Cynical Cinema

Paramount Home Entertainment has come out with another classic television series. The Beverly Hillbillies, Volume Two comes out on DVD Tuesday, October 7th. This is a show I just saw for the first time, and although it’s cheesy and silly and relies far too much on that sitcom-style of misunderstanding, it’s still quite funny. My nine-year-old stepson came in the room as I was starting the first episode. And although I became rather tired of Granny and Elly May et al after about three episodes, I was not allowed to turn off the DVD until we had run through all seven episodes on Disc One. We saw Jethro become romantically entangled with an exotic dancer. Which surprised me - not because Jethro wouldn’t want to sleep with a stripper - after all, he’s a man. But it surprised me that there were strippers who would come to your house and perform in 1963. I learned something, from the Beverly Hillbillies.

Actually, there are a lot of things we can learn from the Beverly Hillbillies. Granny gets a mule to plow her front yard, so she can grow her own turnips and parsnips and such-like. Which is a great idea - shouldn’t everyone in opulent Beverly Hills be growing their own food on their massive acreage? You know, eating local foods and all that? Saving the world? We could all learn something from Jed and Granny Clampett. Who would have thought that the hidden messages in The Beverly Hillbillies would remain so relevant today? The show is pretty dated, relying so heavily on coincidence and misunderstandings. I mean, how could a stripper, even a complete moron stripper, really believe that a family of four with an ancient Granny and two young kids, would hire her to do a show in their house? And where do the Clampetts keep finding all those possums?