Meatballs

Starring:Bill Murray, Harvey Atkin, Kate Lynch, Russ Banham, Kristine DeBell, Sarah Torgov, Jack Blum, Keith Knight (II), Cindy Girling, Todd Hoffman (II), Margot Pinvidic, Matt Craven, Norma Dell'Agnese, Chris Makepeace, Michael Kirby, Greg Swanson, Ron Barry, Paul Boyle, Vince Guerriero, Jim McLarty
Director: Ivan Reitman
Studio: Hbo Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Decades before he was winning accolades for his work in Lost in Translation and Rushmore, Bill Murray was making moviegoers snicker with his breakthrough comedy Meatballs. This film--which was released theatrically in 1979--stars a 29-year-old Murray as a horny camp counselor named Tripper Harrison, who is just barely more mature than the kids he's looking after. Tripper seems like a screw up because he is, but the audience sees soon enough that he has that proverbial heart of gold, which is offset by an acerbic tongue. Looking over one of the unhappy children in his charge, Tripper says, "You must be the short, depressed kid we ordered." Camp North Star isn't the type of destination kids dream about during the school year. As envisioned by director Ivan Reitman (who would again collaborate with Murray in Ghostbusters), it's a place where kids do their time until their parents let them return home. But in his own way, Tripper makes it a fun place for the kids to learn about the opposite sex and get a feeing for competition. Unlike Little Darlings, the coming-of-age camping film starring Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neal that was released a year later, there really isn't a strong moral to this film. But there is a sense that thanks to Tripper's unorthodox madness, he makes Camp North Star a place that kids want to return to the following year. While not as self-assured as he would be in a smaller role in 1980's Caddyshack, Murray is highly likeable here as an overgrown doof.

On the DVD
In the special edition version of this DVD, the extra features include some insight into Murray, who is somewhat elusive about committing to film projects. Reitman reveals that he actually wasn't sure Murray (who wasn't a big name back then) was on board for Meatballs until he showed up for filming the first week. Interestingly enough, this comedy originally was supposed to focus its attention on several camp counselors, but Murray was so good in his role that the plot was adjusted to focus primarily on Tripper. Also included is a three-part "making of" featurette that includes insight into casting, the use of real campers because they didn't have enough money to pay for extras, and interviews with some of the cast members. --Jae-Ha Kim

Stills from Meatballs (click for larger image)

Beyond Meatballs at Amazon.com

More Films by Bill Murray
Get Ready for Camp
Comedies about Underdogs

Product Description

Set at a low-end summer camp and aimed squarely at a teen audience, Meatballs is a light screwball comedy that turned its low-budget Canadian roots into a very profitable box-office run. The biggest reason for the film's success is Bill Murray who stars as Tripper, the head counselor who runs things at Camp Northstar with the help of his love interest Roxanne (Kate Lynch) and the camp's director Morty (Harvey Atkins), who is affectionately known as Mickey. Camp opens with Tripper and Morty preparing the misfit counselors-in-training — Spaz, Fink, Crockett, A.L., Candace, Wendy, and Wheels among them — for the arrival of their hyperactive little charges. After settling in, kids and counselors begin their activities with a soccer game in which depressed 11-year-old Rudy (Chris Makepeace) accidentally loses the game. Cast out by the other children, Rudy runs away only to come across Tripper, who befriends the boy and makes him his running partner. Romance, sexy fun, and comic hijinx — usually with the heavy-sleeping Morty as their target — lead up to an annual Olympiad in which Camp Northstar battles the wealthier and athletically superior residents of Camp Mohawk. The challenging events include cup stacking, potato-sack racing, and a nauseating hot dog-eating contest in which the portly Fink devours his way to victory. With the two-day event tied up, it comes down to the cross-country run, in which Tripper enters Rudy. Meatballs was the first major directorial effort by multi-talented filmmaker Ivan Reitman, whose name has since become synonymous with the comedy genre.

Customer Reviews:

Plenty of truly funny moments, plus it has some heart.......2007-06-19

Although neither Jason Alexander nor Holly Hunter appeared, this movie is still an extreme camp classic enjoyable at nearly any age.

Also, did I see a young Will Ferrell in there during the hot dog eating contest?

Great camp.......2007-06-08

Wild! Camp humor, Murrey is the best head couselor! About time it was made on dvd, thank you.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2007 SPECIAL EDITION .......2007-06-01

Update: Just received mine last week (6/14/07) and it is ONE disc, not two. Picture quality is BEAUTIFUL! The night scenes are actually not one big black blob!

