Meatballs (1979)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Ivan Reitman

Writers:

Len Blum (written by) and
Daniel Goldberg (written by) ...

Release Date:

29 June 1979 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

We'll Give You One Hell Of A Holiday

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Camp | Summer Camp | Prank | Camp Counselor | Campfire

Awards:

3 wins & 6 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Fri. July 24	4:30 PM	COMEDY
Sat. July 25	9:00 AM	COMEDY

Cast

Bill Murray	...	Tripper Harrison
Harvey Atkin	...	Morty
Kate Lynch	...	Roxanne
Russ Banham	...	Crockett
Kristine DeBell	...	A. L.
Sarah Torgov	...	Candace
Jack Blum	...	Spaz
Keith Knight	...	Larry Finkelstein (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

Also Known As:

Arrête de ramer, t'es sur le sable (Canada: French title)
Summer Camp

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Sonolab)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Iceland:L | Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Canada:PG | Finland:K-8 | France:U | Norway:12 | Sweden:7 | UK:15 | USA:PG | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Camps White Pine & Towhee, Haliburton, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC)

Trivia:

The movie was filmed at an actual summer camp, Camp White Pine, in Haliburton, Ontario (a few hours north of Toronto). Many of the extras in the film were actual campers and counselors of the camp; most if not all locations were actual camp facilities (basketball courts, mess hall, swim docks, cabins, etc.). The "Visitors Day" scene/montage was actually filmed during the camp's Visitors Day; White Pine also had a similar yearly event to the "Olympiad" -- although rather than being a inter-camp competition, it was an intra-camp relay-type competition that was just part of an overall all-day themed event. These competitions were nicknamed "Mohawk Relays", perhaps serving as inspiration for the name of the rival camp in the movie.

Goofs:

Factual errors: During the Olympiad softball game, one of the girls on the North Star team tells her teammate to hit the ball to the Mohawk outfielder with "big boobs" because she can't catch. When the ball is hit to the buxom outfielder, it appears to fall into her shirt on the fly, which would cause the ball to become dead and each runner would be awarded two bases.

Quotes:

Tripper: Roxanne, I have what doctors call "very active glands." You're the first person I've told, my folks don't even know.
Roxanne: Well, maybe you can have surgery without them knowing.
Tripper: Awww, heck with surgery! Let's wrestle!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Best Friend

Good old days

I'm not American, but Meatballs still really hits me. Maybe because it's a sweet, sweet movie. Watching it again today made me sentimental for a time I can't really put my finger on and a place I can't quite remember.

Meatballs is just a great movie. It reminds me of innocent days when nothing really mattered and anything was possible.

If you're reading this you probably know what I mean.

All I can say on top of what I've already said is that Meatballs must be even more nostalgic if you're American.

I guess you know what I mean by that too.