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Meatballs
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 2
All Movie Guide 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 family classic. It was followed by several sequels.

Contents 1 Plot summary 2 Cast 3 Filming locations 4 Music 5 Other facts 6 Home video and DVD 7 Sequels 8 External links

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 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 confedence in trying and Rudy gives Tripper the courage to be with Roxanne (Kate Lynch), the female head counselor.

At the same time, 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 CIT's gathered around a campfire in which everyone says a final goodbye to each other and hopes to see them again next summer.

• 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
• Keith Knight as Larry "Fink" Finkelstein
• Jack Blum as "Spaz"
• Matt Craven as "Hardware"

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.

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.

• 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]}

• 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 North Star Camp exists in Hayward, Wisconsin.

• 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 Chicagoland 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.

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.) 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.

Meatballs was followed by three unsuccessful sequels: Meatballs 2, Meatballs III, 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.

• Meatballs at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD Talk Review of Special Edition DVD

v • d • e The Meatballs Series
Meatballs • Meatballs 2 • Meatballs III • Meatballs 4

v • d • e Films directed by Ivan Reitman
Foxy Lady (1971) • Cannibal Girls (1973) • Meatballs (1979) • Stripes (1981) • Ghostbusters (1984) • Legal Eagles (1986) • Twins (1988) • Ghostbusters II (1989) • Kindergarten Cop (1990) • Dave (1993) • Junior (1994) • Fathers' Day (1997) • Six Days Seven Nights (1998) • Evolution (2001) • My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006)

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