Daily Dialogue — September 13, 2016

Holding golf clubs, Otter and Boon watch from atop a hill as Neidermeyer, attired in full military regalia, dismounts from his horse and berates the ROTC students. He stops in front of Flounder.

Neidermeyer: You fat, disgusting slob! You’re a goddamned disgrace!

Boon: A vicious mother, isn’t he?
Otter: He can’t do that to our pledges.
Boon: Only we can do that to our pledges.

Neidermeyer: Redo those buttons! Dress that belt buckle! Straighten that cap! And goddamn it, tuck in those pajamas! Attention! Eyes front!

Flounder snaps to attention.

Neidermeyer: What’s that on your chest, mister?
Flounder: It’s a pledge pin, sir.
Neidermeyer: A pledge pin! On your uniform?

Boon hits a drive. It veers to the left.

Boon: Hooked it. Shit.

The ball caroms into the school kitchen, landing in big tub of soup. The cook doesn’t notice.

Neidermeyer: Just tell me, mister, what fraternity would pledge… a man like you?
Flounder: It’s a Delta pin, sir.

Boon hits another drive. It sails off to the right.

Boon: Slice!

The ball crashes through Dean Wormer’s office window, destroying items on the Dean’s desk.

Neidermeyer: Report to the stable tonight and every night athours. Without that pledge pin! Do you understand?

Otter steps up to hit a drive.

Otter: Your left arm is straight… but you’re not keeping your head down.

Neidermeyer addresses the troop.

Neidermeyer: You’re all worthless and weak! Now drop and give me twenty.

Otter strikes the ball. It sizzles through the air and strikes Neidermeye’s horse in the haunches. The horse rears back. Neidermeyer struggles to keep the horse under control. To the troops —

Neidermeyer: Get back in ranks!

Otter addresses the ball one more time.

Otter: Always try to hit through the ball.

Swats the ball which clangs into Neidermeyer’s head. Falling off the horse, he is dragged away on his back.

Boon: I’ve gotta work on my game.
Otter: Don’t think of it as work. The whole point is just to enjoy yourself.

— Animal House (1978), written by Harold Ramis & Douglas Kenney & Chris Miller

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Bullying.

Trivia: Yes, that’s Kevin Bacon as second-in-command ROTC student.

Dialogue On Dialogue: In the pantheon of cinematic bullies, Neidermeyer is right up there. In fact, he was such an asshole, in the closing credits, there/s this:

Just desserts for a guy Dean Wormer refers to as a “sneaky little shit.”