Meatballs 4K 1979 Ultra HD 2160p

A comedy about a youth summer camp. The senior counselor is a cheerful guy. He tells jokes, cracks wisecracks, and becomes friends with Rudy, a lonely, depressed 12-year-old boy. His friendship with the counselor helps Rudy believe in himself, win a race, and become the hero of the camp.

User Review

Still, how unfairly vulgar comedies have distorted the audience's attitude toward American youth productions, where the main part is played out in a “pioneer camp” with boys and girls... But there were truly cute and even touching films, such as the one under consideration. From the opening credits, it features a typical set of attributes about camping by the lake, where various kids are about to arrive for their long-awaited vacation, accompanied by a song-manifesto praising mischievous anarchy against all those boring textbooks and schools. The group of counselors consists of colorful, textbook archetypes: a restless ringleader, an indecisive nerd, a well-fed omnivorous gourmet, a curvaceous blonde, and a couple of others, including their dim-witted employer. They will all spend this summer in general pranks, jokes, mutual dialogues, and sports competitions with a rival camp, which takes the event under the auspices of “Sun, air, and water are our best friends” very seriously.

But don't expect all the grotesqueness that is common in most similar works, including the three subsequent episodes of the franchise, which have completely lost their original atmosphere. There are no schoolchildren here, played by actors in their thirties, awkwardly wearing children's shorts. All the kids are actual elementary schoolers with heartwarming scenes about frogs in boxes and tying shoelaces incorrectly. All the early teens are skinny kids, with one awkward boy who stands out because his peers don't like him for not being good at soccer, but the older camp counselor supports him like a dad, helping him believe in himself. The day the parents arrive is heartwarming, with the “wild” pioneers taking a walk along forest paths with their family members to the melodic tune of friendship, symbolizing the only true way to build relationships between different generations, without any unnecessary prosaic dialogue. However, most of the attention is focused on the most adult layer of participants in the action, who manage the camp guests.

The future popular and well-known comedian Ivan Reitman, in making one of his earliest films, managed to delicately and truthfully convey the spirit of youth with its amusing sloppiness, while wisely not forgetting such important concepts as friendship, mutual assistance, and sincere sincerity in the counselors, who embody the extreme line before entering adult society. Their jokes came across as silly and amusing, and their relationships with the younger ones were responsive, as honest and understandable teachers, identically wearing sneakers and drinking soda, which was greatly facilitated by the still very young actor Bill Murray, who does not so much play the clown as play a simple, sensitive guy. But it is much more interesting to watch the aptly captured turning point on screen, when the laughing camp counselors gradually begin to feel tenderness for each other, without ever crossing the line into vulgarity with close dancing, hugs, kisses, and their first intimate moments together. Surprisingly, the author of the film gives the viewer the opportunity to recognize something familiar from their own dawn of adulthood in the fragile tenderness of couples in love, who, unbeknownst to themselves, also grow up in the camp under the crackling of the evening fire, scary tales of a ridiculous maniac with a hook, a shared bottle of champagne passed around, the sounds of a melodic romantic musical score singing about magical moon dust that once settled on their shoulders and enchanted them to say “don't leave” to their beloved for the first time in their lives.

And when the season comes to an end, months away from everything in the middle of the forest by the lake pass, and a symbolic time of change approaches: noisy for the kids, who miss their parents and are eager to return to the city, and melancholic and sad for the former counselors. After all, the essence of the film is that children can only grow a couple of centimeters during this period, while some of the young people, without changing outwardly, are able to mature much more internally, so that they are naturally frightened, but with a great desire to offer their friend a shared ride home. The revved-up motorcycle will rush off into the mysterious distance, leaving behind a piece of summer memories in a cloud of dust, like a part of a carefree, mischievous childhood. Unfortunately, films like this are extremely rare, capable of instilling hope in new generations who know how to laugh childishly and love tenderly, almost like adults.

Info Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265 (82.3 Mb/s)
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Info Audio

#English: FLAC 2.0
#English: FLAC 1.0
#English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Commentary with Director Ivan Reitman and Writer-Producer Dan Goldberg)

Info Subtitles