July 20, 1984: “Revenge of the Nerds” Premieres

July 20, 1984: Revenge of the Nerds premieres. 20th Century Fox initially billed it as an "underdog story," such as other Fox films as Star Wars, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, and The Sound of Music. The tagline was, "They've been laughed at, picked on, put down. But, now, it's time for the odd to get even."

Some of the stars became good actors: Robert Carradine as Lewis Skolnick, Anthony Edwards as Gilbert Lowe, even Curtis Armstrong as the not-at-all-nerdy, and indeed truly disgusting, Dudley "Booger" Dawson. It is truly hard to believe that Arnold Poindexter turned into Timothy Busfield.

The only known stars at that point were Bernie Casey, as national fraternity head U.N. Jefferson, and Ted McGinley, as Stan Gable, quarterback and head of the jocks' fraternity. It was the first time I can remember seeing James Cromwell (as Lewis' father) and, aside from a commercial for A&W root beer, John Goodman (as football coach Harris).

At the time, it felt like a victory over every guy and every girl who treated me the way the Nerds were treated. In retrospect, it was a horrible piece of moviemaking. And it feels like not just a ripoff of Animal House, but a doubling down on it, to the point where the good guys ignore Gilbert’s warning about bringing themselves down to the bad guys' level.

A "Facebook Friend" once told me, "I bought the DVD for that a couple of years ago in a two-pack with Porky's. What surprised me was that of the two movies, Porky's was actually less sexist and rape-friendly."

To paraphrase another movie, You either die a nerd, or you live long enough to see yourself become the fraternity jerk.

And yet, the film's success launched a franchise, which stretched 4 films. Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds In Paradise was a Spring Break film released in 1987. Donald Gibb, who played lineman Fred "The Ogre" Palowaski in the 1st film, returned, and, at the end, "came out of the closet" as a nerd and was admitted to the "Tri-Lambs." Anthony Edwards had only a brief cameo, but the other main Nerds from the first film all returned, with Ogre as the only returnee among the enemy.

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation was a TV-movie in 1992, with Lewis and Betty now married, and both professors at Adams College. Since any child they would have would be too young to go to college, Gregg Brinkley plays his nephew, Harold, who views him as "The George Washington of Nerds," and asks him to rebel against the new head of the board of regents, played by trash-TV pioneer Morton Downey Jr. Stan Gable, now a campus police officer, turns hero. The other original Tri-Lambs all return, with the exception of a different actor making a brief cameo as Lewis.

Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love was a TV-movie in 1994. A remake of the 1st film was planned for 2007, but location issues and the Hollywood writers' strike led to its cancellation. In 2020, Seth MacFarlane announced he would reboot the series, but, as of July 20, 2022, no progress has been made.

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July 20, 1984 was a Friday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. The Twins led 3-2 with 1 out in the bottom of the 9th, with former Yankee Ron Davis on the mound. But he walked Mike Pagliarulo, and gave up singles to Ken Griffey Sr. and Omar Moreno to tie the game, and a double to Willie Randolph to lose it. Jay Howell was the winning pitcher, in relief of Dennis Rasmussen. Dave Winfield went 1-for-4. Don Mattingly went 2-for-3 with a walk.

* The New York Mets beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Keith Hernandez brought Wally Backman home with the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning. This made Jesse Orosco a winning pitcher in relief of rookie Dwight Gooden, who struck out 11 batters in 9 innings. Darryl Strawberry hit a home run.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 13-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. The Phils' only run came on Mike Schmidt's 410th career home run.

* A doubleheader was split at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Pirates won the opener, 4-3. The San Diego Padres won the nightcap, 3-2. Over the 2 games, Tony Gwynn went 5-for-7 with a home run and 3 RBIs.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 6-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Texas Rangers, 3-1 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 10-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Baltimore Orioles, 4-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 1-for-3 with an RBI. Eddie Murray went 1-for-5. Cal Ripken went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Houston Astros beat the Montreal Expos, 8-4 at the Astrodome in Houston. In his brief stay with the Expos, Pete Rose had an RBI on a pinch-hit groundout.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 4-3 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Jim Rice doubled Jackie Gutiérrez home with the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 9-7 at the Oakland Coliseum. The Brewers scored 5 runs in the 9th to win it. Robin Yount went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Paul Molitor was injured, and did not play. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-2 with a walk and 2 stolen bases, before being pinch-hit for.

* And the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners, 12-7 at the Kingdome in Seattle.