Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'Return of the Beverly Hillbillies'


Posted March 11, 2013 by Dennis King Comment on this article Leave a comment

This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is:

“Return of the Beverly Hillbillies”

Ten years after Jed Clampett divided up his oil fortune, sold off his gilded California mansion and moved back to the Ozark boondocks, “The Beverly Hillbillies” staged a partial reunion in 1981 in the made-for-TV movie “Return of the Beverly Hillbillies” (due out on DVD Tuesday).

During the show’s decade on network TV (1962-1971), the tale of struck-it-rich hillbilly Jed and his clan of country rustics transplanted to super-posh Beverly Hills morphed into a dependable, cornpone classic.

For the 1981 reunion show, Buddy Ebsen reprised his role as the sage old Jed and was joined by Donna Douglas as critter-lovin’ daughter Elly Mae and Nancy Kulp as prim, efficient bank assistant Mrs. Hathaway. Absent were the lovable, vinegary Irene Ryan as Granny and Raymond Bailey as the uptight banker Mr. Drysdale, who had both passed away, and Max Baer Jr., who declined to revisit the role of dim, clodhopper Clampett scion Jethro.

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MOVIE CRITIC
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King spent 31 years as an ink-stained wretch working for newspapers in Seminole, Ada, Oklahoma City and Tulsa. He holds a B.A. degree in English...

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