FRIDAY

The bad boys of Delta House are all sagging, middle-aged men now: Tim “Otter” Matheson, Peter “Boon” Riegert, Tom “Pinto” Hulce. Well, all except for one, of course: John “Bluto” Belushi. Forget about gray hairs, creaky joints, stumbling careers: Belushi will forever be the bumbling glutton, cramming cafeteria-line burgers into his smirking piehole, guzzling fifths of Jack Daniels in one-take gulps, inciting food fights with a lift of his eyebrows. Premature death, apparently, keeps you looking young. When Hollywood punks Ivan Reitman and John Landis were casting for 1978’s National Lampoon’s Animal House, the producer and the director opted for mostly minimum-waged unknowns in hopes of landing—and paying—the hottest physical comedian at the time: Saturday Night Live’s not-ready-for-prime-time hurricane Belushi, who, as the highest-paid actor in Animal House, received $40,000 for taking the role of John Blutarsky (GPA: 0.0). On the 1998 collector’s edition DVD of this cinematic frat-boy Bible, a reunion documentary features behind-the-scenes home movies of Belushi smoking up a storm and cracking up the crew. The best bonus footage shows an impromptu skit with Landis barking out cue words—”Fear!” “Intense fear!” “Confident!” “Very confident!” “Anger!”—and a game Belushi acting out each emotion with only his eyes and his eyebrows. It’s all wildly funny, sweetly pure, and really damn sad. Remember when Belushi ruled the world when Animal House is screened at 7 p.m. Friday, March 17, at the Library of Congress’ Pickford Theater, 101 Independence Ave. SE. Free. For reservations call (202) 707-5677. (Sean Daly)