Jim Varney Movies
Gangling, Kentucky-born actor Jim Varney cut his professional teeth at Virginia's Barter Theater, a summer-stock concern specializing in vintage American melodramas. At his funniest when playing it totally straight, Varney was hired as a comedy-ensemble member of the 1976 TV variety series The Johnny Cash Show. He went on to play Evel Knievel-takeoff Virgil Sims in Norman Lear's syndicated talk show spoofs Fernwood 2-Night (1977) and America 2-Night (1978). He was also seen as Seaman Broom on Operation Petticoat (1977), in another ensemble play on the ill-fated Pink Lady (1980), as host of the 1982-1983 season of the country-western syndie Pop! Goes the Country, and as Evan Earp, a very distant descendant of Wyatt, on The Rousters. While this multitude of TV credits was impressive enough, Varney's true claim to fame rested in his dozens of commercial appearances, first as Sgt. Glory in a series of public service spots for the Southern Dairy Commission, then as dimwitted hayseed Ernest P. Worrell ("Hey, Vern!" "KnowhutImean?") in a variety of ads aimed at regional markets. Varney parlayed the Ernest character into a handful of videocassettes (many of these highlighted by profanity-peppered outtakes), a Saturday morning TV kiddie show titled Hey, Vern, It's Ernest (1988-1989), and seemingly endless series of low-budget, lowbrow film comedies bearing such titles as Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Ernest Saves Christmas (1988), and Ernest: Scared Stupid (1989). Outside of his by-now standard characterization, Jim Varney was quite effectively cast as mountain patriarch Jed Clampett in the 1993 film version of the old TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies. His biggest-profile role came with the 1995 blockbuster animated film Toy Story, which found Varney cast as Slinky Dog. Varney reprised the role for the 1999 sequel Toy Story 2, and shortly before the release of the second film, Varney revealed he had been battling life-threatening lung cancer since August 1998. Late in 1999, he had experienced a remission from the cancer, but this was to be short-lived. His final battle lasted barely a couple of months after the sequel's release, with Varney succumbing to the disease in February 2000 at the age of 50. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1977
Life in the Pink is the syndication title of the pilot film for the TV series Operation Petticoat. Based on the 1959 movie of the same name, the series detailed the adventures of a jerry-built submarine in World War II. In the pilot, the sub's crew rescues five Army nurses from a remote Pacific isle. The ladies return the favor by virtually taking over the sub, eventually painting it pink. While this TV movie does not follow the film version scene for scene, it resurrects some of the earlier picture's best gags, including the torpedoing of a jeep. John Astin both directed this film and starred as the sub commander. Way down the cast list as a nurse was Jamie Lee Curtis, daughter of Tony Curtis, who costarred with Cary Grant in the original Operation Petticoat. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
While Mel (Vic Tayback) takes a snooze in the storeroom, Alice (Linda Lavin) is left alone to man (or woman) the counter on a Saturday night. Unfortunately, this is the same evening that the diner is visited by a nervous young man with a gun in his hand and larceny in his heart. The holdup man is placed by Steve Franken, best remembered as the pompous "Chatsworth Osborne Jr." on Dobie Gillis; and seen in the role of Milo is Jim Varney, several years before he gained national fame as his goonish alter ego "Ernest P. Worrall". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
If you like Jim Varney's doltish character Ernest P. Worrel, then you'll love this anthology comprised of Ernest's best commercials and as a special bonus, a series of skits chronicling Ernest's colorful family history. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney
- 1985
Jim Varney, also known as commercial spokesman/village idiot Ernest P. Worrell, stars in Hey Vern! It's My Family Album! Speaking at the top of his lungs to the unseen Vern (actually he's talking to "us"), Ernest introduces several of his less illustrious ancestors. If nothing else, this 57-minute video allows the talented Varney to exhibit his range and versatility. In fact, he's funnier in these other guises than he is as Ernest. In the tradition of Jim Varney's earlier video collections, Hey Vern manages to include a few hilariously embarrassing outtakes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney
- 1986
- PG
This comedy is a showcase for Jim Varney (of "Hey Vern! It's your old buddy Ernest!" fame) who plays several different roles, including Laughin' Jack, Dr. Otto, Guy Dandy, and others. Dr. Otto is a crazed and evil scientist intent on becoming a world dictator. One of his plans is to send the global economy into oblivion and towards that goal, he invents an appearance-altering device that allows him to assume any guise he chooses. His only nemesis is an inept anti-hero who looks like he could hardly tie his shoes, let alone outmaneuver anyone who can think and walk at the same time. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Myke R. Mueller, (more)
