Camp Stories is an independent

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

, written and directed by Herbert Beigel that takes a comic look at a Jewish summer camp in the 1950s. The film was released on April 18, 1997 in the United States

Plot synopsis

In the summer of 1958, 15-year-old David Katz is constantly defying authority figures at the Orthodox Jewish summer camp he is enrolled in. He especially riles the paranoid camp counsellor Chaim (Marcoux) who believes David is having an affair with his wife. The adolescent antics continue with the boys arranging midnight rendezvous at the girls camp.

Cast

• Elliott Gould
  Elliott Gould
  Elliott Gould is an American actor. He began acting in Hollywood films during the 1960s, and has remained prolific ever since. Some of his most notable films include M*A*S*H and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, for which he received an Oscar nomination...
  
   as Older David Katz
• Jerry Stiller
  Jerry Stiller
  Gerald Isaac "Jerry" Stiller is an American comedian and actor.He spent many years in the comedy team Stiller and Meara with his wife Anne Meara...
  
   as Schlomo
• Jason Biggs
  Jason Biggs
  Jason Matthew Biggs is an American actor who is best known for his role as Jim Levenstein in the American Pie series of teen comedy films.-Personal life:...
  
   as Abby
• Ben Shenkman
  Ben Shenkman
  Benjamin Shenkman is an American television, film and stage actor.-Life and career:Shenkman was born in New York City and raised in what he described as "the secular Eastern European Jewish tradition". He graduated from Brown University, and obtained a Masters of Fine Arts in 1993 from New York...
  
   as Yehudah
• Paul Sand
  Paul Sand
  Paul Sand is an American comedic actor.-Background:Sand was born Paul Sanchez in Santa Monica, California, the son of Sonia Borodiansky, a writer, and Ernest Rivera Sanchez, an aerospace tool designer. His father was Mexican and his mother of Russian descent.-Career:At the age of 11, he started at...
  
   as Moishe
• Talia Balsam
  Talia Balsam
  Talia Balsam is an American actress.-Early life:Balsam was born in New York City to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten.-Career:...
  
   as Mary
• Scott Cohen as Schnair
• Zachary Taylor as Young David
• Ted Marcoux as Chaim
• Susan Vanech as Sally
• Kris Park as Young Paul
• Bret Barsky as Malcolm
• Andrew Barlow as Milty
• Richard Council as Older Paul
• Susan Bruce as Sarah
• Erin Liz Peck as Rachel
• Nancy Freeman

Reception

The New York Times praised the film, asserting that it is "more honest than most 1950s nostalgia films in its portrayal of teen-age life." The newspaper continued; "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." The reviewer also concluded that this "tender" film is "beautifully acted".