Day 5 of BoOctober and I am watching one of my top 3 favorite Halloween movies of my childhood: Earnest Scared Stupid. Although the movie came out in 1991, It is a staple of my years as a child and even as a young adult I look forward to watching it every year.
1.) The opening segment has clips from old black and white movies which is too funny because the audience for these movies, had no idea what they were from.
My fave actor as a child
2.) Earnest’s dog is named Rimshot which is that final sound the drum makes after a punchline, the “ba ba skisss.”
3.) There is no possible way Earnest’s spine could have survived the garbage truck compactor in the beginning of the movie.
4.) Old Lady Hackmore is the second best character in the film. She is one woman you do not want to cross, and she voices Esma from The Emperors New Groove.
You do not want to mess with Miss Hackmore
5.) For a child’s movie, the editing skills are clever and well above that of a child’s movie.
6.) As an adult, I now realize that Earnest has multiple personality disorder, he’s not just a creative extrovert.
An MP
7.) “This is a tree to die for” which i ironically becomes later.
8.) There is no possible way that tree house could be built in one day, even with Earnest’s multiple personalities helping.
9.) Earnest yells “Boy I shure hope you’re from Keebler!” to the troll, which is funny because those are actually elves.
10.) I also now realize Earnest is classified as the town nut.
11.) The Tulip Bros are conniving ass holes that rob the poor mentally disabled of all their hard earned money.
Pictured: Taking advantage of the less fortunate
12.) I always felt I could relate to Miss Hackmore because we’re both Geminis.
13.) I unfortunately understand the parent’s point of view and how they find it funny that the kids enjoy spending time with Earnest so much.
14.) Earnest’s unbreakable body makes him out to be a real life cartoon.
15.) When all of the town adults call Earnest a child and immature, it is a giant clue to Earnest being the hero with the “heart of a child.”
16.) Rimshot drives a car, and I still find this incredible impressive.
17.) When Earnest gets stuck in giant tin can, Miss Hackmore has to use a giant can opener to get him out, and I love that use of props.
18.) I still call milk because of the following line: ”AUTHENTIC HUNGARIAN MIAK!”
“Thought I wouldn’t find any this time of year, didn’t ya?!”
19.) To this day, I still apologize to my mom after a fight because of the scene Miss Hackmore witnesses with the mom and daughter fighting, and she realizes what unconditional love is.
20.) The trolls in this movie, are legitimately scary. Which means there were some great movie make-up happening behind he scenes.
“think of a number, 1-10. Was it 2?”
21.) The scene where the adults are being terrorized by the trolls while in Halloween costumes, is priceless.
22.) This movie is a constant reminder for me to treat people kindly, even when they are a complete troll. Which is probably the best scene in the movie, when Ernest dances around with the top dog.
Although this post may be small, I dedicate it to the great man that was Jim Varney and he made my childhood a bit brighter. One of the greatest child genre actors was taken from this world from lung cancer in February of 2000 at the age of 50.
