Gorp

I never went to camp as a kid, but I still have an affection for a lot of these "summer camp movies" of the late 70's/early 80's. This one, however, is pretty worthless. It's not funny like "Meatballs". It's not politically incorrect like "Little Darlings". It's not nudity and sex-saturated like "Summer Camp" and "The First Turn-On". And unlike "Friday the 13th", "The Burning", and "Sleepaway Camp", it doesn't even have Jason or somebody like that around to kill off these unfunny and irritating characters and put them out of my misery. The only innovative aspect to it is that it's supposedly set at a Jewish summer camp (even though half the cast is obviously not Jewish).

The director Joseph Ruben generally had an impressive exploitation career aside from this, directing everything from "The Pom-Pom Girls" to "The Stepfather", and he later found some mainstream success in the 1990's. This is probably his worst movie though (OK, "Sleeping with the Enemy" might have been worse, but THAT had Julia Roberts in it). As for the cast, this does include early career missteps by such notables by Dennis Quaid, Roseanne Arquette, and Fran Drescher (although the latter's entire career was pretty much a misstep). Quaid, like all the male characters here, is flat-out annoying as a military-obsessed weirdo. Roseanne Arquette is very cute and adorable in her first role, but she has virtually screen time. Drescher meanwhile, while she has never been unattractive and is not nearly as annoying here as she would become some years later, plays the camp nympho who "does" everybody (including a rabbi!) without actually ever taking off her clothes. I would have vastly preferred this role had gone to some anonymous bimbo who was willing to disrobe. And speaking of bimbos, Debi frickin' Richter is also in the cast. She was "Miss California 1975" and had one of the best bodies around back then (see her in the movie "Hot Moves"), but you get to see exactly none of it here.

I almost never COMPLETELY pan movies because I almost never watch movies in the first place if I have any inkling that they're going to COMPLETELY suck. I was fooled by this one though. Don't make the same mistake. See any of the movies I mentioned above (well, except maybe "Sleeping with the Enemy") instead.

"Gorp" (1980) is a comedy film that's set mostly in a camp cafeteria, but it misses the mark on humor. It's really not that funny and it's actually pretty disgusting, especially with the way food is defiled. The film relies on outdated ideas that haven't aged well. Most of the jokes fall flat, and the setting doesn't help. It's not particularly risqué, except for a projector scene that's totally NC-17. Overall, "Gorp" feels very average and boring, not warranting much attention. While it has a few moments, it ultimately fails to deliver a memorable or enjoyable experience. Also, Dennis Quaid is in it.

I owned and drove the M-5 Stuart tank in the movie GORP. (actually written in all capitol letters). There were lots of interesting stories I recall from the filming but the one that stands out in my mind was when I drove thru the house. (a prop built for the movie)

We were to receive a radio message as when to stop----but it never came ! I could see nothing out the vision port and finally decided to slap on the brakes and stop. Had I continued one more foot I would have crushed one of the stunt people that was to have jumped out the window but didn't. Amazingly the big concern was that I came within inches of one of the very expensive Panavision cameras. The "Movie people" said they could always get another stunt girl but cameras were expensive.

All in all I was treated great by all the "movie people" and I left with many good stories----several best left untold.

"GORP" is what it is. It came out at a time when movies that were capitalizing on the success of "Animal House" came out just like "Halloween" inspired plenty of successors in the slasher genre. The Party Animal, Teenage Sex comedy has another addition with this film that takes place in a Jewish summer camp that includes food fights, pranks played on nemises and the obligatory panty raids.

The film does have a certain atmosphere and the 2 lead protagonists are neither likeable nor interesting. They seem to get angry and shout all the time for no particular reason. It is also not clear if this film is supposed to take place in the '60s or in 1979-1980 when this film came out. Much of the film is carried by the madcap supporting characters including a younger Fran Drescher as a no apologies CIT who likes to chew and spit out men and Dennis Quaid in a rare turn as the gun obsessed "Mad Grossman." I have to say that it was interesting to see Quaid play a weirdo and it would be neat to see him play more roles like this now against his current leading man type.

The film doesn't have a real plot and is merely a bunch of unconnected scenes stuck together. "Animal House" had a coherent plot with developed characters that added a lot to the film. "Meatballs" also seemed to be more effective having a madcap counselor played by Bill Murray who also was likeable despite his delinquency. GORP meanders and even some of the pranks seem unjustified and mean spirited. I found myself wondering where the film was and where it was going and then it just eventually ended.

This is a rare film that seems to have disappeared from video distribution and has not seen a DVD release at this date. It's nothing special but it is a good example of the type of films that came out in the late '70s and early '80s in this genre and if nothing else interesting to see the earlier work of Dennis Quaid, Fran Drescher and Roseanna Arquette.

Picked this up on DVD after seeing an interesting trailer for it on a compilation. I wanted to like this. I really did. It seems like the writers had a lot of ideas and tried to throw them all into the mix. This means that no time is spent with any of the characters really. None of the characters are really likeable or relatable, save for maybe Fran Drescher's character -- but maybe that's just because I LIKE Fran Drescher. But there are all these minor side characters that we'll get a scene or two with and they are gags that ALL fall flat. I'm sure the makers of GORP thought they were loading the movie to the brim with hilarious set-pieces and gags, but none of them really work and the whole thing is an incoherent mess. I don't know if they were just trying to out-ANIMAL HOUSE ANIMAL HOUSE or what, but the writing wasn't strong enough to touch that one. And as others have pointed out, this movie is pretty rapey -- which is kind of in line with 80s teen sex comedies, but this one feels extra gross. And I'm no prude when it comes to this sort of material when taken in context... but some of the content here was stomach-turning and played for laughs that never connected. This gets an extra half star for Fran Drescher.