The Beverly Hillbillies (1993)

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)

Oh no, not again! Yes it's yet another classic t.v. favourite forcing itself upon us on the big screen. This time it's the good ole"Beverly Hillbillies" who have made what I call without hesitation the 'dreaded transition'.The new cast, led by Jim Varney (Jed), Diedrich Bader (Jethro), Erica Eleniak (Elly May) and Cloris Leachman (Granny), with support from Dabney Coleman, Lily Tomlin, Lea Thompson and Rob Schneider, all manage to resurrect the familiar faces of the Clampett clan, but apart from that they do little.And as for the plot, which is damn near awful, it seems to have borrowed rather form "The Addams Family" and "Addams Family Values", with its story of deceitful persons attempting to get their hands on the Clampett fortune. All amounts to an incredibly corny, unfunny show that's as flat as a pancake. (How does it take four writers to come up with this drivel? Perhaps less is more?). Funniest moment occurs during the closing credits which feature some of the film's bloopers. Guest starred Dolly Parton, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Buddy Ebsen.Saturday, October 19, 1996 - T.V.

This was a very good movie. I really enjoyed watching this movie with Peter and my Madison. I think that Grannie is the funniest in this movie. Jethro is very dumb, but it is still very funny. This story is about a family of hillbillies that become very rich and move to Beverly Hills. They tied Grannie to a chair because she did not want to leave. When they are driving to Beverly Hills, people are very mean to them but they have no idea! The family thinks that the people are being nice. There is a lady that teaches the blonde girl how to be more ladylike. This character's name is Lara Jackson and she is really trying to steal the family's money. You should watch this movie and have all your friends watch it, too!

When he is out hunting, Arkansas bumpkin Jed Clampett strikes oil on his own land. It doesn't take long for the oil companies to get wind of the largest domestic oil reserve in recent history and before you can say "Texas T", they have bought him out to the tune of one billion dollars (US$ though – but still a lot of money). Jed packs up his family and heads out for the lifestyle that he can now afford in Beverly Hills. His new bank manager, Milburn Drysdale expects his new billionaire clients to be the height of breeding and sophistication and is surprised to find that although the Clampetts are "salt of the earth" people, they aren't really "Beverly Hills" material.One of countless remakes of TV series of yesteryear, this basic, bland and unfunny affair is probably no better or worse than the average television show original but where that has the benefit of nostalgia to strengthen it, this film is left totally exposed in the cold light of modern American cinema. Without this protection the film must stand on its own thanks to a slick narrative, lots of laughs and so on. Sadly the makers seem to have forgotten this and the plot is a predictable and forced narrative along the lines of "little people makin' good". I wanted to care about Jed's search for a wife, or worry about whether he would have his money scammed away, or hope that Elly May can be allowed to be herself but really I couldn't bring myself to give a monkey's at any point. A bit of a problem when it then comes to following a story but then, hey, at least I'll be laughing too hard to care about the detail.Well, not really. The comedy here is very basic and seems happy to just rely totally on how stupid Jethro is; how tomboyish Elly is; how old Granny is and how everyone else either slaps their forehead with frustration at these characteristics or just do pratfalls over furniture. Attempts at postmodernism are mostly very lazy and lack any inspiration or genuine wit. It might appeal to children but it was all too little for me. The cast aren't able to help much but in fairness several of them are used to operating at this level. The late Varney is actually pretty restrained but this doesn't mean he is funny or produces a good character – because he can't. However he looks like Lawrence Olivier next to the mugging ineptitude of Bader, who seems to have been told that "looking confused with a big stupid smile on your face" will produce the type of comedy gold that will stand for all time. He is terrible of course but I do know he is only following direction. Eleniak is a tomboy, and that's about it – she never convinces but then so what? Leachman is told to be old and indeed she is, Schneider is bad even by his standards; Thompson's performance makes "Allo, Allo" look like an Open University programme and Coleman clearly needs cash and needs it now (or then I suppose). Tomlin is very out of place but at least she seems to be having fun with it – I'm glad one of us was.Overall then, for those who want to watch old television comedies without the blinkers of nostalgia then this is one good way because it exposes the film for what it is – a poorly developed unfunny comedy. Nobody in it can raise the material and instead they are pulled down with it like so many pilots in a nose-diving aircraft; I guess the only difference is that the pilots would be struggling to pull out of the dive whereas here the cast mostly seem blissfully happy to mug along as it spirals ever downwards. A pointless 90 minutes of my evening that gave me nothing back in return for my investment.