Les allumés de Beverly Hills

Hollywood has produced uncountable numbers of remakes of old TV shows from the 1960's and 70's. I can't even begin to count them or make a list. I've seen some of them. A few have worked; most have been dreadful. This 1993 movie based on the 60's series of the same name falls somewhere in between those two categories, probably leaning a bit toward the dreadful side, but not dreadful in and of itself. The basic plot follows the TV story. Hillbilly Jed Clampett (played here by Jim Varney) strikes it rich one day when he was "shootin' at some food, and up from the ground come a-bubblin' crude. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas tea." (Couldn't resist!) Suddenly rich after he's paid $1 billion for his land, his family tells him that "Californy is the place you ought to be, so they loaded up the truck and they moved to Beverly. Hills that is. Swimming pools. Movie stars." (Couldn't resist again!)

So, once more Jed, Granny (Cloris Leachman), Ellie May (Erike Eleniak) and cousin Jethro (Diedrich Bader) are left to the task of settling into their new life with the help of Mr. Drysdale (Dabney Coleman) and Miss Hathaway (Lily Tomlin) and along for the ride we get a couple of villains played by Rob Schneider and Lea Thompson, who set out to get Jed's money for themselves.

This lacked the fun of the TV series. There were parts of it that were amusing. The Clampetts driving along the highway thinking that the middle finger was a California greeting springs to mind, for example. Overall, though, it really wasn't that funny. The cast was so-so. Varney and Leachman were all right. Eleniak, to me, didn't really capture Ellie May's sweet innocence, and Bader as Jethro didn't work for me. Jethro in the TV series was a dumb character, yes, but Bader's Jethro was both too dumb and too underplayed. Bader seemed to think he just had to look and sound stupid and that would be enough. He missed the mark completely. I don't think the Beverly Hillbillies work that well as a movie, either. As a TV series it was fine. You got it in half hour chunks (less counting commercials) and that was enough. Trying to keep it going for over an hour and a half without a break became tiresome after a while.

Dolly Parton was included as herself as, I guess, an entertainer the Clampetts (with their country background) would be familiar with. Aside from being recognizable, though, that didn't really do much for me, since I'm not a big Dolly fan. One appearance that did work, though, was from Buddy Ebsen. He, of course, was the original Jed Clampett on the TV series. It was a rather ingenious thought to bring him back for this movie, this time as the other well known character he played on television - private detective Barnaby Jones from the 1970's, whom Miss Hathaway hires to investigate the plot to get Jed's money. When the Barnaby Jones theme started to play I smiled, because right away I knew what (and who) was coming. Ebsen played it perfectly straight, when everyone else often seemed to be trying too hard for laughs. As a result, he was perfect.

It's not the worst remake of a TV series. Not by far actually. But it can't honestly be called good either, and with the TV series being just perfect at a half hour per episode, this started to get tired even before the one hour mark had hit. There just isn't really enough meat to the Clampetts to make a movie about them. (5/10)

The Beverly Hillbillies is one of the greatest TV sitcoms of all time. However this remake sadly falls way short. It may even be one of the worst films ever made. The film following it's opening sequence with Jed striking oil and then the familiar ballad goes nowhere after that. Although Jim Varney does do an admirable job as Jed Clampett. It appeared at times that every entire episode of the classic TV series was trying to be compressed into this film. The famous cast of characters from the TV series simply can not be played by any one other than the original actors and actresses i.e. No one other than Max Baer can play Jethro Bodine. Do yourself a favor and pass on this one and find the original TV series on a channel featuring reruns and enjoy those instead.

This was one I put off seeing for some time, unable to face the prospect of a new cast portraying the Beverly Hillbillies, who had been made immortal by Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan and Company in the 1960's. When I finally saw it – about two years after it came out, I was pleasantly surprised.

Since then I have been surprised to hear the movie slammed many times and have been even MORE surprised to realize there are people who dislike the original TV series! The movie DOES have two potential strikes against it. On one hand, classic TV aficionados like myself have trouble accepting new actors in the familiar and well-loved roles as the Hillbillies and their neighbors. On the other hand, some simply did not like the classic TV show – including a few people I USED to consider friends! (lol)

Director Penelope Spheeris, seemingly not the most likely choice to bring the legendary Hillbillies to the big screen, manages to pull off the feat. No, this is not the same cast that we grew up with and, yes, the characters are interpreted slightly different by each actor. Yet, if one can let go of the `That's not Buddy!' syndrome, one can find this a quite amusing and enjoyable film.

I have to admit that I did not look closely at the back of the box when renting it. I remembered that Lily Tomlin was in, but had forgotten that Cloris Leachman and Jim Varney were also in it. I kept thinking `I've seen the guy playing Jed somewhere!' It wasn't until the outtakes at the end, when Varney flubbs a line and gives his patented `Hey Vern' looks that I realized it was him! Let it be said that the late Jim Varney – despite the quality of some of his `Ernest' movies – could ACT! Varney proves to be a very human and very believable Jed Clampett. I wish he had received more praise for it.

