This week the Packard Campus Theater presents a fond and howlingly funny triple tribute to actor/director/screenwriter Harold Ramis, who passed away last February.
Thursday, July 10 (7:30 p.m.)
Caddyshack (Orion, 1980, R-rated*)
Harold Ramis made his directorial debut and co-wrote this comedy classic that follows the travails of a young caddy as he gets caught up in the goings-on at the wacky Bushwood Country Club. The film stars Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, Ted Knight, Michael O’Keefe, Bill Murray and a pesky gopher.
* No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.
Friday, July 11 (7:30 p.m.)
National Lampoon’s Animal House (Universal, 1978, R-rated*)
John Landis directed this groundbreaking low-budget comedy set at a fictitious college that became a cultural phenomenon and launched the gross-out genre. The New Yorker lauded Harold Ramis, one of the film’s writers, as a key force in creating movies that “attack the smugness of institutional life,” thereby rescuing Hollywood comedy from its “smooth, polite perfection.” The film stars John Belushi, already a big name on Saturday Night Live, and up-and-comers Karen Allen, Tom Hulce, Kevin Bacon, Peter Riegert and Tim Matheson. Animal House was named to the National Film Registry in 2001.
* No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.
Saturday, July 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Ghostbusters (Columbia, 1984)
Screenplay writers Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd star with Bill Murray in this comedy as three intrepid parapsychologists in New York City who start a ghost-catching business. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis co-star as a potential client and her neighbor. Critic Leonard Maltin called it “engagingly offbeat” and “great fun all the way.” The film was nominated for Academy Awards in the Best Visual Effects and Best Original Song categories.
For more information on our programs, please visit the web site at www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.