something that is so sidesplittingly funny."  

During a visit to Eugene in 2022 Tim Matheson, who played the smooth-talking Eric "Otter" Stratton in the film, credited a humorous balancing act. 

"We made fun of everyone, but Landis always said, 'You have to be likable. You can't be assholes — you can't be mean."

"You can't be mean to Flounder," he said, in an imitation of Landis during rehearsals, referring to the lovable sad sack Kent "Flounder" Doffman, played by the late Stephen Furst.

Asked if he had any idea at the time that the movie would still be talked about more than 44 years after its debut, his answer was simple. 

"No!" 

Contact photographer Chris Pietsch at chris.pietsch@registerguard.com , or follow him on Twitter @ChrisPietsch and Instagram @chrispietsch .

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Looking back: National Lampoon's Animal House filmed in Eugene in 1977