Touchstone and Beyond: "Indian Summer"
Marquee Attraction: Indian Summer
Release Date: April 23, 1993
Budget: $9 million
Domestic Box Office Gross: $14,904,910
Plot Synopsis
Jamie, Beth, Matthew, Brad, Jack, and Jennifer have all been invited back to their old summer camp to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of their attendance at the beloved Camp Tamakwa in Algonquin Park.
Though they are older, and perhaps a little wiser, the group of adults immediately fall into the rules of camp, set out by the owner and leader Uncle Lou. That means that Jamie will even need to sleep in a separate cabin from his fiancé Gwen.
As the days pass on this week of reflection, the group learns that Uncle Lou is looking to get out of the summer camp business, and that Tamakwa is slated to close. Perhaps in this noted and celebrated group of alumni, someone will take over and continue the magic of Camp Tamakwa for many summers to come.
For that to happen, the adults need to learn a few more lessons in maturing, and Camp Tamakwa is their classroom once again.
Standing Ovation
The story is wonderful. Taking some adults who loved their fabled summer camp and bringing them back one more time is pitch perfect in tone and executed with brilliance by a diverse and talented cast.
Only Alan Arkin could play Uncle Lou. He is the perfect fatherly/teacher archetype that every child has met before and desperately looks for guidance and comfort from when needed. Uncle Lou is a character that we don’t see often.
The fact that the story allowed us to see that Uncle Lou wasn’t perfect, by giving us some background about how Lou fired a black counselor because he didn’t think the counselor would fit in at the all-white camp of Tamakwa was a deep cut of story that wouldn’t be expected from a film like this in the 1990’s. Moreover, the story of how Jack found out about this and then stole Lou’s boxing trophy as a form of retribution adds layers to the characters that many movies would take hours to get out but is excellently executed in a short time span in Indian Summer.
The cast is stacked with talent, from Bill Paxton to Diane Lane, we get emotionally available characters that make feel real. Kevin Pollack as Brad is the icing on the cake of the cast. I love any movie he is in, and he always makes his characters shine.
The fact that this story is set in Canada and has many Canadian symbols throughout, only helps me love the movie more.
Time for the Hook
Matt Craven’s Jamie doesn’t need to be a jerk to Gwen. Jamie is obviously the least developed of the group, but his blatant immaturity brings down the story.
Bit Part Player
Sam Raimi as Stick Coder. The famed director plays the silly sidekick role to Uncle Lou with such perfection that it is hard not to wonder what Raimi would have been like had he chosen acting instead of directing. The scene where he is trying to rescue the bags that fell in the lake, is classic slapstick humor.
Did You Know?
- As a kid, Sam Raimi attended the real camp Tamakwa, where the film was shot.
- The shirt that Alan Arkin wears, when Bill Paxton pulls back the collar and shows the Lou Handler name, was the real shirt of the actual founder Lou Handler of the real Camp Tamakwa.
- Matt and Brad are based on the founders of the Canadian clothing company Roots. In real life the founders of Roots attended Camp Tamakwa.
- Director Mike Binder also attended Camp Tamakwa as a kid.
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley’s little sister Ashley plays Ida Heiken.
- Sam Raimi and Mike Binder were childhood friends.
- If you look closely, you can see Diane Lane in a dual role as Claire Everett, in a flashback scene.
- The poem that Uncle Lou reads at the campfire is ‘The Cremation of Sam McGee’ by Robert Service.
- Uncle Lou’s coat of white with red black yellow and green stripes is a Hudson Bay jacket.
- The movie made over three million dollars on its opening weekend.
- Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner attended many years of summer camp as a child at Camp Keewaydin in Vermont. I strongly recommend anyone who enjoyed the film to read Eisner’s book Camp about his experiences at Camp Keeywaydin.
Best Quotable Line
This one comes from Uncle Lou when he is talking about running the camp. Alan Arkin delivers the line with soul. “But I’ll tell you one thing: if you hit it right, it’s one hell of a life."
Bill’s Hot Take
The release date for a film is critical in its success. This is a film that is set after the summer camp season is over, and Touchstone released it in April. No one is thinking about summer camp then. Had this film come out in September, the box office would have been terrific.
Casting Call
- Alan Arkin as Uncle Lou
- Matt Craven as Jamie
- Diane Lane as Beth
- Bill Paxton as Jack
- Elizabeth Perkins as Jennifer
- Kevin Pollack as Brad
- Vincent Spano as Matthew
- Julie Warner as Kelly
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Gwen
Production Team
Directed by Mike Binder
Produced by Touchstone Pictures / Touchwood Pacific Partners 1 / Outlaw Productions
Written by Mike Binder
My Critical Response
{Snub-Skip this Film, Lifeboat Award-Desperate for Something to Watch, Commuter Comforter-A Perfect Film for Any Device, Jaw Dropper- You Must Watch This Film on a Big Screen, Rosebud Award- This Film is Cinema.}
Indian Summer was a movie that I saw many times at home when it was on cable in the late 1990s. I loved the film then, and I still love it. Revisiting this movie was a joy from my past. Everything that I remember liking in the past, I found a deeper appreciation for the story.
The cast is brilliant, the setting is incredible, and the message is whatever you wish to take from the film.
Indian Summer gets the Commuter Comforter Award. It’s the perfect film to enjoy while commuting to work but it also makes a great film for when you are bogged down at work and want to get away for a week, by taking a trip to Camp Tamakwa.
Coming Soon
Next week a look back at the Vietnam War era movie, The War at Home.