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Summer camp celluloid

by
Trish Bendix

I was never one of the kids who went away to a traditional summer camp, so I had to live vicariously through the kids on my TV screen. Summer camp movies are a fun genre that have several staples: water sports, boy/girl awkwardness, and camp fires. I'm not sure why this resonates within so many of us (especially with that whole "boy awkwardness" bit) but it seems to be a popular theme for several summertime films.

While so many of the camp films are of the horror variety (Sleepaway Camp, Summer Camp Nightmare, Friday the 13th), there are also the funny ones that tug at the heart strings. Summer camp means friendship and crushes, at least that's what I've learned from my favorites:

Camp

If you're looking for an all-out gay summer experience, musical theater camp is surely the place for you. Unfortunately, the guys have most of the fun in Camp. But Ellen Lucas (Joanna Chilcoat) at least gets to make out with camp hottie Vlad before he hooks up with everyone else, and she also does a great performance of "And I'm Telling You" in a production of Dreamgirls. Though the cast of this 2003 film was largely unknown, it was endearingly sweet and fun to watch, like a queer singalong.

Camp Nowhere

When you're young, movies where kids take matters into their own hands are always a hit. Creating your own summer camp with your parents' money? Far-fetched, yes; ideal, totally. A young Jessica Alba has a cameo in this ensemble film that starred Jonathan Jackson and Andrew Keegan. But the real prize of the film: bikini-clad Marnette Patterson, brilliantly named Trish.

Little Darlings

One of the only films to have young females battling it out to lose their virginity first, Little Darlings starred Tatum O'Neal and Kristy McNichol as 15-year-old virgins looking to lose it at summer camp. With Cynthia Nixon making an appearance as a campgoer named Sunshine, this 1980 film is the epitome of summer camp flicks. We loved Tatum back when she was young and innocent. Someone get to putting this film on DVD pronto!

Wet Hot American Summer

An ensemble cast starring hot, funny women like Janeane Garafalo, Elizabeth Banks, Amy Poehler, and Molly Shannon make this film watchable even if it sucked. Luckily, it does not – the satire is about the camp counselors and their quests to do as little work as possible with their bunks, while having time to hook-up and spy on each other. The dudes are funny, too (Paul Rudd and his "gournal," and Christopher Meloni as a refrigerator humper), but there's nothing like seeing these ladies get to do some improv on-screen.

What's your favorite summer camp film?

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    • Submitted by
    Trish Bendix
    on June 9, 2008 - 2:00pm.
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    Vic's picture

    Nice Choices

    Submitted by
    Vic (68 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 1:30pm.
    I love Wet Hot American Summer, come on anything with Janeane Garafalo is great. I also really like the movie Indian Summer, it stars Diane Lane and Elizabeth Perkins, alonlg with a bunch of really great actors. Its about a group of friends who spent their summers together as kids and they reunite years later at the camp before it is shut down. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it.
    Angie's picture

    Marguerite Moreau

    Submitted by
    Angie (83 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 2:32pm.

    OMG... I loved WHAS for Marguerite ... so was adorable... not to mention she was in the Mighty DUcks! LOL But my all time fav was Queen of the Damned!! She's just HOT!

     

     

    ¸.·´¯)It's true, we're all a little insane(¯`·.¸

    Que9's picture

    Camp

    Submitted by
    Que9 (130 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 1:42pm.

    haha I loove wet hot american summer. I think its hilarious. funny enough the first time i saw it was at camp. (im a camp counselor haha) its one of the movies we all love hah.

    Another great camp movie is "Meatballs" with bill murray. This was my favorite movie for years. Everytime i would get sick my dad would rent it for me without me even asking haha. i highly reccomend it.

    alex's picture

    wet hot!

    Submitted by
    alex (398 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 1:45pm.

    best. camp. movie. ever.
    "you taste like a burger. i dont like you anymore."

    heavyweights was pretty cute, too. and i dont know if it counts, but im still smitten with the linsday lohan remake of the parent trap (part of the movie takes place at camp... sort of).

    ScottishLassie's picture

    Camp

    Submitted by
    ScottishLassie (42 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 1:48pm.
    I haven't seen any of the films you mentioned but as a camp counsellor i felt compelled to write something. Does the parent trap count? Its a good film. 2 weeks till camp starts, can't wait!!
    Thane McAllister's picture

    Happy Campers

    Submitted by
    Thane McAllister (116 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 1:55pm.

    This one is kind of old and was in limited release but it was funny as hell! "...Butthole Baby..." hands down the funniest thing i have ever heard.

    Captain Jax Havok's picture

    Wristcutters: A Love Story :]

    Submitted by
    Captain Jax Havok (118 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 2:14pm.
    i don't think it was a summer camp o.o but it did have a camp! :D and i freakin LOVE this movie sooo... :D haha<3
    Vic's picture

    OMG

    Submitted by
    Vic (68 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 3:27pm.
    Yes that movie was so awesome, the end was so sweet. Brought a smile to my face.
    Rippy's picture

    finally.

    Submitted by
    Rippy (26 posts)
    on June 11, 2008 - 5:14pm.
    i love that movie. i was beginning to think no one else in the world had seen it.
    Girlface's picture

    Wet Hot American Summer was

    Submitted by
    Girlface (51 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 2:17pm.
    Wet Hot American Summer was great, but Camp Nowhere will always be my Number One Camp film. When I was little, my babysitter banned it because we watched it every single Saturday.
    eek's picture

    Yes Parent Trap Counts!

    Submitted by
    eek (26 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 2:21pm.