Just an update on the 2007 2-disc Special Edition of Meatballs, since Amazon is not providing any information and all the reviews on this page deal with the less than stellar previous dvd release. The 2007 Special Edition is digitally remastered in Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic). It is in 5.1 Dolby Digital Stereo [CC] and it features subtitles in English, Spanish and French.

DVD Features:
- Commentary with Director Ivan Reitman
- "Summer Camp: The Making of Meatballs" Featurette

Amazingly, no theatrical trailer is included. Also available in Blu-Ray.

Technical Specs:
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 - Digitally Re-mastered
- Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1

BOUGHT AS A GIFT.......2007-05-14

THIS IS A HARD TO FIND ITEM. I WAS VERY HAPPY TO SEE THAT AMAZON COULD GET IT.IT IS GREAT.

Brad.......2007-04-07

Great movie from the past... very well worth any price .. Kids will love this crazy summer camp movie ...Staring Bill Murry,and a great cast .. A MUST HAVE !!! for all movie fans of all ages ...

Average customer rating:

Plenty of truly funny moments, plus it has some heart
Great camp
INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2007 SPECIAL EDITION
BOUGHT AS A GIFT
Brad

Meatballs
Starring: Bill Murray , Harvey Atkin , Kate Lynch , Russ Banham , and Kristine DeBell
Director: Ivan Reitman
Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Teen | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

School Days | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

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ASIN: B00002E20I
Release Date: 1999-11-23

Amazon.com

Bill Murray plays a hip camp counselor at a summer facility for geeky kids and assorted losers. Murray's brand of ironic comedy feels grafted onto this banal and sentimental 1979 celebration of misfits. The comedian's frequent director, Ivan Reitman (Ghostbusters), was still finding his sea legs with this one, and he nearly convinced everyone at the time that Murray's film career was never going to happen. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Plenty of truly funny moments, plus it has some heart.......2007-06-19

Great camp.......2007-06-08

Wild! Camp humor, Murrey is the best head couselor! About time it was made on dvd, thank you.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE 2007 SPECIAL EDITION .......2007-06-01

BOUGHT AS A GIFT.......2007-05-14

THIS IS A HARD TO FIND ITEM. I WAS VERY HAPPY TO SEE THAT AMAZON COULD GET IT.IT IS GREAT.

Brad.......2007-04-07

Great movie from the past... very well worth any price .. Kids will love this crazy summer camp movie ...Staring Bill Murry,and a great cast .. A MUST HAVE !!! for all movie fans of all ages ...

Average customer rating:

sublime antics
Dark humor at its best - rbatin
Masterpiece of Satire
What the ...?
Not very good

Meatballs 4
Starring: Corey Feldman , Jack Nance , Sarah Douglas , Bojesse Christopher , and Brad Grunberg
Director: Bob Logan
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Andrews, Dana | ( A ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Berle, Milton | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Coburn, James | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Comer, Anjanette | ( C ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Gielgud, John | ( G ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Hunter, Tab | ( H ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Leighton, Margaret | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Liberace | ( L ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Nichols, Barbara | ( N ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Stander, Lionel | ( S ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

Winters, Jonathan | ( W ) | Actors & Actresses | VHS | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | VHS | Video

Richardson, Tony | ( R ) | Directors | VHS | Video

Comedy | Widescreen | Formats | VHS | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
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The Passenger

ASIN: 630169175X
Release Date: 2007-08-28

Amazon.com

In olden days, as Cole Porter famously observed, a mere glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. So it's heartening to report that this 1965 black comedy still delivers on its billing as "the motion picture with something to offend everyone." Tony Richardson, fresh off the liberating Tom Jones, brings Evelyn Waugh's self-described "little nightmare" to the screen with all its sacrilegious shocks (and then some!) intact, courtesy of screenwriters Terry Southern (Dr. Strangelove) and Christopher Isherwood. Robert Morse stars as Dennis Barlow, an Englishman abroad and a fish out of water in Southern California. Stumbling across the Hollywood landscape like a cross between Candide and Jerry Lewis. Barlow gets a unique perspective of the American experience when he finds employment at the Happier Hunting Ground, a ramshackle pet cemetery, and the flipside of the fabulously vulgar Whispering Glades. In a virtuoso dual role, Jonathan Winters costars as glad-handing Happier Hunting Grounds proprietor Harry, whose brother, Whispering Glades' Blessed Reverend, has some out-of-this-world plans for the "Loved Ones." The mad, mad, mad mad cast also includes John Gielgud as Dennis's ill-fated expatriate uncle, an artist unceremoniously booted from the movie studio where he has worked for 31 years; Anjanette Comer as Aimee, a Whispering Glades cosmetician torn between Dennis and embalmer Mr. Joyboy (an unforgettable Rod Steiger), who registers his broken heart on the faces of his corpses; a teenage Paul Williams as a science prodigy; Liberace as a funeral salesman peddling eternal flames both "perpetual or standard"; Milton Berle and Margaret Leighton as "a typical well-adjusted American couple" whose deceased dog puts a crimp in their dinner plans; and even Jamie Farr, seen fleetingly as a waiter. The Loved One anticipates the "New Hollywood" with its naturalistic cinematography by Haskell Wexler (Medium Cool) and "anything goes" sensibility (the dinner scene with Joyboy and his obese mother would not be out of place in a John Waters movie). By turns creepy and grotesquely funny, The Loved One will bury you. --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews:

