DVD REVIEW: “RETURN OF THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES” (1981) STARRING BUDDY EBSEN, NANCY KULP, WERNER KLEMPERER, IMOGENE COCA AND DONNA DOUGLAS

I have always been a great admirer of Paul Henning, the crooner-turned-TV producer/writer of some of the best-loved shows of the 1960s. It was Henning who gave a voice to rural audiences by creating such classic TV series as The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. If you revisit any of them today, they remain far superior to most contemporary sitcoms. Henning not only created shows that have timeless appeal, but he also brainstormed the concept of interweaving characters and plot devices between the series- a stroke of genius that brought cross-promotion marketing to new levels. Henning also prided himself on making his country characters eccentric, but never idiotic. They were simple people living simple lives and if they seemed to exist in a time warp, they were all honest, admirable folks. It was always the sophisticated city slickers who would get their comeuppance at the hands of these “bumpkins”.

Andy Griffith once told me that it irked him when audiences would say that the actors were just “playing themselves”. He pointed out that, in most cases, these actors had long, distinguished careers prior to appearing in rural sitcoms. He wanted to stress that these were outstanding talents and should never have been pigeon-holed as actual country hicks. Paul Henning strictly oversaw quality control on his shows and demanded that every episode be family-friendly. Thus, I was in for quite a shock when I sat down to review MPI’s screener copy of the 1981 TV movie Return of the Beverly Hillbillies. I don’t recall this particular show, but from the get-go the title is deceiving. The only original Hillbillies are Buddy Ebsen’s Jed Clampett and Donna Douglas’s Elly May. Irene Ryan, who played Granny, had passed away years ago. Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro, had the good sense to stay away from the project. Nancy Kulp reprises her role as Jane Hathaway, but her on-screen boss, the inimitable Raymond Bailey had also died and, like Ryan, his presence is sorely missed. (Henning cast actor Ray Young as Jethro, and although he does his best, we are all too aware that he was not part of the original cast.)

Henning’s script is too over-the-top even for a Hillbillies plot device. In this case, President Reagan is desperate to solve the energy crisis. He dispatches Jane Hathaway (now a Washington bureaucrat) to track down the secret formula of Granny Clampett’s white lightning, which is considered to be so powerful it might be useful as a source of fuel. Jane arrives on horseback at Jed Clampett’s mountain cabin. In the aftermath of Granny’s death, Jethro went on to run his own movie studio and Elly May has opened a zoo. Rather than live alone in his Beverly Hills mansion, Jed has returned to his roots, his only concession to wealth being a bigger cabin that he has constructed. The feeble plot follows Jane and Jed’s search around the premises for any remaining jugs of Granny’s booze that can be brought to Washington to analyze. She is accompanied by C.D. Medford, a humorless member of the President’s team who will use any ruthless method to obtain the formula for the white lightning. (One of the lamest aspects of Henning’s script is a repetitive gag in which samples of the booze are repeatedly discovered only to be lost accidentally.) The role of Medford is played by the great Werner Klemperer, who is criminally abused here in a role that diminishes his talents and makes him a truly loathsome character. To compensate for Irene Ryan’s absence, Henning created the role of Granny’s mother! She is played by another TV legend, Imogene Coca but the character has to be one of the most grating and irritating in the history of the medium. She screeches like a banshee, runs about hitting people with a stick and otherwise making herself unwelcome.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the ill-fated venture is Henning’s decision to deliberately move away from family fare to smut. That’s right, this new, updated version of the series features such wholesome fare as strippers, Asian massage girls, scantily clad teenage “old maids” (young Heather Locklear among them!) and a very embarrassing striptease performed by Klemperer. Why Henning decided he had to degrade his characters in order to appear hip is not known, but he certainly should have known better. There are tasteless jokes about Jed Clampett’s sex life (or lack thereof) and one punch line about Auschwitz! I kid you not…I actually had to backtrack to make sure I heard it right. Can you imagine an episode of The Beverly Hillbillies where the “funny” payoff line refers to a Nazi death camp? The movie is peppered with some welcome character actors including perpetual grouch Charles Lane, Lloyd “Shad” Heller, Lurene Tuttle and Earl Scruggs, who perform a musical number.