And we have a winner… sort of!
“St. Elsewhere Fan,” (why you folks don’t use your actual names baffles us but what the hey…) swims up to the answer of our local movie trivia question and backs into it.
It is, of course, the universally acclaimed 1979 film epic “Swim Team,” a chip off the old “Animal House” genre popular at the time and filmed on location for about $1.49 at a pool near where the Rossmoor Safeway is today.
Some scenes for this movie milestone were also shot at the Campolindo Cabana Club in Moraga and it did feature Mr. Stephen Furst (“Flounder” in Animal House). Other cast members from that JOHN Belushi hit (Jim wasn’t around much then) were also involved in the production, and Belushi himself was rumored to have produced the watery effort but paid to have his name removed from any public tie.
Yes, it was that bad. Think big hair and speedos and people falling into pools.
Students from a local acting school were given bit parts and paid with hot dogs and maybe a warm Coors every so often, apparently, though perhaps unsurprisingly no one has come forward to admit their participation.
For the Bonus Bonus – photographer Craig Cannon of News24/680 Fame did have a small part and apparently rocked his Speedo. Strangely, there is no photographic evidence to attest to this.
There you have it! Thanks for playing!
ORIGINAL POST
Okay, Movie Lovers and 24/680 Livers, here’s one to test your film knowledge as well as your mastery of local history – trivial though it may be!
Q: What movie was filmed locally, had connections to the vastly superior “Animal House,” and featured several locals who would probably prefer you weren’t aware of their involvement?
Bonus Points available for identifying the film’s location, date, cast, and if you’re brave enough to come forward and admit you were in it.
Bonus Bonus Point: What connection does News24/680 have with this lamentable piece of cinematic history?
Death Blood 4?
Whoa. Was that actually a movie?
Yes. Indie movie filmed 100% in Pleasanton.
Yikes! And we thought Pleasanton was such a nice, sleepy little town!
Trailer: https://youtu.be/AK_40Ywam-U
Well, that’ll give you the yips… but not the movie we had in mind!
I thought Bucket of Blood (a Roger Corman classic, it turns out) was hilarious and great when I watched it. In retrospect, that reaction required a certain amount of very late night preparation which I cannot in good conscience recommend. Nevertheless, human children have proven to be very resilient, so it is a qualified precaution.
Death Blood 4? Bucket of Blood?
Holy Cow, you guys! Too bloody for us!
Hah! That from a zombie movie fancier.
Did it feature a former governor?
We don’t believe so. No.
Dirty Harry?
Nope… that was the city, of course… we watched them film much of it and then that other one in town. Think: 24/680…
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply?
Unfamiliar with that one but that’s not it…
Is Jim Belushi the connection to Animal House and a local HS the setting for the film?
Ooh ooh. You’re warmer but we’ll have to say… no. Jim had no connection to Animal House that we know of.
Bachelor Party?
No thanks, we can’t party like we used to! Oh… no. That was a Hanks movie, right? But no…
Was that filmed up here?
Probably not but when I googled movies filmed in Moraga it came up. How about “Landscape Suicide”?
First: Hi and how are you? Been a while.
Second: No fair using Google. Actually, we were hoping a local who was in it would admit to it!
Third: Not Landscape Suicide.
1. I’m fine and still very happy in Santa Barbara. 2. Google was no help in this case anyway. I hope this local will fess up soon. I feel like I should know this but can’t seem to remember what it could be. 3. I give up
We reckon you’ll say: “Huh, wow, I never knew that!” when all is said and done.
I bet my money on de bob-tail nag, and she came up short this time, I think. I just speed-watched a movie featuring Oakland as a backdrop, with a bit of Northgate HS thrown in. And, in the words of Leonard Pinth-Garnell, renowned fictional reviewer, it was truly awful, loathsomely acted, begging for a script, bad, bad theatre. I thought Jim Belushi in The Principal might be the connection to John Belushi in Animal House, but you nixed that. I give up. I can find no other connection.
David drops out! And we figured him as a mudder, good in the finish!
But, in fairness, this is a tough one! (Closer to home than Oakland!)
I think I know the basics of this question – only because I’m a devoted fan of St Elsewhere (the best TV show ever with the best series finale ever) which had a character named Dr. Eliot Axlerod played by Stephen Furst who starred in Animal House and then in Swim Team in 1979.
He died around 2017 and while reading about him I stumbled on Swim Team and read a little about it. It stuck in my mind because it had filming connections to Orinda and Rossmoor which seemed appropriate since swim teams/clubs are so popular here, although not something I or my kids ever did. I recall comments about the movie being terrible, but typical for the Animal House genre of films popular at that time.
I have no clue about your bonus points and definitely wasn’t in the film. I only know this basic info because of reading about Furst after hearing he passed away.
Bingo.
Bonus points still available and first-hand confessions from local “stars” still desired…
Never heard of it but reading up on it I can see why!!!
Was this the movie? https://youtu.be/_gbL8zNobEg
Oh oh, that’s looking like it!
Flounder and Dougie and other holdovers from “Animal House,” plus a cast of dozens and enough blond hair dye to float a battleship.
What dialogue! What special effects! (Nice shark…) And the acting! Plus those “pie in the face” and “fall in the pool” gags get us every time! It’s a real swim riot!
This looks really really bad
They don’t make movies like they used to — Thank God.
The really scary thing is people used to go to movies like that.
Talked to a friend who was an extra. He said it only stayed in theatres for 2 weeks.
Brilliant!