sublime antics.......2007-06-28

all sorts of tongue & cheek delights. satire, slapstick, grotesque, all I could ever want in a comedy. Little outdated though.

Dark humor at its best - rbatin.......2007-05-12

This DVD is not for everyone, but funny if you can get into it. Robert Morse
does his usual fine job in this role. Mr. Joyboy's mother has some of the darkest yet funniest scenes in the movie. If you like your humor with a sick twist, you will like this DVD.

Masterpiece of Satire.......2007-04-28

Humor, unlike tragedy, is a very individual affair. Hamlet lasts whether played as period piece or with costumes closer to modern. The Shakespearean comedies frequently require editing for performance plus modern costume. Humor is fleeting and often linked to time and place.

This film will last well for those who found it the perfect send-up of America in the 1960s, through a British eye. The funeral industry is only centerpiece to a number of satiric targets including the idolization of the American "mom," space race mania, filling the south California mudhills with homes, pet cemetaries, romance-advice columns, movie cowboys, and much else. Some of this was new then; some of it we are now used to, some is less prominent today. I still think this is simply one of the funniest movies ever made. Others will not get it, for whatever reason. Cultural referrents change very fast, and in our time faster than ever.

What cannot be diminished are a baker's dozen of comic actors at very top form -- Jonathon Winters, for one, was never better; Rod Steiger's Dr. Joyboy is simply inspired. Young Robert Morse's performance grows on me with every viewing as the befuddled young British transplant to southern California and his strange epic effort to simply bury the dead. This black and white film is also well edited and superbly paced.

What the ...?.......2007-04-12

It takes a while to get going, but once it does, it's possibly the most bizarre movie I've ever seen. Mr. Joyboy's mother steals every scene she's in.

Not very good.......2007-04-12

My husband and I didn't like this very much. I had seen it years and years ago and remembered it as being funny. It wasn't really, it's too outdated.

Lidia's Family Table - More Meatballs By Any Other Meat

Average customer rating:

Lidia's Family Table - More Meatballs By Any Other Meat

Manufacturer: Tavola Productions
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000O77QNS
Release Date: 2007-03-09

Description

Here is a twist to classic meatballs--turkey meatballs with pine nuts and raisins! These exquisite treasures are served with spaghetti. Then Lidia prepares a baked ziti with leftover "sugo" and meatballs.

Average customer rating:

Man Who Knew Too Little/Meatballs
Starring: Bill Murray , Harvey Atkin , Kate Lynch , Russ Banham , and Kristine DeBell
Director: Ivan Reitman , and Jon Amiel
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000094J9T
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Average customer rating:

Not exactly ...
Who you fool'in ?
RIP-OFF
An Interesting Mix
You can get these much cheaper...

Dozen DVD Deal - Comedy

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Comedy | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

Not exactly ..........2006-07-10

While most of these movies are in the bargain bin, Meatballs is very hard to come by. If you find it in a bargain bin, buy it. Buy all they have. Run the search on here, or E-Bay or Half and see what those are going for. It's crazy. It's a great movie, but $30-$75 for Meatballs! Well, I guess ... It just doesn't matter ... It just doesn't matter ... It just doesn't matter ... Dan

Who you fool'in ?.......2006-03-12

All these titles are in the $5.99 ben at walmart,,I could buy all of 'em new at walmart for around $75.00 dollars or less.

RIP-OFF.......2004-09-19

If you were to buy all of these titles from Amazon.com SEPERATELY, you'd only pay $135.22 (look 'em up, I just did). Save yourself some money, and your sanity, don't buy this compilation!

An Interesting Mix.......2003-11-06

This is an interesting collection. There are some very good movies in this set.