- 1986
Actor Jim Varney essays his fabled "Ernest P. Worrell" character in this video collection. It will be recalled that Ernest is the grinning, goonish protagonist of many a regional television commercial, hawking everything from convenience stores to newly created UHF TV outlets. Forever chattering away at his unseen buddy "Vern," the garrulous Ernest buffoonishly sings the praises of the product of the moment. Some audience members may have run screaming from their seats, but others stuck around long enough for the Ernest character to become one of the most potent and profitable advertising tools of the 1980s. Ernest Film Festival spotlights some of the best of Varney's local TV spots, as well as a few amusing (and extremely profane) out-takes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney
Ernest (Jim Varney) gets a job as a fix-it man at a summer camp for troubled boys, but what he really wants to be is a counselor. This juvenile comedy, filled with potty humor and slapstick, chronicles his campaign to get a promotion. A consummate bungler, he ends up causing all kinds of comical chaos. Fortunately, he also ends up helping many of the campers. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Victoria Racimo, (more)
When Santa Claus decides to retire, he appoints a washed-up kiddie show host (Douglas Seale) to take his place. Along the way, the real Santa ends up in the slammer on Christmas Eve, and it's up to goonish, glad-handing Ernest P. Worrall (Jim Varney) to bust him out. Varney plays a handful of supporting characters, including a slick-talking attorney. This film was followed by Ernest Goes to Jail. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Douglas Seale, (more)
- 1989
- PG13
Two wacky guys find both romance and fortune in the hamburger business in this comedy. Augie (Clark Brandon) and Drew (Randal Patrick) are a pair of longtime students at Hopkins University who've been making a living by pulling one semi-legal scam after another for years, but one day the dean (J. Don Ferguson) decides he's had enough of their antics and gets rid of them the best way he knows how -- he graduates them. Forced into the real world, the guys are looking for something resembling a career when Augie gets surprising news. His cousin Samantha (Tracy Griffith) runs a gas station where he works part time, but she's considering selling the place to Wrangler Bob Bundy (Jim Varney), the owner of a local burger chain who is convinced the gas station would be the perfect location for a new franchise. Drew figures if the place would be the right spot for a burger joint, they should open one themselves, and eventually Augie and Drew persuade Samantha to go along with the idea. The business gets off to a slow start, but things pick up when Drew's buddy Calvin (Lanny Horn) cooks up a special sauce for the burgers which has aphrodisiacal side effects. Wrangler Bob isn't about to give up without a fight, though, and hires corporate spy Dixie Love (Traci Lords) to get the inside scoop on the burger stand's sudden popularity. Fast Food also stars Kevin McCarthy, Michael J. Pollard, and Pamela Springsteen (Bruce's younger sister). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clark Brandon, Randal Patrick, (more)
- 1990
Originally shot as a television series pilot, the made-for-television Rousters is about Wyatt Earp's great-grandson (Chad Everett) who is a bouncer for Captain Jack Slade's carnival in Sladetown. The carnival is upset when a rascal named Clayton drops by, looking to cause some trouble. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Chad Everett, Hoyt Axton, (more)
In Ernest Goes to Jail, Jim Varney returns as leering idiot savant Ernest P. Worrall, star of scores of TV commercials and feature films. Varney also takes on a second role in the film: an unrepentant, cold-blooded murderer named Felix Nash. When Ernest serves on the jury for Nash's murder trial, Nash arranges for look-alike Ernest to go to jail, while he stays on the outside to plan a major bank heist. Fortuitously for the criminal, it's the same bank where Ernest works as a security guard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Gailard Sartain, (more)
Ernest (Jim Varney) gets into deep trouble when he decides to build a treehouse for the neighborhood kid and accidentally digs up an ugly, evil-tempered troll who hates all children and shows it by promptly turning the five kids helping Ernest into wooden sculptures. This is the fourth entry in the Ernest series and is filled with the goofy humor that has made the films popular with preadolescent kids. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Austin Nagler, (more)
- 1993
- PG
Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) inadvertently finds the long-missing British crown jewels (the tower of London contains fake jewels, according to the film) after he stumbles over a half-buried cannon from the Revolutionary War on the campus of the university where he works. This dim-bulbed comedy (the fifth in the Ernest film series) chronicles his bungling adventures. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Linda Kash, (more)
