Movies - Revenge of the Nerds

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	Movies - Revenge of the Nerds

Revenge of the Nerds is a 1984 comedy film starring Robert Carradine and Anthony Edwards, with Curtis Armstrong, Ted McGinley, Julia Montgomery, Brian Tochi and Donald Gibb, the film was directed by Jeff Kanew. It chronicles the story of a group of nerds trying to stop the harassment by the persecuting jock fraternity, the Alpha Betas. Exterior scenes such as the arrival of the nerds at college and the fraternity houses were filmed at the University of Arizona.

Plot summary

The scene is set in Adams College where two nerds enroll on account of its acclaimed computer studies department. Unfortunately, the college also displays inappropriate favoritism towards their football team, the Atoms. This gives the coach (John Goodman), an arrogant bully, and his team, stocked mainly by the equally obnoxious jocks of the Alpha Beta fraternity, considerable power on campus.

This power is shown when the Alpha Betas burn down their fraternity house. They pressure the Dean of the campus to let them use the freshman dorm and literally throw out the present residents. The freshmen are forced to bunk in the gym until they can be bunked with the various fraternities. However, the nerds are all rejected and attempts to approach the fraternities on their own lead to them being publicly humiliated and harassed.

The nerds, with some difficulty, manage to find a house which they fix up into a superb place to live. However, the Alpha Betas and their associated sorority, the Pi Delta Pis, attempt to drive them out simply for its own sake.

When the nerds approach the campus police, they are referred to the Greek Council which oversees fraternity affairs only to find that Stan Gable, the head of the Alpha Betas, is the president. He bluntly overrules their complaint because they are not a fraternity. The nerds attempt to sign with one of the fraternal organizations only to find themselves rejected because they sent group photos of themselves to nearly every organization.

The Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity is the exception, but seeing as how it is an African American organization and only one of the nerds is African American (who is also openly gay), the situation seems hopeless. However, the nerds press the point using a regulation that, as a petitioning group, they have the right to join on a probationary status. The nerds attempt to organize a party to impress the management. However, they are tricked by the Pis who falsely offer to be their dates only to completely snub them on party night. Another sorority, the Omega Mus, come in their place, but they consist of social rejects themselves and the resulting awkwardness deadens the atmosphere. In desperation, the nerds resort to lighting large marijuana joints to liven up the affair which proves successful. However, the party is spoiled by the Alphas crashing the party with pigs and the nerds' chances seem ruined.

At the end of their patience, the nerds decide to retaliate. First they plan an elaborate panty raid on the Pis which is actually a diversion from the surveillance cameras they were simultaneously installing the sorority's rooms. The nerds saturate the Alpha's jock straps in liquid heat (a liniment that produces sensations of heat) to create an agonizing and embarrassing experience at football practice. The Lambda fraternity head is impressed with the nerds' creativity, and a charter is granted for the chapter.

However, the harassment by the Alphas only worsens, and the obviously biased Greek Council refuses to respond. Deciding that they must take power themselves, the nerds compete in the homecoming carnival. During homecoming, the fraternity which receives the most points from participating in various physical contests, fundraising, and a talent contest becomes the ruling fraternity. Although the Lambdas and Mus have a difficult time in the first phase they more than compensate in the following competitions. They seal their victory in the talent show with a spectacular song and dance routine using a TRS-80 Color Computer with the Audio Spectrum Analyzer cartridge for special effects.

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