Meatballs (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Meatballs | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Ivan Reitman |
| Produced by | John Dunning Daniel Goldberg André Link Lawrence Nesis |
| Written by | Len Blum Daniel Goldberg Janis Allen Harold Ramis |
| Starring | Bill Murray Harvey Atkin Kate Lynch Russ Banham |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Donald Wilder |
| Editing by | Debra Karen |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  June 28, 1979 June 29 |
| Running time | 99 min. |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,600,000 |
| Gross revenue | $43,046,003 |
| Followed by | Meatballs Part II |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Meatballs is a 1979 Canadian comedy film. It was the first film appearance of Bill Murray and, though not his first film, launched Ivan Reitman into a career of light comedies. It introduced child-actor Chris Makepeace in the role of Rudy Gerner. It was considered somewhat raunchy in its day, but has since become a classic. It was followed by several unsuccessful sequels, of which only Meatballs III: Summer Job had any connection to the original film.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The film followed the antics and foibles of head counsellor Tripper Harrison (Bill Murray) and the counsellors-in-training (CITs) at Camp North Star, a cut-rate summer camp somewhere in the "North Woods". The characters range from reasonably sane, to zany, to screwball.
The main part of the plot involves Rudy Gerner (Chris Makepeace), a lonely kid with a workaholic father who is sent away for the summer to attend camp, and how he befriends Tripper. Each morning, Tripper and Rudy go jogging and bond as friends. Tripper helps Rudy gain confidence in trying and Rudy gives Tripper the courage to be with Roxanne (Kate Lynch), the female head counsellor.
A parallel part of the plot deals with a rivalry with Camp Mohawk, another summer camp across the lake – one with a richer clientele – and Camp Northstar's attempt to come away with, if not outright victory, then at least its very own perverse version of pride, from the yearly "Olympiad" held between Camp Northstar and Camp Mohawk.
The last event is a marathon race in which Rudy is chosen as North Star's runner. Because of the time Rudy spent in the mornings jogging Tripper throughout the film, he wins the race. The film ends with all of the CITs gathered around a campfire in which everyone says a final goodbye to each other and hopes to see them again next summer.
[edit] Cast
- Bill Murray as Tripper Harrison
- Harvey Atkin as Morty
- Kate Lynch as Roxanne
- Chris Makepeace as Rudy Gerner
- Russ Banham as Crockett
- Kristine DeBell as A.L.
- Sarah Torgov as Candace
- Cindy Girling as Wendy
- Keith Knight as Larry "Fink" Finkelstein
- Jack Blum as "Spaz"
- Elmars Sebrins as "Spaz"'s father
- Matt Craven as "Hardware"
[edit] Filming locations
The film was made at Camp White Pine, and other locations in and around Haliburton, Ontario, Canada, and features a number of Canadian personalities, notably the aforesaid Chris Makepeace, and also Harvey Atkin as the long-suffering Morty, who is always the butt of some rather unkind practical jokes, made possible by his tendency to sleep very deeply.
[edit] Music
The original music was written by Elmer Bernstein, and musicians contributing to the soundtrack included Mary MacGregor, who performed "Good Friend", David Naughton, performing "Makin' It", and Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots, who performed the title theme. The former two songs made the Billboard pop charts. Session musicians on the theme included Ed Green on drums and Ron Cook on electric guitar.
[edit] Other facts
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- One character in the film, a stereotypical nerd character named "Spaz", struck a chord with viewers, though not always in a positive way. The character wore a broken pair of eyeglasses, fastened together at the bridge with a white piece of tape. In a number of schools there were reports of eyeglass-wearing children being taunted with the name "Spaz".[citation needed] "Spaz"'s father, played in the movie by Elmars Sebrins (a local pharmacist), was also depicted with tape-bearing eyeglasses.
- In filming of the movie during the summer of 1978, Camp White Pine continued business as usual, resulting in many campers and staff members being used as extras and secondary characters in the film.
- An actual Camp North Star exists in Poland Spring, Maine.
- In the DVD release of the film, all of the music remains intact save for the title track, which seems to have been slightly re-dubbed by Bill Murray and the pace changed to a faster tempo.
- In one scene Bill Murray is seen wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jacket. Murray is a native of Wilmette, IL, a Chicago suburb.
- According to the DVD commentary, all the scenes involving the first day of camp was the first day of shooting for Bill Murray. He, at the time, was not signed on to doing the film just yet because he was still committed to doing Saturday Night Live. His outfit, the Hawaiian shirt and red shorts, were his own clothes that he showed up on set with.
- Chris Makepeace started going through puberty during filming. In one case he started to grow a bit of a beard so Bill Murray helped him out with his very first shave.
- Kate Lynch was chosen for the role as Roxanne because she did not look like a supermodel and would be taken more seriously.
[edit] Home video and DVD
Meatballs was first released on DVD in 1999 by HBO (although Paramount Pictures was behind the original theatrical release and the first VHS and Selectavision release in the 1980s, and also continue to hold international video rights.) Sony Pictures has since acquired the rights and issued a special-edition DVD (with an anamorphic transfer, a director's commentary, and a "Making of" featurette) on June 5, 2007. However, the sequels did not receive the same treatment.
[edit] Sequels
Meatballs was followed by three unsuccessful sequels: Meatballs Part II, Meatballs III: Summer Job, and Meatballs 4.
Nielsen Ratings phone surveys have asked people if they would enjoy seeing a remake of Meatballs giving rumors that a remake is in the works.
A remake of the film is in development with Lionsgate. John Whitesell is directing with Sean Anders and John Morris screenwriting.
[edit] External links
|
|||||
|
|||||
