There were an awful lot of camp-based movies released in the 1980s. While predominately they centered around the more exploitable horror and sex romp genres of on-the-cheap filmmaking, films like Friday The 13th, Little Darlings, Cheerleader Camp, and a great many more, they all owe respect to the film that really soared the camp film to popularity – Meatballs.

It would usually be easy to start writing about this film the way one would any other. “Meatballs is about this...” and go from there. But as one of director Ivan Reitman’s first feature films, Meatballs is relatively plotless as a whole. This gives Meatballs a naturalistic feel by focusing more on the ensemble cast than relying on the power of its one widely known actor, Bill Murray, himself very new to theatrical films at the time. Watching the film as an adult, it’s perhaps this very reason that I find it much more subdued and realistic than other films of its ilk (which also goes for the sequels), which reminds me a lot of the vibe from the late Robert Altman's films, or even Linklater’s Slacker/Dazed And Confused era, even though the settings are entirely different.

Basically, all you get is a series of characters (or more truly, archetypical characters) who for one reason or another are all brought together at Camp North Star, a camp for the less-financially well-off masses that is fairly welcoming of everyone. It’s operated by the clueless but well-meaning director named Morty (Harvey Atkin, Visiting Hours) and staffed with fun-loving counselors and CITs (Councilors-In-Training). The pseudo-villainous Camp Mohawk (and its campers) exists on the other side of the river, which is a rich-kids camp that costs $1000 per week to attend. There is a rivalry between the two Camps which climaxes at the annual Olympiad. Camp North Star has lost the last twelve years, and this year the outcome looks no different.

Watching Meatballs today, 28 years after the theatrical release, you may not recognize many of the faces, but that works to its benefit now as much as it did then. With the exception of Bill Murray, who plays Councilor Tripper Harrison, none of the cast ever became big names. This helps Camp North Star feel like a very real place. Everyone acts age appropriate (maturity level not withstanding) and every character has their own nuances. Tripper acts as the bridge, covering the most performance ground as he’s the rock-star-prankster of the counselors, constantly laying digs into Monty, training and organizing the CITs, falling in love with Roxanne (Kate Lynch, The Republic Of Love) and acting as mentor to Rudy (Chris Makepeace, Vamp) a child finding great difficulty making friends. There are other characters of course who get even less screen-time. Anyone who has seen Meatballs remembers Spaz, who is played by the casting director himself, Jack Blum (Happy Birthday To Me) and his over-weight friend Fink (Keith Knight, Class Of 1984), but beyond that, none of the characters are really distinctive, and there are quite a few more.

But the lack of any real plot is what greatly benefits Meatballs the most. The Olympiad competition (while inspired by The Bad News Bears, and later will inspire Revenge Of The Nerds) is solely needed to bring us towards the end of the movie and give the kids a singular victory over their rivals at Camp Mohawk, who, incidentally enough, really don’t have much to do in the whole movie. The audience is expected to believe that Camp Mohawk is made up of a bunch of asshole jock types when hardly any point of aggression is made from them outside of the opening scenes. It’s an element easily overlooked, though, since the viewers are going to be caught up in the carefree idyllic playground that Camp North Star seems to be.

With all the fun that the characters are having with the sports, activities, torturing of Morty, and chasing of the opposite sex, it’s not hard to be swept up in the charm. If you’ve ever attended a real summer camp, it’s likely to even evoke a sense of nostalgia, and the Bill Murray one-liners that are peppered throughout the film (especially those he spouts over the PA) are enough to make you cheer with laughter. My only complaint about the film is that it’s short. Even with its short running time, Meatballs never feels rushed towards its end. But when the credits do roll, you’ll feel that, just like an enjoyable summer vacation, it’s ended far too soon.

If you haven’t seen Meatballs, you should. If you have, you should revisit it soon.

But even if you don’t...

“It just doesn’t matter.”