Doc Hollywood - This is a "pass" for me. I thought it was very unfunny, and tries much too hard to play off any bit of charm Michael J Fox might possess. Bridget Fonda appears as well.

Singles - This is an okay movie. Its enjoyable and watchable. Matt Dillon and Eric Stoltz star. As does Bridget Fonda once again. Directed by Cameron Crowe (of "Almost Famous" fame), its worth a viewing.

Drop Dead Gorgeous - This film has a very strong female cast. Kirsten Dunst, Ellen Barkin and Allison Janney (CJ Cregg of "West Wing" fame) star.

Don Juan DeMarco - This film is notable only because of a fun performance by the talented Johnny Depp. The script is weak, and to be honest, its not terribly funny.

The Man Who Knew Too Little - A misstep by the usually very funny Bill Murray.

Meatballs - Well, to be honest, this movie is very funny. Its classic Bill Murray in his prime SNL years. Its full of goofy one liners and Chris Makepeace carries a sweet character.

My Blue Heaven - This is a very seldom seen movie and VERY funny. Its one of Steve Martin's best performances. A strong supporting cast of Rick Moranis and Joan Cusack ensure frequent laughs.

My Fellow Americans - Another "pass" in my book. Misused Jack Lemmon and James Garner. Just not very funny.

Diner - A classic film (though I would not necessarily call it a comedy) directed by Barry Levinson. A very strong cast including Kevin Bacon.

Night Shift - A hysterically funny movie starring Michael Keaton (his best role), Henry (the Fonz) Winkler and Shelly Long.

Jerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You for the Last Time - A 75 minute stand up special. You've likely seen the material many times already.

10 - Famous for its beach scene and introducing Bo Derek, the star here is a very funny Dudley Moore.

There are some real funny and well made films here; Of their own merit, I would recommend "My Blue Heaven", "Diner" and "Night Shift".

You can get these much cheaper..........2003-09-11

I've found most of these movies in the six dollar bin at Wal Mart over the past few months. Pick the ones you want and buy them. Save your money on the others.

Customer Reviews:

Meatballs 4.......2005-02-05

Meatballs 4 with Corey Feldman is a very funny movie. I've just been told that it is FINALLY..........FINALLY going to be REreleased as a DVD in AMERICA!!!!! So look for it on August 28th. Hopefully once IT becomes a DVD whoever is releasing it, ought to RErelease the other two. I think they ought to call it "THE MEATBALLS MEATPACK" where ALL four Meatball movies are contained in the collection. This particular Meatballs movie is the best Corey Feldman is great in it.

finally a great meatballs seaqual.......2004-07-12

the greatest meatballs movie ever.After you see this movie you will forget about the first three.

meat balls 4 is a winner........2004-07-12

Now I know meatballs 2 and 3 were a little ridiculous but this one takes the cake. Pretty good characters and does a triple flip over all the other meatball movies.

Underappreciated Meatballs Movie!.......2001-04-18

As a fan of the Meatballs movies I believe that this is an underappreciated movie. I thought it was a relatively funny show. I also thought that that Corey Feldman did a good job portraying Ricky Wade, the camps expert water skier. The show is basically about a camp(Lakeside) that is going through financial problems and enlists their old friend Ricky Wade(Feldman)to help in hopes that he'll attract more campers to Lakeside. But a snobby, rich owner of a camp across the lake(Twin Oaks)wants the land that Lakeside is on, so in an attempt to save the camp they have a Ski Meet but Monica(Twin Oaks owner)and her goons try to sabotage the event! And in between all the Ski Meet practices there are relatively funny things that the campers go through! And the fat camper Victor(Johnny Cocktails) that always ruins everything is a very funny addition to the movie!! At the very end of the show there is a funny part when Feldman and Paige French(the actor who plays Ricky Wade's love interest Jennifer) step outta character and are making out. Then French goes "Why am I wasting my time on you? You're not even a movie star!" then Feldman turns to the camera and says " Hey! I was in 'Goonies'!!!!" Overall I feel that if you were a true fan of the previous 3 Meatballs shows this one should not disappoint you at all! I reccommend that you at least go to your local video store and rent it to see why I love it so much, You won't regret it!! :)

burn it! along with meatballs 2,3,5,6,7,26?.......2000-07-26

I almost lost my lunch (pizza and vodka) when I saw this movie with the great name MEAT BALLS in it.

Trust Nipsey folks, The first Meatballs with MR. BILL MURRAY is the only one you need.

These spin offs are as bad as the pizza and vodka mix I had for lunch.

Don't waste your time!

I think I will be sick now after all.

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