Have You Seen the Classic Comedy Shot in Wisconsin?

As Ferris Bueller so pithily and elegantly put it, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." That's how I feel when I come to the realization that a certain song or movie I love is as old as it is. A word to my fellow 90s babies: the 1990s was not 15 years ago, like we sometimes subconsciously assume.

I can't be the only one who sees a year like "1986" and my first impulse just assumes that was about 20-25 years ago. It could be the fact that when I started writing film reviews in 2009, that statement was more-or-less accurate. Life moves fast. The year is 2025, which in itself looks and sounds like a year in a science-fiction movie.

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READ MORE: From Baseball to Tornadoes: Five Movies Filmed in Iowa

I say all that to tell you that a movie with a deep connection to the state of Wisconsin is about to turn 39-years-old this summer. That movie is Back to School, released all the way back in 1986. The Rodney Dangerfield comedy holds a special place in the hearts of Wisconsinites because a portion of the movie was actually filmed in the state.

The movie industry doesn't tend to flock to the Midwest to establish productions very often; surely less so in decades past. That's why movies like Twister, filmed in Ames, and F.I.S.T., filmed in Dubuque, for example, are so beloved in the local communities in which they were shot.

What is Back to School About?:

If you haven't seen it (and it's admittedly been at least 15 years since I have), Back to School stars Rodney Dangerfield as Thornton Melton, a business tycoon who accompanies his lackadaisical son (Keith Gordon) at college as a way to encourage him to tough out the four years. It's a flimsy premise to say the very least. It would've crumbled under its own stupidity if not for Dangerfield.

The late, great Dangerfield was a master of comedy, acting so often with his eyes and his big-bodied, hearty voice, which often made him sound like he was trying to use his last remaining breath to tell a joke. In Back to School, Dangerfield acts alongside Robert Downey Jr, Ned Beatty, and the late Sam Kinison.

What Parts of Madison are Shown in the Film?:

A portion of Back to School was indeed shot in Madison, WI. Per the website The Bozho, the film's director, Alan Metter, overhead a girl on the Southern Methodist University campus say she wishes she was back home this weekend. Home for that young woman was Madison, WI. Metter and the production team flew there that very weekend and decided to use the city as one of the settings.

Early in the film, as The Bozho notes, several exterior shots of the University of Wisconsin–Madison are featured prominently. Locations such as Lake Mendota, Liz Waters and Bascom Hill, and the Park Street footbridge are shown.

Where Can You Watch Back to School?:

As of this writing, Back to School is available to stream on a variety of platforms. You can watch it on Amazon Prime Video, Philo TV, and Sling TV, all with subscriptions. The film is also streaming on AMC+.

Read more about Back to School being filmed in Madison, WI, and see some screenshots of several locations in the city, on The Bozho's website.