    That's my vote too! I was always particularly interested in the tomboy Haley Mills - I can't remember if it's Sharon or Susan.

    I also vote for But I'm a Cheerleader. True Directions is not a summer camp you want to end up enrolled in. But it might not be all bad if Clea Duvall and Melanie Lynski are there!

    Jenny's picture

    Camp!

    Submitted by
    Jenny (13 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 3:03pm.
    I love summer camp! I'm a huge geek, but that's alright, because I think I might actually enjoy camp more than I enjoy breathing. When I was a kid we used to watch camp nowhere at movie night at least once a summer. Seeing it on this list brings back really great memories.
    Angie5x5's picture

    Guilty pleasures

    Submitted by
    Angie5x5 (236 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 3:49pm.


    Little Darlings. Oh, the memories. I'm still not sure who I was crushing on more - long-haired Matt Dillon or jean-jacketed Kristy McNichol. That was the same year as Foxes with Jodie Foster. I own both on DVD now, and they're terrible movies, but I still enjoy watching them occasionally for the memories they invoke. I was eleven when they came out, and I may not have understood those feelings at the time, but Kristy McNichol, Jodie Foster and Cherie Currie were probably my first lesbian crushes.

    There is a lesbian movie that takes place at camp - Clara's Summer.

    Young Cynthia Nixon in Little Darlings ~

    Sunshine (Cynthia Nixon) in Little Darlings

    ~ Angie

     

    fallon ash's picture

    Parent Trap

    Submitted by
    fallon ash (316 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 4:09pm.
    I'm not into camp movies as such (or anything with main characters younger than 25, really), but I've always had a soft spot for the Lindsay Lohan re-make of The Parent Trap. Although parts of that I'm sure are my crushes on Natasha Richardson and Lisa Ann Walter...
    heartless romantic's picture

    Wet Hot American Summer!

    Submitted by
    heartless romantic (53 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 5:40pm.

    Wet Hot American Summer!

    Also, The Parent Trap [I like the original, but the remake was kind of perfect] and Friday the 13th Part III. 

    lovecatcadillac's picture

    Addams Family Values

    Submitted by
    lovecatcadillac (81 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 6:34pm.
    That was my favourite movie EVER when I was a kid in the 90s. My friends and I used to play that we were Wednesday and her misfits taking over Camp Chippewa. XD
    Pixiedyke's picture

    Addam's Family Values For Sure!

    Submitted by
    Pixiedyke (10 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 6:52pm.
    Before Christina Ricci made me feel dirty for even looking in her general direction, she made me torn between loving camp and hating it. I was a camp counselor and I went every summer for 15 years, but the AFV send-up was so spot on with Christine Baranski possibly in the role of me that I learned my disaffected sneer and had to take a step back.
    me_yes_me's picture

    hmmm

    Submitted by
    me_yes_me (5 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 7:12pm.
    I loved Camp Nowhere. But I also liked Space Camp. There were some good actresses in that one.
    Omega II's picture

    To Camp!

    Submitted by
    Omega II (389 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 9:53pm.

    Wet Hot American Summer

    Meatballs

    Little Darlings

    Camp Nowhere - You forgot the mention Allison Mack(the sweet little girl that Keegan agreed to made jewelry with) and Hillary Tuck(The one who out smarted the guy trying to get her naked).

     

    "Bad jokes are us, ur me."

    ClassicChic's picture

    Poison Ivy with Michael J Fox and Nancy McKeon...

    Submitted by
    ClassicChic (46 posts)
    on June 9, 2008 - 11:12pm.
    Was my FAVORITE summer camp movie when I was a teen. It was made a year after I was born but lucky for me one of my family members bought it. Camp Nowhere was also one of my faves considering I had a HUGE crush on Jonathan Jackson.
    &quot;T. Obia&quot;'s picture

    Little darlings, yes..

    Submitted by
    "T. Obia" (42 posts)
    on June 10, 2008 - 12:25am.

    Little Darlings always makes my heart beat a little faster.

    imthey's picture

    Summer Camp...

    Submitted by
    imthey (521 posts)
    on June 10, 2008 - 7:25am.

    I'm with everyone else who professed their love for Little Darlings. I also enjoyed But, I'm A Cheerleader (though like eek, I'm not sure how "happy" a camp movie this one was save for Clea Duvall and Melanie Lynskey). If Space Camp qualifies as a camp movie I'm right there with the others who mentioned it... it had me wanting to go to Space Camp myself.

    I'd add to the list a French film called Clara's Summer as a fairly decent summer camp movie and one with a lesbian theme to boot.

    Also the film Indian Summer wasn't too bad. And while I don't know that it qualifies as a summer camp movie it was kind of about camp, albeit baseball camp (wasn't it).... A League of Their Own.

     

    (Self Appointed) "#1 Bridget McManus Fan"

    I M THEY ("Think Sideways")

    yet-another-lesbian-in-black's picture

    Clara's Summer!

    Submitted by
    yet-another-les... (41 posts)
    on June 10, 2008 - 9:03am.

    I was just going to mention that. One of my camp movie faves and yes, very lez friendly.

    Another was The Parent Trap. One of Lohan's best ( :

    ~*brittany*~'s picture

    little darlings!!!

    Submitted by
    ~*brittany*~ (153 posts)
    on June 11, 2008 - 4:31pm.
    there's a thread called "movies that made you realize you were gay." this movie didn't make me realize i was gay, but looking back, this was the first movie that gave me a "funny feeling" when i watched it. i really wanted the two female leads to hook up. and i thought tatum o'neal was really fucking hot. "it means vagina wig."

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