Customer Reviews

Beverly Hillbillies [VHS]

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This is one I save for time requiring sheer silliness with no observable traces of reality. I have to admit that it is a very contrived and predictable plot, but anything that is such an obvious spin-off of a fabulously popular television series would have a hard time being anything but derivative. Having said all that, I laughed all the way through the movie, and still chuckle thinking about a lot of the slapstick shtick used so liberally here. The storyline has been updated to make it a bit more topical, and the characters as depicted in the movie are slightly more contemporary than their counterparts in the TV series. But they are just as refreshingly corny and ordinary, and sometimes that is such an invigorating act to watch that it seems liberating somehow.

The cast is uniformly terrific; the best is easily the late Jim Varney, showing surprising range in his star-turn recreating the Jed Clampett character in the shadow of the legendary Buddy Ebsen, who so many of us baby-boomers remember as being Jed Clampett. Of course, Cloris Leachman shows why she is such a celebrated actress in her hilariously naughty portrayal of Granny, and Erika Eleniak gives a wonderfully corny interpretation of sexy but innocent Elly Mae, more interested in ?rasslin? than boys, and as quick to ?whup? those boys if they get our of line.

Also quite good is Diedrich Bader as Jethro (and also acting in drag as Jethro?s sister Jethrine, on the make and virtually unstoppable), as is Dabney Coleman as Mr. Drysdale, and a wonderful Lily Tomlin as Miss Hathaway. Of course, the villains are key in all this, and Rob Schneider and Lea Thompson spread their wings into comedic farce quite well. The scene with Thompson vamping Jed Clampett with her false French accent is hilarious for its ?shocking? unintended double-entendre, and is typical of how funny this movie is at times. As I said earlier, I save it for comic relief when I really yearn for mindless yucks, and it never fails me. Come on down and take a dip in the cement pond. I reckon you?ll find it powerful entertaining. Enjoy!

I saw this movie when it came out and was absolutely dissapointed. Surprisingly Jim Varney did a pretty decent job playing Jed. There was no hint of "Ernest" in his character - not that I dislike Ernest but he's not Jed Clampett.

But that's the ONLY good comment I can make regarding this film. As others have stated, the people who made this movie had no real understanding of the original TV show. Jed was uneducated but wise and absolutely incorruptable. Jethro was a dumb but very likeable character who approached every new interest with wild enthusiasm. He was dumb but never silly. The Jethro in this movie was so silly as to be unwatchable. Ellie Mae was always pure and sweet. In this movie they have her chewing tobbaco and spitting on people. It was offensive to call this actress Ellie Mae. Grannie wasn't too bad but still not close to the original. I supsect this movie will only appeal to the casual fan of the TV show - the people who saw it every now and then in re-runs but don't really know the characters. I fail to see how anybody really familiar with the original could even sit through this. The pitiful Jethro was the complete deal breaker for me. Max Baer's Jethro was in my opinion equaled only by Don Knott's Barney Fife as one of the two greatest TV comedy characters. This movie's Jethro was as funny as watching paint dry in comparison.

This is one of the best movie remakes of a classic TV show that I have ever seen. In the movie, the salt-of-the-earth Clampetts discover oil, get fabulously rich, and move to Beverly Hills. Jed Clampett (played by Jim Varney) is in search of a wife to help raise Ellie Mae to be a real lady, but the family must beware of evil people who want to steal their wealth. Now, perhaps that sounds a little far fetched, but if you've ever met some simple folk who come into a lot of oil money, the whole story sounds very, very close to home.

The casting is superb -- there are cameo appearances by Dolly Parton, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Buddy Ebsen. Lily Tomlin is hilarious as the familys secretary, and Jim Varney actually plays a very believable straight guy. This movie has no sex, foul language, or violence, and will bring lots of laughs to the whole family.

