Transcript: Christian Cinema Classics: Ernest P. Worrell's Timeless Wisdom

It's time now for the Classic Cinema Rewind with Pastor Jay. I'll see you back at the hut. Oh boy. Hey, doggie. Now join Pastor Jay as we rewind the tape. And enjoy some Classic Cinema. Greetings, Classic Cinema fans. This is Pastor Jay here with you on another journey here on the Classic Cinema Rewind. Today we want to talk to you about an interesting man in the history of cinema, and that is the man Jim Varney. probably one of my favorite you know 80's comedians he did a lot of really awesome stuff through his career he's probably best known for one specific character and that is Ernest P. Wartle but Jim Varney was an amazing actor in a lot of different things he played in a lot of different things But he created that amazing character of Ernest P. Worrell in television commercials, and then it just exploded, and he started doing all kinds of different movies just playing Ernest. of course he would end up playing in a remake of the classic TV show he would play Uncle Jed in the Beverly Hills Beverly Hillbilly movie but we're not talking about that today we want to focus specifically on Ernest P. Wartle today one of my favorite characters from the 80s I remember watching him in Ernest Goes to Camp Probably one of my first films that I ever remember watching of Ernest P. Worrell. And I just fell in love with that character. And he really was amazing. And so basically, as we are physical media collectors here on Classic Cinema Magazine, we got our Ernest collection here. We're going to talk about all kinds of things of Ernest P. Worrell today on the Classic Cinema Rewind. We're just coming out of Christmas season, so we're going to get one out of the way, first crack of the whip. I know it's this one, Ernest Saves Christmas. Now, Ernest Saves Christmas is just a really unique little film. Santa is coming upon the end of his career, his time around, and he needs a replacement. No, it's not going to be Ernest, but he has another guy in line and in mind. But Ernest is there to kind of help him along the way, or hinder him along the way, if you will. And as Ernest does, this is just such a unique film, and it is so cool. I love this film so very much. There's just so much about it that is so cool. But I think what I like is the subtle nuances and little things. And if you watch this film, you'll find in one specific scene at the beginning of the film, Ernest is playing a taxi driver, if you will. And if you look at his glove compartment, there's like a sticker on there. it says, Keep Christ in Christmas. And I just thought that was really unique. Very, very cool stuff. So, you know. But this film is just, it's holiday hijinks, and it is just so fun. And it really is. It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of characters and a lot of interesting things. And I just love this film so much. I watch this basically every year. I have to watch Ernest Saves Christmas. Gotta see Ernest Saves Christmas every year. Just gotta do that. But Ernest is really, really cool. So Ernest Saves Christmas, yeah. Gotta watch that at least once every year. Alright, also, let's go back, clear back to the beginning as we talk about Ernest. We go clear back to Ernest Goes to Camp. But, Ernest Goes to Camp was, as I said, the first film that I ever watched of Ernest P. Worrell. And I fell in love with the idea of Ernest being a camp counselor. This crazy, crazy childlike guy. Just right along for the ride with all these kids. Doing what a kid would do, basically. And it's just a lot of fun. Ernest getting into all kinds of trouble around camp. And this is just a really cool release. You know, I'm very interested to understand why a lot of these films have not received an amazing release. We'll talk about that coming up further as we talk along the way. But, yeah, Ernest Goes to Camp. Just a really cool release. I just love it. Ernest Goes to Camp. I don't love Ernest movies. Probably one of my favorite films of Ernest, and that's maybe saying a little bit, but I think the reason I love this film so much is because you see Ernest's ability to range out, to expand, to show that he could do a lot of different things, and that is Ernest goes to jail. Ernest has a lookalike, and that lookalike is not a nice guy. And so Ernest P Worrell Jim Varney if you will plays Ernest and this very bad dude in this film And it is just really, really cool. Ernest gets framed for the bad actions of this guy that looks like him. And he goes to jail. Hence the name Ernest Goes to Jail. and he has to break his way out and try to find the guy and clear his name. Ernest is just amazing. This is probably one of my favorites. Not the first film I ever watched, but probably my favorite Ernest film that I've ever watched. I love When Ernest Goes to Jail. I just think it's just a really, really cool film. So every time I think of Ernest Goes to Jail, I also think of Zach Morris on Saved by the Bell when he talks to Kelly and he says, you cried when Ernest went to jail. I don't know. There's just something about that film that is just so cool to me. All right. One that is from the Halloween, perfect for Halloween time, and it is completely off the wall. Crazy! And that is typically Ernest Scared Stupid. Yeah, that's what it is. Ernest unleashes a, there's this amazing troll that gets unleashed. and is trying to steal the lives, the essence, if you will, of all the children, and turning them to wood, like little wood creatures and statues, if you will. And it's up to Ernest, of all people, to save the day. Just like he had to do at Christmas time, Ernest has to save Halloween too. it's really a really good film and I guess what's kind of cool about this film too is that Eartha Kitt