Penelope Spheeris directed this compulsively faithful film adaptation of the popular 1960s television series. The familiar story 'bout a man named Jed Clampett (Jim Varney), a poor mountaineer who barely kept his family fed, continues to follow the TV show's format. Jed discovers oil on his Arkansas property and overnight becomes a multi-millionaire. He moves his family to Beverly Hills, wanting to turn his daughter Ellie May (Erika Eleniak) into a sophisticated woman. At his new Beverly Hills mansion, he meets Mr. Drysdale (Dabney Coleman), a kow-towing banker, and Drysdale's assistant, the repressed crone Miss Hathaway (Lily Tomlin). Jed announces that he would like to re-marry, and that leaves the door open for Drysdale's scheming lackey Woodrow Tyler (Rob Schneider) and his fortune-hunting partner Laura Jackson (Lea Thompson) to make the moves on Jed. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Diedrich Bader, Dabney Coleman, (more)
After a childhood spat drove brothers Wilder (Arliss Howard) and Wallace (Dennis Quaid) apart, they went their separate ways, until a chance meeting brought them back together again. Gifted with a psychic ability to spark fires, Wilder supresses his gift, marries the lovely Vida (Debra Winger), and attempts to lead a normal life. However, he runs into his brother, who is using his powers to work as a carnival attraction, and their reunion leads to disaster when the brothers begin to compete for Vida's attention. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Debra Winger, Dennis Quaid, (more)
- 1994
In this zany, slapstick comedy, earnest-but-dim high-school janitor Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney) becomes much brighter after he tinkers with an experimental machine for boosting intelligence. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Linda Kash, (more)
- 1994
- R
SWAT-Team instructor John Lomax's faith in the American justice system is shaken when the sociopath who murdered his sister is sentenced to life in a mental institution rather than to Death Row. Internal pressures upon Lomax mount when he is attacked by a mentally unstable woman desperately trying to free her brother from jail before his execution. When Lomax begins talking about ways to get to his sister's murderer and to kill him for revenge, his girlfriend and his partner get seriously worried. Meanwhile, the killer himself has devised an escape plan and he doesn't care who gets killed during the ensuing mayhem. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Speakman, James Brolin, (more)
Toy Story was the first feature-length film animated entirely by computer. If this seems to be a sterile, mechanical means of moviemaking, be assured that the film is as chock-full of heart and warmth as any Disney cartoon feature. The star of the proceedings is Woody, a pull-string cowboy toy belonging to a wide-eyed youngster named Andy. Whenever Andy's out of the room, Woody revels in his status as the boy's number one toy. His supremacy is challenged by a high-tech, space-ranger action figure named Buzz Lightyear, who, unlike Woody and his pals, believes that he is real and not merely a plaything. The rivalry between Woody and Buzz hilariously intensifies during the first half of the film, but when the well-being of Andy's toys is threatened by a nasty next-door neighbor kid named Sid -- whose idea of fun is feeding stuffed dolls to his snarling dog and reconstructing his own toys into hideous mutants -- Woody and Buzz join forces to save the day. Superb though the computer animation may be, what really heightens Toy Story are the voice-over performances by such celebrities as Tom Hanks (as Woody), Tim Allen (as Buzz), and Don Rickles (as an appropriately acerbic Mr. Potato Head). Director John Lasseter earned a special achievement Academy Award, while Randy Newman landed an Oscar nomination for his evocative musical score. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Poor Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney). All he wants is to be a real basketball player on the amateur team with all the other janitors from his workplace. Unfortunately, they have all told him over and over that white guys like him just can't jump. That turns out to be true until he receives divine assistance from a friendly angel (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) who gives Ernest a pair of magical shoes. In no time, he is jumping and shooting with the best of them. The trouble starts when his b-ball antics attract the attention of a wicked promoter who wants the lovable rube to sign a lifetime contract. More problems ensue when the son of the team's real star (the one who worked, long and hard to perfect his game) begins idolizing Ernest. Like other entries in the long-running series, Slam Dunk Ernest is filled with cornball humor, slapstick comedy and just a smidgen of pathos. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Varney, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, (more)
- 1996
A prince (Jim Varney) comes to Lanford with hopes of romancing Jackie. He then invites the Conners on a trip to New York. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