The DVD Presentation
When Meatballs first got released on DVD in 1999, the transfer was far from excellent, nowhere near really good, and was not a long distance away from “the fuck was QA thinking?” The new transfer on this DVD is a definite improvement, but it’s still nothing to write home about. I’m not sure how much of this is due to the original negative, but I imagine that the film suffers simply for being a low-budget Canadian film made between 1975 and 1989. All of these films, particularly in exterior sequences, appear very soft and grainy. Meatballs is no different. The nighttime scenes, though, are surprisingly sharp and black so it is obvious that the film has been remastered to some degree at very least. The audio is a bigger improvement. The new 5.1 mix is fantastic in function, but to be honest it hardly adds much except for scenes with soundtrack songs and lots of campers screaming in delight. It’s a fairly well done mix, I just find it unnecessary. Subtitles are also included in English, French and Spanish for those that require them.

And the Extras Are?
Audio Commentary with director Ivan Reitman and writer/producer Daniel Goldberg –
If you’ve heard any of Reitman’s other commentaries then you know what to expect. The director is very funny. Goldberg isn’t much different, and the two have great chemistry together. Between them, they offer a great balance of amusing anecdotes, talking about what we see on screen, and how the film was conceptualized. It’s a highly entertaining commentary track and if you’re a fan of Meatballs, you’re likely to love it.

Summer Camp: The Making of Meatballs – This surprisingly lengthy featurette is divided into three segments.

Role Call – (17:37)
The first part is a fairly candid discussion about the casting with Ivan Reitman, writer/producer Danny Goldberg and casting director Jack Blum about the trials of assembling a perfect cast. Several cast members (Hadley Kay, Harvey Atkin, Kate Lynch, Keith Knight, Jack Blum and Chris Makepeace) also return to talk a bit about how they were selected, Bill Murray’s involvement in the film, and even costume designer Judy Gellman talks about how she dressed the cast. Much discussion was made at how they were really trying to get a true feel of summer camp, which they definitely achieved. The revelation that really shocked me was how Tripper and Rudy’s scenes were reshot after the film, especially since those scenes seem to be the centerpiece of Meatballs as a whole.

Cabin Fever – (18:32)
This starts out to be about the dynamics of the characters' relationships, but it really ends up being a Murray fest, with the returning actors and crew discussing what it was like working with Bill Murray and his style of improvisational acting. It’s very enjoyable to listen to all of this, but it’s definitely brought down a notch due to Murray himself not participating in this featurette for whatever reason.

Final Campfire – (11:54)
The last and most enjoyable (if not so informative) of the chapters, this one has the cast and crew simply kicking back and waxing nostalgic on the whole Meatballs experience. The cast talks about their favorite scenes, even if it's one they aren’t in. I liked that a nod was generously made to composer Elmer Bernstein. This movie is full of heart, and this final featurette shows how each member of the cast and crew added their part. It’s as sincere and sublime as the film itself is.

Previews
As has become expected from Sony, we get some previews for other new-to-DVD releases. This time around we get Seinfeld – Season 8, Stranger Than Fiction and Ghost Rider. Sadly, there is no trailer for Meatballs, which is inexcusable since it was on the original DVD.

It isn’t as loaded as other “Special Editions”, but for the most part, what you get is valid. If not for the lack of the Meatballs original theatrical trailer and no contribution from Murray in the documentary, I really wouldn’t have any complaints.

The Bottom Line
This is it folks, the quintessential summer camp film has finally been re-released on DVD thanks to Sony. While it might not be the “Special Edition” that fans desire, the features included are pretty awesome, and the movie is, and always has been, a bona fide classic. If you haven’t seen Meatballs recently (or if you now have kids old enough to enjoy it with), then you owe it to yourself to revisit Murray’s major debut, and this DVD is a great avenue to do just that.

With luck, this and the upcoming Meatballs 4 DVD will push enough copies to finally award Meatballs II and Meatballs III a legitimate DVD release. So buy Meatballs today!