is in this film a very very very cool addition you wouldn't even know her really except for the voice but really really cool and I love that release so yeah Ernest is scared stupid alright A couple more that we have here, and then we'll talk about some other releases here. These were later in the Ernest series, but Ernest gets on the hardwood and plays some basketball with Slam Dunk Ernest. Not the most spectacular of the Ernest films. it's unique, it's funny it's off the wall, it's crazy it's got Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in it, that's pretty cool but not probably not Jim Varney's greatest film but definitely worth checking out I like it, of course I like anything Jim Varney, I love anything earnest, so yeah, this is on the list because hey, it's earnest man how do you not have everything that he did that was earnest. Okay, now the Boston Globe, as you will see on the front cover here, says something about this film. I would not say that I agree, but anyway, we'll take a look at it. It is Earnest Rides Again. Okay, now if you look there, the Boston Globe says the best of the series. no I would have to disagree with that is it a good film for Ernest films yes it's a fun film it's a lot of fun I don't know that I would call it the best of the series but it is kind of cute and kind of unique so I like it but it's just Ernest trying to recoup the crown jewels of England. Again, Ernest happened to save the day. What's the deal, man? Alright, we're going to talk more Ernest right after this. Hold on. Free movies and TV produced by Pastor Jay at ClassicCinema Magazine.Blogspot.com or at YouTube.com slash The Real Pastor Jay. Alright, thanks for staying with us here on the Classic Cinema Rewind Podcast. Now, I know maybe some of you are saying, well, this is not classic cinema, is it? Maybe not specifically what you would consider classic cinema. But to me, classic cinema is just something that you can rewatch over and over and you can enjoy. And to me, Ernest P. Worrell is classic to me. He's a classic iconic character in the history of television and in movies. he, Jim Varney created a character that we will never forget, no matter how old we get, no matter how long the world stands, there will always people will always remember Ernest P. Worrell for his craziness his crazy antics of hey Vern, you know and always getting into trouble, always doing stuff and that's something that I loved about the Ernest Safe's Christmas movie is that they did that hey Vern type thing that was kind of cool. It's just, and where he goes in there and he just destroys Vern's house trying to decorate for Christmas. It's just amazing and setting everything up and doing all this and ripping the wires out the walls. I mean, it's just, it's typical Ernest. But to me, that is why Ernest P. Worrell is part of classic cinema because he's iconic. He will always be a part of my viewing of movies because it was part of my childhood. It was part of me growing up watching these crazy antics of Ernest P Worrell Just love it All right so let continue with some more Ernest hijinks This collection is from Mill Creek Entertainment. All the others have been released by Touchdown Pictures. This one was released by Mill Creek Entertainment, and it is the Essentially Ernest Collection. Now, this is a two-disc set, and on this two-disc set, you get a lot of info here. First you get, Ernest Goes to Africa. Crazy film. film. Ernest goes to an African tribe and he's his typical self and he's going to get himself into a lot of trouble with some African warriors. It's off the wall. It's crazy. It's funny and it's just Ernest being Ernest. I mean, what can you do? Also on this collection is Ernest in the army. Again, it seems like every time we turn around, Ernest is put in a situation where he has to try to save the day or try to do something to kind of help out some things. And I guess that's because when you get right down to it, as goofy as Ernest was, Ernest had a great heart. He was a character that loved people. He loved to help people. He was not just a character that with just being stupid or just being that he was just a childlike character that wanted to help people and i think that's probably what endears him um to audiences all through history uh it's because of that it's not he's just being stupid or goofy but he has a good heart he everything that he did when he when he was trying to um when he would mess up verne in the commercials or whatever, he was always trying to help Vern, but it just went off the trails, off the tracks, if you will, and that's what makes Ernest so cool, he has a good heart, but he just ends up going off the tracks all the time, everything he does, and so that's what makes these films so amazing to me. On this collection, though, essentially, Ernest, we get those two films. We get Ernest Goes to Africa and Ernest in the Army. But beyond that, we get Ernest's Greatest Hits Volume 1 and 2. And this is kind of like some of the commercials from yesteryear, which I am so glad we can get some of those because they'd be lost, and if they're lost, I mean, man, that's such a shame. So this is Sort of some of those collection of some of those greatest hits of the commercials, which is really, really cool. You also get Hey Vern, It's My Family Album. Now, if you've never seen Hey Vern, It's My Family Album, this is really a fun little feature. I think it's a little less than an hour, I believe it is, if I'm not mistaken. and it's been a while since I've watched it, but I do remember it, but I just don't remember the time frame. It is a really unique little film because what it is is Ernest goes through his family album, and he finds his different ancestors, and then Jim Varney plays those different