The entire cast is wonderful. The only question I had when first viewing it – and one I have to re-answer each time I see it – is `Was Diedrich Bader an over-the-top dud, or did he do exactly what he set out to do – play someone with the IQ of a hamhock?' I keep coming to the conclusion that Bader succeeded in giving Spheeris what she wanted from the role. It isn't easy playing a total moron. Max Baer, Jr. had his own style as Jethro and was believable and fun to watch. Bader tends to grate on my nerves a bit; maybe he reminds me a tad too much of Jerry Lewis. He was actually funnier as Jethro's twin sister, Jethrine, further supporting my belief that he found the range he wanted for Jethro.

Everyone else was outstanding. Dabney Coleman was born to play Milburne Drysdale and fits the role at LEAST as well as Raymond Bailey. Leachman and Tomlin, meanwhile, bring their own styles to the roles of Granny and `Miss Jane' Hathaway. Both are old pros and great comediannes. Leachman has plenty of energy for the Granny role and pulls if off well. Tomlin, meanwhile, turns in one of her best performances as Miss Jane. Rather than trying to mimic the late Nancy Culp, who was a one-of-a-kind, she takes the role and runs with it. This includes some body language and character perks that make Jane Hathaway all her own.

Rounding out the cast are Erika Eleniak as Elly May, Rob Schneider as creepy bank employee Woodrow Tyler, Lea Thompson as his scheming girlfriend, Laura Jackson, and Penny Fuller as Mrs. Drysdale, along with Kevin Connolly as the Drysdale's wimpy son, Morgan. Eleniak combines Nordic good looks and athleticism to pull off a role that is probably less natural for her than it was for Donna Douglas. Schneider and Thompson get a large amount of screen time and are very good as the scheming couple. Fuller is quite good as Mrs. Drysdale, while Connolly turns in very good work as Morgan. His stunned reaction when he meets Ellie Mae (having been coerced into befriending the Clampetts' daughter, whom he assumes will be `a real bow wow') is hilarious.

One interesting aside – one of the really funny little gags when the film came out, now dates it. When a fight breaks out in the gym at the wealthy prep school Ellie Mae is attending, several girls are primping in the girls' restroom. A cell phone beeps and some dozen or so girls all grab phones, answering `Hello?' We forget how fast the cordless phone phenomenon has grown! Ten years ago it was still a sign of status and/or wealth to carry one around. That ALL the girls had their own phones (no doubt nixed nowadays in most schools' student handbooks) was a cute way of showing just how affluent and spoiled these kids were!

One highlight is the surprise guest appearance of Buddy Ebsen, the original Jed, appearing in his other major TV role, Barnaby Jones. This was an inspired idea. Dolly Pardon also has an appearance, as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor, in a hilarious cameo early-on.

Overall, I would have to say that Spheeris and her cast capture the essence of the classic sit-com and do justice to the Hillbillies. So go out and rent the movie and have yoreself a heapin' helpin' of their hospitalitee! Hillbilly style!

I enjoyed the bulk of the film - the middle part. It was just the first 20 minutes and the last 20 minutes that I thought were incredibly too stupid to enjoy.

In that middle segment, Diedrich Baker's and Lily Tomlin's facial expressions were the highlight. I didn't mind staring at Erica Eleniak and Lea Thompson, either! It is an entertaining cast, I'll give it that, with Jim Varney, Cloris Leachman, Dabney Coleman and Rob Schneider among others. There also is some very good country music in the soundtrack, too.

Otherwise, there isn't a whole lot of positive things to say because, really, much of the humor is Dumb, yes - with a capital "D."

"The Beverly Hillbilles" is a disappointment for two reasons: (a), it comes from Penelope Spheeris, who brought us the funny "Wayne's World," and (b), it fails miserably at catching the charm of the television show. Yet with all the negative points of the film, it still manages to come of silly in its own way; it's a bad movie, but not a particularly harmful one, on the other hand.

The late Jim Varney plays Jed Clampett, who--as all we all know--discovers some oil out in Arkansas, becomes a millionaire, and moves his family out to Beverly Hills, California. This is the excuse for some half-brained and ultimately stupid gags that sometimes become so bad it's hard to watch, yet make up for themselves when the film starts to make fun of itself.

Jim Varney fits Jed pretty well, but too many of the actors and actresses seem forced and the dialogue is reminiscent of a straight-to-television flick written by authors with Writer's Block.

Too much of the film borrows from other films we've seen before--and the gags have been done in those films about ten times better. The cast is top-o'-the-notch, co-starring the likes of Lea Thompson, Cloris Leachmen, Dolly Parton, Rob Schneider, Dabney Coleman, and even the real Buddy Ebson in a cameo.

But a cameo by Buddy Ebson cannot save a badly written film.

There really is no excuse for why this film was so bad. It had a good director, an overall good cast, a good script-writer, some good cameos, and good potential for some parody. But instead it comes off dull, recycled and misused, and ultimately a rehash of everything we've seen before, done in a childish and cartoonish way.

So, yes, there are some good parts in the film, but it's not worth sitting through the rest of the film to see them.

1.5/5 stars -

John Ulmer