Ernest Goes to Camp
The
incomprehensible Ernest, butt of so many jokes, learns from Iron Eyes Cody what
bravery means, and finds himself in a summer camp, not just any summer camp but
the very one in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, where he aspires to be a
counselor. O joy! But the children are so cruel, and there is John Vernon as
the eponymous head of Krader Mining, who wants to buy the property (as lifelike
a portrait of this species as you could wish to see). Jim Varney’s grief
is expressed in a sob and a song, at both of which he is proficient.
The finale takes
its cue from the Boston Tea Party, if you like, and The March of the Wooden
Soldiers without a doubt in the world.
Ernest Saves Christmas
Another
film, not without promise, based on the proposition that Santa’s Workshop
needs a regime change, or else “the magic will fade”. Amidst the strained
and mawkish propaganda, you get a bit of Jim Varney at his most magical,
talking to a hand-held camera he calls Vern while tearing up the place at some
quotidian task like putting up a Christmas tree.
Ernest Goes to Jail
Among other
things, a satire of jury duty, that function of citizenship which hales you
before lawyers as fodder for their bemusements.
This
is the outward structure, which, like Ernest P. Worrell’s homage to
Ernest T. Bass, is the incidental setting of the Varney genius for cutting
remarks deftly delivered.
Ernest Scared Stupid
An
extremely funny comedy, in an age dominated by Steven Spielberg’s
incredibly abject humorlessness.