ancestors in little vignettes, if you will, showing his family tree. Maybe that's why Ernest is what Ernest is. I don't know. But it's so cute and so funny. I just love it. And then we get on this collection, we get a not really Ernest, but it's the same type of thing. Jim Varney's playing all kinds of different characters. in something that is called Your World As I See It. He plays kind of a snooty character, that is, and then he plays all these other characters. So we're getting a broad range. We're not just getting Ernest, but we're getting Jim Varney playing all different types of characters, and it's kind of fun to see that. So this collection here, I don't even know if you can even find this anymore because this was released a long time ago, 2007. so this is about 13 years ago so probably you might be able to find it on Amazon or Ebay or something but to just say you're going to go to the store and pick this up probably not you're probably not going to find it but it is a really good collection and that's why we have to have that one alright now as we've went through these and you're saying okay Ernest and we go, okay, let's take a look at this. We got Ernest Goes to Africa and Ernest in the Army. We have Ernest Rides Again. We have Slam Dunk Ernest. We have Ernest Scared Stupid. We have Ernest Goes to Jail. We have Ernest Goes to Camp. And we have Ernest Saves Christmas. But we're missing one, right? Yeah, we are. We're missing one. and I wanted to get this release on a stand-alone, something like the Touchstone Pictures release like this, like those, the Slam Dunk Ernest, Ernest Saves Christmas, such and such. This release has never been given an actual stand-alone release, which is kind of a shame. we're talking about Ernest Goes to School. Ernest Goes to School is a really fun little film. Just seeing Ernest, you know, trying to go to school and trying to, and he gets put in this experimental type thing where his brain overloads and he so much smarter and he you know it just amazing It a cute little film Well see we couldn I have not found that it has been given a standalone release sadly So, the only way we could pick this up was in this. Jim Varney's Wackiest Adventures, Volume 2. Not my favorite way to own it, but what can I do? This is a two-disc set. Okay? And on this, these two discs that you get, Ernest Goes to School, Ernest Goes to Africa, Slam Dunk Ernest, and Hey Vern, It's My Family Album. So you're getting some of the releases here on Wacky Adventures that you get on Essentially Ernest. That's kind of a bummer to me. I wished, see, this set, the Wackiest Adventures, is from Image Entertainment. And, of course, the Essentially Earnest is from Mill Creek Entertainment. I kind of wish Image Entertainment would have just made the standalone releases. That would have been better for me. But, eh, it is what it is. What can you do? So we added this one to our collection because we wanted to get Ernest Goes to School. but you can't get it on a standalone release. Why in the world it was not given a standalone release is beyond me. I don't know. If somebody has an idea, if you know why it was not given a standalone release, please tell me because I don't know. But at least we got it this way. So we do have the film. It's just on a collection of films. But what are you going to do? But at least you have it, right? All right. And then we're going to talk our final one. that we have in the Essential Ernest Collection that we have here. And this is a series from Mill Creek Entertainment. This is Hey Vern, It's Ernest, the complete series. This was a very, very short-lived series that basically was 13 episodes. and it was Ernest P. Worrell talking to Vern kind of doing his thing like he normally did in the commercials just in a half hour time frame type of a TV series and just being crazy and being off the wall and all I kind of enjoy it is it as good as the movies? no is it as good as the commercials? no but it is what it is it's kind of fun to just put the discs in the player and just kind of just just go along for the ride with Jim Varney as he plays Ernest it's basically was a Saturday morning program something that we don't have anymore Saturday morning cartoons and all that type of stuff we don't have those type of things anymore this was that type of thing and yeah so it's kind of fun to have those even though we don't have Saturday morning cartoons anymore you know the kids of this generation don't know what they're missing it was a lot of fun alright well we're just about out of time we'll be right back after this as we wrap things up and for this time around Read reviews of the latest DVDs, Blu-rays, TV shows, and so much more at ClassicCinemaMagazine.blogspot.com Well, I want to thank you for joining me today. As we've taken a look back at Ernest P. Worrell, Jim Varney, an amazing, amazing man that sadly passed away from cancer. Cancer, it's a disgusting thing. Something that we want to get rid of if we can. but died of lung cancer but left a legacy of some amazing films like these and that's why we live and relive Jim Varney and Ernest P. Worrell all the time because he is just so amazing well we want to remind you to go to classiccinemamagazine.blogspot.com every single day as we have something new up all the time be sure to go there We have new articles, reviews, videos, podcasts, all kinds of stuff, entertainment news, DVD news, all kinds of stuff all the time. So go there and check out something new every single day. Sundays are amazing because we have our Public Domain Movie Sunday, so you may want to go there and check those out on Sunday and see a Public Domain Classic. We do that every single Sunday now. It's a special feature. 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