By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Everyone knew who Ernest Cone was back in the late 80s and into the 90s. Played by veteran actor Jim Varney, the dim-witted, accident-prone character played in local commercials along the Gulf Coast before becoming so popular, Disney executives decided to make him the focus of a feature film. Ernst goes to camp. launched one of the most profitable comedy franchises in history, resulting in 9 new films in 11 years, but today the film that started it all has faded from history. The reason it was locked in the Disney vault is because of Hollywood’s long history of casting Native American characters and how Walt Disney himself was fooled by a friend of his.
Standard 80s summer camp adventure
The long exile of Ernst goes to camp. No relation to Jim Varney, who died in 2000 and was by all accounts a decent human being. The film is a classic ’80s summer camp film, following a group of outcast kids called the Second Chancers as they attend Camp Kikaki, a struggling camp run by a Plains Indian chief, St. Cloud. There is a summer camp. It’s an out-of-the-ordinary vs. evil industrialist plot, as Sherman Kreider wants to shut down the camp and mine its resources, despite Verney’s portrayal of Ernst as the camp’s maintenance man. It is elevated.
If was the only mark against out-of-touch depictions of Native Americans. Ernst goes to camp.It will be streaming today; after all, Ernest goes to Africa.is on AppleTV. That’s not the problem. how Native Americans are depicted in the film. WHO That’s the problem Chief Saint Cloud is playing. Iron-eyed Cody, a veteran of Hollywood Westerns going back to the 1940s, plays Chief St. Cloud, the camp’s owner, and the controversy surrounding him has clouded the film.
The Iron Eyes Cody Scandal
Ernst goes to camp. Iron Eyes was far from the first film to cast Cody as a Native American, and you likely know him from the famous “Crying Indian” commercial about garbage. A close friend of Walt Disney, Iron Eyes Cody was Hollywood’s go-to for Native American characters, but in 1996, it was revealed that his real name was Espira Oscar de Coty, and that he was Italian. This is after he spent decades as a Native American, wearing “traditional” clothing in his daily life, and fooling everyone, including Disney. Espira denied the claim until his death in 1999, despite his family producing a baptismal certificate with his real name.
Although Jim Varney’s portrayal of Ernest has made fewer comebacks over the years, it’s unfortunate that his breakout film, one of the surprise hit comedies of the ’80s, has been locked away in the Disney vault. is given Song of the South through no fault of his own. Produced by Disney. Ernst goes to camp. Under the Touchstone label, and produced by then-CEO Michael Eisner and Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, Walt Disney’s close friendship with Iron Eyes Cody made the film a public relations nightmare. . For a brief moment, the film was available on DVD and Blu-Ray, but those print runs ended a decade ago, making it hard to find today.
The Importance of Being Earnest
Although Ernst goes to camp. Not streaming, despite a brief moment last year when it was on Hulu before a Disney executive realized what they’d done, other Jim Verney classics are available. In fact, fans of the character will argue that the first film is one of the worst because Ernest is more normal and not like the living cartoon Verney who would play him later, especially Ernst went to prison.which some consider the best of the series. Hollywood has given up on comedies, and we’ll never get another franchise like Ernest, even though Larry the Cable Guy tried, but that doesn’t mean it should bury the past, even if modern. No matter how much the audience sees it.
