Are You Ready For The Summer?

Posted on Aug 5, 2010

Random Flashbacks: Short and Sweet Meatballs

Written By: Justin Bozung
Mondo Film & Video Guide Editor

I can still remember the very first instance where I was emotionally infected by a film.  Although this particular instance didn’t happen to me in a crowded movie theater, it did happen none the less, but at home on a small 27″ television screen.    For me, this is why I love movies! It was the early 80′s and as a kid, my mom let me watch ANYTHING I wanted.  We had pay cable, and the pay movie channels like HBO and Cinemax.  So you can blame it on my mom.  It’s the reason I’ve seen everything I have, and it’s also the reason why my mind is SO darn warped.   It’s why I can remember who the cinematographer on Citizen Kane was, and at the same time, I can name 10 movies that actor Donald Gibb has appeared in without looking at imdb.com

I loved horror films above every other genre as a kid.  But I also loved the 80′s teen sex coming of age movies.  Movies like Revenge Of The Nerds, The Last American Virgin, and Hot Dog: The Movie come instantly to mind.  In fact, it was The Last American Virgin that originally caused that emotional response in me that popped my film cherry of sorts.

With all these films available to me on pay cable, and let’s NOT forget the video store I had six blocks away from my front porch, I could pretty much watch anything I wanted to.  This availability led me down the path of the summer camp movie.  And it was there that I discovered what became the ultimate summer camp movie, Meatballs, and it’s three sequels.

I can still remember the first time I saw, Meatballs.  I was a little late though.   By the time I got to experience the film, it’s first sequel had already hit the shelves of my neighborhood video store.  Two for the price of one!      What is it about the Meatballs films that bring people back to them over and over?   Honestly, they really aren’t that great, story wise, and the jokes aren’t as funny as what you would see in other contending films.   But I’m always taken “back to camp” time and time again. I’ll watch Meatballs every few months, and revel in it’s silly glory.  I’ll always watch it when it’s on television.  Why?

I’ve put a great amount of time thinking about this question, as I’ve been preparing to write this article.   Initially you think right off the bat, that’s it’s because of the great and early performance of Bill Murray.   “See, she’s got a glass eye…”   His performance in Meatballs is nothing short of brilliant.  It’s his show, he’s setting the tone of the film. He’s amazing with Chris Makepeace, and he’s just so damn likeable, that you can see how down the road he was able to pull off performances as Dr. Peter Venkman and Hunter S Thompson. And most importantly, Meatballs was the first cinematic team effort of Murray, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman. This trio would go on to create, Stripes and the Ghostbusters films!

But what about Chris Makepeace?  Aren’t we all “Rudy?”   For us movie geeks or the kids that couldn’t play sports,  I think there is all a little Rudy in all of us.  This is the essence of Meatballs.

CLICK TO ZOOM: SNAPSHOT IN TIME

As a kid, it’s pure fantasy.  I’ve had dozens of wonderful friends in my life, and I’ve never known anyone that went to a summer camp.  I always wanted to go.   I don’t think there was one in my area actually.   So for me, it was the fantasy of going to summer camp, creating that perfect summer for yourself, spending unforgettable times with your friends, or meeting that one summer girlfriend and falling in love for those 2 or 3  months, waiting out each day just to see if you could hold her hand or get that first kiss.

For me, watching Meatballs is like visiting an old friend, or reliving an old memory that you never want to end.  It’s a part of your childhood.    It’s about the underdog in all of us.  And on top of all that, wasn’t Kate Lynch as Roxanne the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen on film in your life?    She’s got that short brown hair, and she dresses like a tomboy, but you just know that she could be the love of your life.

Meatballs (1979)

As years passed, the Meatball’s sequels hit the shelves of the video stores in front of my eyes.   Meatballs 2 not so good.  The alien, the boxing match, Richard Mulligan, yikes!   Meatballs 3, probably the least seen of the franchise due to it not being released in the USA on DVD, features a young Patrick Dempsey and a even younger Shannon Tweed.  Meatballs 3 is perhaps, the funniest of the franchise featuring a bungling ghost of a porn star played by Sally Kellermen who has to do a good deed in order to get herself into heaven.  The good deed…get Patrick Dempsey laid at his summer job.  Meatballs 3 marks the only time in the franchise where the setting moves away from the summer camp motif.   And it works great.

Meatballs 2 (1984)

Here’s where I may be drugged, kidnapped and beaten by Meatballs Nazi fanatics.  But I will go on record and say, that I feel that Meatballs 4 is the best of the franchise.  Made in the 90′s, Meatballs 4 has the very raunchy 90′s attitude that most low budget direct to pay cable films had in the 90′s.  But this one has Corey Feldman, Sara Douglas, and the legendary Jack Nance.  It has nudity, bad jokes, over the top acting, waterskiing stunts, and a story line that leaves you begging for more.    Did I mention it has Sara Douglas in it?  You know…from Conan the Destroyer, Return To Swamp Thing…

Dare we ask when someone is gonna have the balls to make a part 5?  Doubtful.  But if I had the chance to get on the bus with Albert, I would do it over and over again. I wanna stalk and kill my own wild game. I wanna hang with Jerry Aldini and damnit I wanna participate in sexual awareness week!   They sure don’t make them like they used to…

Special thanks goes to Tripper Harrison, creator of the Meatballs Online website.   Meatballs Online is the ultimate resource for anything Meatballs franchise related. He has amazing interviews with the cast and crew members of the Meatballs films.  Please visit www.meatballsonline.com for more information

Justin Bozung is the editor of the Mondo Film & Video Guide.  You can email him directly at justinb@mondo-video.com