Laws Broken: Revenge of the Nerds

The nerds are supposed to be the good guys rights? Because they aren't.

Welcome back to LegalEagle. The most avian legal analysis on the internets.

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Sorry, occupational hazard: This is not legal advice, nor can I give you legal advice. I AM NOT YOUR LAWYER. Sorry! Everything here is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Nothing here should be construed to form an attorney-client relationship. Also, some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase. But if you click, it really helps me make more of these videos! All non-licensed clips used for fair use commentary, criticism, and educational purposes. See Hosseinzadeh v. Klein, 276 F.Supp.3d 34 (S.D.N.Y. 2017); Equals Three, LLC v. Jukin Media, Inc., 139 F. Supp. 3d 1094 (C.D. Cal. 2015).

Special thanks:
Stock video and imagery provided by Getty Images
Music provided by Epidemic Sound

[siren-nate]

In the words of CollegeHumor, "God *damn* those nerds were rapey!"

[thevman]

If the parents, or even some of the students, paid for housing in the dorms as part of their tuition, wouldn't kicking them out be a breech of contract? The movie doesn't say that students were offered refund. Even in the 1980's dorm fees weren't cheap.

[Nemo]

Something you left out (although possibly deliberately, since it might not be Youtube friendly): the fraternity the Nerds join, as I recall, is a historically black fraternity, which puts the Jocks's burning sign "prank" in a much darker light.

[robertmruczek]

When the "Nerds" were selling those pie plates at the Carnival, they sold "over $2, 000" in pies at $5.00 per pie, each "pie" featuring a topless pic of cheerleader Betty Childs. Wouldn't that also be 400+ counts of illegal distribution or porn and/or other laws being broken ?

Also the entire Alpha-Beta team trashed the home of the "nerds"...that has got to be a good number of laws being broken.

[lluewhyn]

This film is the epitome of "Didn't age well". Of course, I remember seeing it as a teenager back in the early 90s and thinking some of it was pretty questionable back then as well.

[quantumvideoscz]

Me, as a Czech guy: Defenestration may be your favourite word, but it's *our* national hobby." 😂😂😁

[kanehodder]

"throwing people out of Windows have caused several wars" has to be the funniest thing I have heard all year

[kingbeauregard]

This film commits the conceptual sin that so many 80s movies did: the heroes have been tormented, therefore they are justified in doing whatever they feel like doing in response. Only crappy people think that way. Part of being a good guy is, there are things you won't do because it's wrong, period.

[stormaurora]

Fun fact: my screenwriting professor was one of the screenwriters for this movie, and he told us that they came up with the title "Revenge of the Nerds" first and then wrote the entire script based on that title

[theGreenGoblin]

Dude, they use to play “Revenge of the Nerds” on the frickin’ DISNEY channel in the 90’s. 😳

[BeastOfTraal]

If the defenestration is through a closed window you have to add a destruction of property charge.

[madmonk]

The fact that burglary carries a heavier sentence than r*pe by fraud is depressingly accurate

[EveryFairyDies]

Defenestration is a fantastic word. I love that Prague has two famous cases of political defenestration that occurred out of the same window about a hundred years apart.

[tdalford]

I love this break down! I think its not only reflective but important to revisit "comedy" of the eighties. My children are always pointing out why movies and tv shows from the 80's and 90's are "cringy" and "creepy". So many of the shows and movies my generation adored depict acts and behavior we would not approve of today. And it's not that it was not obviously bad and likely criminal behavior but we were guided to think of this as comedy! Bad acts were justified if the "good guy" did it. Well the kids of today are calling it like they see it. Sexual assault, bullying, racism, sexism and homophobia no longer have a place as comic relief. Thanks great video LegalEagle!!

[spicymayo]

I’m so glad you mentioned that Darth Vader scene. This movie, and so many others from the 80s, are deeply upsetting to me because of things like this, and telling women that it was a different time doesn’t make it any better. Plus, as you mentioned, IT WAS STILL A CRIME THEN. People clearly knew better.

[ninjabearpress]

The irony is Brian Tochi, the actor who plays Takashi, is actually an expert martial artist and ninja turtle.

[ClownScreams]

50 years for burglary seems pretty steep compared to just 20 for ra<beep>pe.

[Alverant]

Not to mention all the destruction of property and other assaults when the ABs illegally evicted people from the dorms.

[JimmyJojoshabadoo]

Let's not forget the pie charity scene when Lewis took pictures of a top less Betty and distributed them to raise charity. I don't know how many laws that would violate. Kinda pissed Betty still stayed with him after that.

[gail_blue]

I remember when the hubbub about this movie started, and one of my friends was all "Nerd culture is anti-woman!" and I was like "You know, there were no actual nerds involved in this movie, it's all actors playing parts. It's Hollywood that's anti-woman, " and she was like "Good point."