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IMDbPro

Meatballs

  • 19791979
  • PGPG
  • 1h 34m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
22K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,990
730
Meatballs (1979)
Trailer for Meatballs: Special Edition
Play trailer0:26
2 Videos
99+ Photos
Comedy
Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp.Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp.Wacky hijinks of counselors and campers at a less-than-average summer camp.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
22K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
1,990
730
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Ivan Reitman
    • Writers
      • Len Blum
      • Daniel Goldberg
      • Janis Allen
    • Stars
      • Bill Murray
      • Harvey Atkin
      • Kate Lynch
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Ivan Reitman
    • Writers
      • Len Blum
      • Daniel Goldberg
      • Janis Allen
    • Stars
      • Bill Murray
      • Harvey Atkin
      • Kate Lynch
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 128User reviews
    • 63Critic reviews
    • 60Metascore
    • Awards
      • 9 nominations

    Videos2

    Meatballs: Special Edition
    Trailer 0:26
    Meatballs: Special Edition
    Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 6
    Video 28:37
    Sneak Previews Season 2 Episode 6

    Photos161

    Bill Murray, Harvey Atkin, Peter Hume, and Keith Knight in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Harvey Atkin, Margot Pinvidic, and Sarah Torgov in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Matt Craven, Jack Blum, Norma Dell'Agnese, Margot Pinvidic, Russ Banham, Kristine DeBell, Cindy Girling, Todd Hoffman, Keith Knight, and Sarah Torgov in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray and Larry Solway in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Matt Craven, Jack Blum, Russ Banham, and Keith Knight in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Jack Blum, Russ Banham, and Keith Knight in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray and Kate Lynch in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray and Chris Makepeace in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Matt Craven, Jack Blum, Todd Hoffman, and Keith Knight in Meatballs (1979)
    Matt Craven, Jack Blum, Harvey Atkin, Russ Banham, Ron Barry, Kristine DeBell, Keith Knight, Kate Lynch, Chris Makepeace, Jim McLarty, and Sarah Torgov in Meatballs (1979)
    Bill Murray, Matt Craven, Jack Blum, Todd Hoffman, and Keith Knight in Meatballs (1979)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Bill Murray
    Bill Murray
    • Tripper
    Harvey Atkin
    Harvey Atkin
    • Morty
    Kate Lynch
    Kate Lynch
    • Roxanne
    Russ Banham
    • Crockett
    Kristine DeBell
    Kristine DeBell
    • A.L.
    Sarah Torgov
    • Candace
    Jack Blum
    Jack Blum
    • Spaz
    Keith Knight
    Keith Knight
    • Fink
    Cindy Girling
    • Wendy
    Todd Hoffman
    • Wheels
    Margot Pinvidic
    Margot Pinvidic
    • Jackie
    Matt Craven
    Matt Craven
    • Hardware
    • (as Matt Cravenn)
    Norma Dell'Agnese
    Norma Dell'Agnese
    • Brenda
    Chris Makepeace
    Chris Makepeace
    • Rudy
    Michael Kirby
    Michael Kirby
    • Eddy
    Greg Swanson
    • Phil
    Ron Barry
    • Lance
    Paul Boyle
    • Ace
    • Director
      • Ivan Reitman
    • Writers
      • Len Blum
      • Daniel Goldberg
      • Janis Allen
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      According to one of the featurettes on the DVD, several of the shots in the movie were added after initial filming ended. These included the scenes of Rudy and Tripper at the bus station and of them playing blackjack for peanuts. During the time off, Chris Makepeace had entered puberty and had the beginnings of a mustache. Bill Murray decided that it had to go so he took Makepeace over to a sink, lathered him up with soap and shaved off his mustache. So Makepeace received his first ever shave from Murray.
    • Goofs
      When they are in the K-Mart parking lot picking up the campers, the buses are Chevrolets and GMC makes. When they get to Camp North-Star the buses have changed to Fords and a Dodge.
    • Quotes

      Tripper: And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!

      Rest of group: IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER! IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER...

    • Alternate versions
      The music played during the second half of the Olympiad is different in the U.S. and Canadian versions of the film. On the U.S. release, there are additional lyrics: "Go team go, Fight team fight..." etc. These lyrics are absent on the Canadian theatrical and VHS releases. The soundtrack is mostly instrumental. You can hear this alternate music on the French soundtrack of the region 1 DVD.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: Sunburn, Americathon, Hot Stuff, Meatballs, The Concorde: Airport '79 (1979)
    • Soundtracks
      Are You Ready for the Summer?
      Sung by The North Star Kids Chorus

      Written by Norman Gimbel and Elmer Bernstein

    User reviews128

    Review
    Top review
    7/10
    2 flicks in one
    I just saw this for the first time in 10 or 15 years...maybe close to 20. In some ways, it was better than I remembered...in other, it was MUCH worse.

    First of all, there's the music. It's just plain awful. There are only 5 songs in the movie, most of them used more than once. The opening song is shrieked by a chorus of annoying children, and the disco-y title track is performed by Rick Dees. It doesn't get any worse than that. Even the background music is terrible, with much of it repeating the themes of the other nauseating tunes. We also get some truly lame slapstick, mostly in the opening credits.

    On the other hand, Bill Murray is spot on brilliant as usual...you have to wonder if he ad-libbed the whole thing, or if the writers just gave him all the funny lines. Or maybe he's just that great- turning a weak script into comic genius. The best part are his surreal PA announcements. ("Lobsters...get out of here...you're a menace!")

    You also get a lot more character development than you have any right to expect in a movie like this. At least half the characters seem like real people...and mostly real people you would like to have around. Even "Spaz" gets to do a more than any other Eddie Deezen-type character ever did, and when he gets the girl, it's plausible. (She's not absurdly hot, but he doesn't automatically pair up with one of the nerd girls- see "Revenge Of The Nerds" for examples of both cinematic phenomenons.)

    And when the plot seems clichéd...well, ya gotta wonder if it wasn't a cliché yet when they made this. While it wasn't the first summer camp movie- ya gotta go back at least to "The Parent Trap"- it's certainly the movie that made it it's own genre. In fact, I was surprised that there was no Talent Show scene..."Wet Hot American Summer" spoofed the summer-camp genre so perfectly, I just assumed everything in it came straight out of Meatballs. (I also half-expected Jon Cryer to pull up in a convertible with a chimp, thanks to "Mr. Show's" epic camp-olympiad spoof "Monk Academy")

    Anyway, this one seems to be vanishing a little as far as the late-70's/early 80's comedies- it's not a cable staple anymore, and certainly doesn't have the cult following of Caddyshack or Animal House. I was pleased to catch it on Showtime today- and in High Definition at that! Sure, it's pretty awful in spots, but you could do a lot worse in a 70's/80's teen comedy. And again, Murray is a genius.
    helpful•20
    4
    • treemarc
    • Jul 2, 2007

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 29, 1979 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Canada
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Babyspeck und Fleischklösschen
    • Filming locations
      • Camp White Pine, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada
    • Production companies
      • Dunning/Link/Reitman Productions
      • Mount Royal Productions
      • Haliburton Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • CA$1,600,000 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $43,046,003
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $77,170
      • Jul 1, 1979
    • Gross worldwide
      • $43,046,003
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 34 minutes
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

    Related news

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