''Camp Stories'' is a 1996

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

written and directed by Herbert Beige. The film stars

Paul Sand Paul Sand (born March 5, 1932) is an American actor and comedian. Background Sand was born Pablo Sanchez in Santa Monica, California, in 1932, the son of Ernest Rivera Sanchez, an aerospace tool designer, and Sonia Borodiansky (aka Sonia Stone) ...

, Elliott Gould,

Jerry Stiller Gerald Isaac Stiller (June 8, 1927 – May 11, 2020) was an American actor and comedian. He spent many years as part of the comedy duo Stiller and Meara with his wife, Anne Meara, to whom he was married for over 60 years until her death in 2015 ...

, Zachary Taylor, and

Jason Biggs Jason Matthew Biggs (born May 12, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for playing Jim Levenstein in the '' American Pie'' comedy film series and Larry Bloom in the Netflix original series ''Orange Is the New Black''. He als ...

. It takes a comic look at a Jewish

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

in the 1950s. The film premiered in March 1996 and later received a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

in April 18, 1997 in the United States.

Plot

In the summer of 1958, 15-year-old David Katz is constantly defying authority figures at Camp Ararat, an

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...

summer camp in

the Poconos The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...

that he is enrolled in. A movie buff, David would rather spend his time in movie theaters and tries to sneak away to a cinema. He especially riles the paranoid camp counsellor Chaim, who believes David is having an affair with his wife. The adolescent antics continue with the boys arranging midnight rendezvous at the nearby girls' camp. Among the camp staff, there is also a power struggle over who will succeed the camp’s founder, Schlomo, a conservative man who declares

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

music obscene. The struggle comes down to Chaim and Moishe, the latter who sees David as a "good kid".

Cast

Reception

Stephen Holden of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' praised the film, asserting that it is "more honest than most 1950s nostalgia films in its portrayal of teen-age life." Holden added "the political jockeying among staff members to succeed the camp's ultraconservative founder, Schlomo (Jerry Stiller), mirrors the cultural conflicts just beginning to surface in America (and in Judaism), symbolized by the bubbling up of rock-and-roll." Holden also concluded that this "tender" film is "beautifully acted". Other reviews found the film cliché-ridden. Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' wrote "Beigel’s clear commitment to his people and their stories and some good actors--Taylor, especially--keep us involved, even though the film tends to be repetitious", and said the film surprisingly lacks scenes of "religious observance and instruction".

References

External links

* *{{AllMovie title, 176000
Camp Stories
at Turner Classic Movie Database 1996 films American comedy films American independent films 1996 comedy films 1996 independent films Films about summer camps 1990s coming-of-age comedy films 1996 directorial debut films Films about Jews and Judaism Films set in Pennsylvania Films set in 1958 1990s American films