I like The Beverly Hillbillies. The TV show may be better but I also like this theatrical movie version which I thought was pretty cute and I liked the cast, I especially liked Jim Varney and Deidrich Bader who were both great as Jed and Jethro but Chloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin, Erika Eleniak and Dabney Coleman were good too as Jane, Ellie May, Granny and Mr. Drysdale and I'm happy that this movie is finally on DVD and is in widescreen and I could finally get rid of my old pan & scan video and I highly recommend the DVD to anyone who liked this movie! Now they just need to put complete seasons of the old TV show on DVD!

I like this movie. It cracks me up when I watch it. Growing up I didn't fallow The Beverly Hillbillies show. I am now looking into buying the shows. But I'm happy I got the movie and hopefully soon I will have the show.

This movie is trully based on the show done in in the 1960's. What is really nice is that there is no verbal profanity. Giving the finger and making a joke out of it is actually kind of funny - another plus for the movie.

This is simply the worst form of cashing in on a franchise ever. The writers, directors and producers must have never seen the original show. This movie captures absolutely none of the charm of the original. It's a simple humor-less mockery. Spend your money on the original show, especially the first couple seasons, which were pure genius. Every actor in this debacle has great talent, they just aren't allowed to show it here, in this very stiff, very calculated, very poor copy of a great premise. It's like the fifteenth generation of a bad copy, totally distorted and unrecognizable. How Buddy Ebsen agreed to appear in this is beyond me. He must have really needed a payday. Cloris and Dabney are so far above this trash, they should have sued for defamation of career. Lily Tomlin's worst performance ever!

My name is Andy. I'm a huuuuuuuuuge fan of the classic tv series, "the beverly hillbillies". and I was surprised to see
this film on the 5 dollar rack in wal-mart. needless to say,
when I saw the DVD in my reach i was ecstatic! I begged my parents to buy it and they did! Jim Varney is my favorite actor. it was hilairious! on the scale of 1 to 5,this was shooting a 7!!! but there was one problem...it had WAAAAAAAAY
too much sexual humor. mainly between the bad guys. I counted 12 dirty things throughout the whole movie! One part was when the clampetts were on the freeway. Some guy drives up in a jeep and yells,"Nice wheels!"and gives them the finger. so, Jed says,"Jethro,what's that man a-pointin' at?" "I reckon that's
how you wave hi to folks in beverly hills." See what I mean?
also, I discovered that on the box it said "rated PG".For what???????? It didn't say! Heck, i'm only 12!!! Movie people think some bits of dirty stuff would just fly over kids heads!! I would recommend this to anyone who wants to see a funny movie. But I would not recommend it to anyone who don't want to let their children see a dirty film. don't see this if you're one of those people.

By the way, thanks for putting this child's form here amazon. now this is my first comment i've ever written online! Keep going amazon!

The original series wasn't too sophisticated, but it was usually quite funny, the result of good casting, scripting, and direction. This feature version, however, lacks all those elements. There are a few talented actors in the cast, but their talents are completely wasted; the rest of the cast is simply devoid of talent. The script is atrocious, and director(?)Penelope Spheeris once again demonstrates that she possesses no comedic instincts whatsoever. In fact, Spheeris could almost be labeled the Ed Wood of the 90's, except for the fact that Wood could occasionally be funny, whereas Spheeris is never funny, simply pathetic. This embarrassingly awful bomb should be listed among the worst films of all time. In other words, this here movin' pitcher stinks worser'n ary skunk. P.U.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This movie made a mockery out of the TV series and undermined the original characters. The characters in the TV series were backwoods and nieve, however very loveable, funny, and a pleasure to watch. The characters in the movie cannot be connected to the TV series in any way. The real Jed Clampett would not have been taken in by some floozy bimbo to the point that Miss Jane had to save his fortune. There's no way the real Granny would have been kidnapped and held in a rest home against her will. Jethro was so silly until he wasn't funny at all and Ellie Mae didn't have her critters that she loved so much in the TV series. The real Mr. Drysdale guarded the Clampett's forturne with his life and wouldn't let anyone come near it. This movie was a huge disappointment. Save your money and watch the reruns.