Back to School (1986)
Downey is the son of a beloved cult filmmaker (you can probably guess his name), and the younger Downey appeared in a couple of his father’s films as a child., starting with 1970’s Pound, when the younger Downey was five.
But as a young adult, he found himself finding his footing. He was briefly a cast member of Saturday Night Live starting in 1985, and also appeared that year in Weird Science.
He came to be associated with the group of young actors condescendingly called The Brat Pack, alongside young stars like Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. One of his first major roles was in the Rodney Dangerfield campus comedy Back to School.
While he doesn’t play Dangerfield’s character’s son (that would be Keith Gordon), Downey got to play Derek Lutz, the quippy, partying best friend of Gordon.
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