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'Animal House' Cast Reunites in Parade

Posted on: Thursday, 21 August 2003, 06:00 CDT

A class reunion of the rowdy "Animal House" gang shut down Hollywood Boulevard on Thursday with a parade featuring a live elephant, an ROTC contingent, a cheerleading squad and an interruption by the "Deathmobile."

Actors Tim Matheson, Karen Allen and Stephen Furst rode on a cake float in the procession, which recreated the 1978 comedy's catastrophic climax.

The event, organized by Universal Pictures to promote the 25th anniversary DVD set for release next Tuesday, culminated in a faux-foodfight between scores of extras sporting generic "College" sweat shirts worn by the late John Belushi in the film.

Otis Day And The Knights performed the song "Shout," getting a little bit louder, a little bit LOUDER now, and then a little bit softer before wrapping up the parade.

The film, which became a surprise blockbuster and launched the careers of many of its young stars, chronicled the antics of the disreputable Delta House frat as it uses lust and alcohol to fuel a revolt against authority in the early 1960s.

What made the film an enduring hit? "I think it's about wild rebellion and it's about kind of conventional conservative oppression up against rule-breaking," said Allen, who played Katy, the movie's comely voice of reason.

Other cast members at the parade were Matheson, who played slickster Otto; Furst, the chunky newbie Flounder; Martha Smith, who was the sexpot Babs; Mark Metcalf, the uptight Neidermeyer; and John Vernon the blustery villain Dean Wormer.

Belushi's widow, Judy Belushi Pisano, also participated in the event. In the movie, she played an extra who danced with Belushi and laughed at him smashing a guitar in the film's famous toga party scene.

"I'm here at my college reunion," joked Peter Riegert, who played the morally lax frat brother Boon. Asked if shooting the movie in 1977 was a crazy time, he responded: "Oh my God! Look at what we made! ... You can't be stoned or drunk and act, but you're done acting at the end of the day."

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