Meatballs (1979)

Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp.

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Len Blum, Daniel Goldberg,

Stars:

Bill Murray, Harvey Atkin, Kate Lynch

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Murray	...	Tripper
Harvey Atkin	...	Morty
Kate Lynch	...	Roxanne
Russ Banham	...	Crockett
Kristine DeBell	...	A.L.
Sarah Torgov	...	Candace
Jack Blum	...	Spaz
Keith Knight	...	Fink
Cindy Girling	...	Wendy
Todd Hoffman	...	Wheels
Margot Pinvidic	...	Jackie
Matt Craven	...	Hardware (as Matt Cravenn)
Norma Dell'Agnese	...	Brenda
Chris Makepeace	...	Rudy
Michael Kirby	...	Eddy

Storyline

Summer Camp highjinks centered around a camp counselor with a wacky sense of humor. He tries to help the campers have a good time. One camper named Rudy poses a particular challenge as he has a self-esteem problem

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Plot Keywords:

camp | summer camp | camp counselor | prank | upskirt | 

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Taglines:

Are you ready for a good time?

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Summer Camp

Filming Locations:

Camps White Pine & Towhee, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 1,600,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$43,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC), Famous Players, Haliburton Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Sonolab)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Feature film debut of Bill Murray, Matt Craven and Keith Knight.

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Goofs

When Spaz is walking with Tripper and co., and he stumbles into Tripper, Spaz is sockless. However, moments later as they are all walking further, Spaz has white socks on.

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Quotes

The Stomach: What? No mustard?

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Connections

Referenced in 'Old School' Orientation (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Moondust"
Sung by Terry Black
Written by Norman Gimbel and Elmer Bernstein

User Reviews

Summer Camp Shenanigans

This is easily the best of the summer camp movies. In fact, few of the others are even fair, let alone anywhere near as entertaining as this one is.

The film is just simply out to have some good, clean, fun. Many people who went to summer camp as kids will see that it is presented here faithfully to the way it usually was, but with slapstick comedy mixed in. Bill Murray, as the chief counselor of the camp, Tripper, leads a fine ensemble cast, and is usually at the center of the riotous nonsense. Tripper has great one-liners throughout, usually broadcasting his jokes as pseudo-announcements over the camp's public-address system.

Several great supporting actors played the campers and counselors to build a myriad of fun and interesting subplots, all the while sprinkled amongst the many incidents of camp hi-jinx. Spaz (Jack Blum) and Fink (Keith Knight) were two characters particularly well done. The adventures (and misadventures) of these two are hilarious. Each has classic lines, and they are characters you like and root for. Look for Spaz in the scene of disco dance pandemonium.

The girls in the story are realistic characters, too. They're not dumb, naive, freakish, oversexed, nervy, or any of the other overused, abominable teen character stereotypes. Kristine DeBell, Kate Lynch, Cindy Girling, and others make these characters believable.

The requisite pranks abound, usually at the expense of camp director Morty (Harvey Atkin). The nature of these pranks start at outrageous and progress from there. However, with all the silliness going on, Tripper and the others have their serious sides. For example, Tripper befriends a shy, lonely kid, Rudy(Chris Makepeace), and takes him under his wing.

The story culminates with a sports competition against a rival camp. It's a great "root for the underdogs" finale. When the chips are down, Tripper's motivational "It just doesn't matter" spiel is inspired, and one of the best moments in the movie. And get ready to root: "Spaz. Spaz! Spaz!!!""