Movie Review – Ernest Rides Again

Ernest Rides Again (1993)
Written by John Cherry and William M. Akers
Directed by John Cherry

This was the end of an era. The Ernest films lost their Touchstone financing post-Scared Stupid. It was the largest budget with the second-highest box office returns, which wasn’t too bad. Ernest Rides Again would be the last nationally theatrically released entry in the series, and the decline in budget is evident on screen. The previous film had been given a $9.6 million budget, while Rides Again clocked in at $3 million. As a result, this movie resembles John Cherry’s first theatrical venture, Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam. What we get is a movie that is trying to be something of theatrical quality but ends up being the first of many slogs we have to get through.

Ernest (Jim Varney) is a custodian who works at a local college. He discovers an antique metal plate at a nearby construction site and shows it to his friend, Dr. Abner Mellon. Mellon believes this is a fragment of a rumored giant Revolutionary War-era cannon called “Goliath.” The good doctor has been ridiculed by his peers for his belief in this unfounded British weapon. Additionally, it’s thought that the real crown jewels of England were hidden inside the cannon…for some reason. 

Ernest and Abner eventually find the cannon hidden in an abandoned mine, but rival professor Dr. Radnor Glencliff wants to steal the artifact and present it as his own finding. There’s also Abner’s wife, Nan (Linda Kash), who wants her husband not to rock the boat and lose his cushy job at the university. She gets involved in the chase by forcing two door-to-door salesmen, Frank and Joe, to help her.

Most Ernest films have titles that immediately tell you something about the movie. Goes to Camp and Goes to Jail inform the audience of the setting. Saves Christmas lets us know it’s a holiday movie. Scared Stupid might be slightly more ambiguous, but we know it will be a scary movie. Rides Again is such a vague title, and while it is connected to a set piece in the film, it doesn’t tell the audience much. You can also see more of Cherry’s sense of humor coming out, unphased by Disney executives. We get a movie that presents Ernest as even more of a Looney Tunes-type character than ever before. Something Ernest openly acknowledges in the first act of the picture.

This was the moment when I became confused about who the intended audience of these films was. Before, each movie felt like a kids’ movie, both in tone and plot. Rides Again deals with obscure Revolutionary War history, academia, and a troubled marriage. Cherry says he wanted to put Ernest in an Indiana Jones story, and I can kind of see that. Ernest eventually rides on the cannon as it rolls out of control through the countryside, but most of the movie is about evading Dr. Glencliff and his thugs. The opening credits also homage to James Bond, which further muddies the water. Again, I see the messy comedy of Dr. Otto returning, unfocused, and just pinballing ideas around. 

This film moved production from the American South to British Columbia, likely due to tax credits. It is evident from Abner’s very thick Canadian accent. Because of the Revolutionary War plot points, I assume we’re meant to believe this is the United States, and if it weren’t for those accents, they might have convinced us. 

The subsequent two films in the series would also be shot here. Cherry wanted to save money, so he started shooting Ernest Goes to School one week after wrapping on Rides Again. That kind of production schedule, plus the lower budget, makes these feel like television. In fact, I think pivoting to a syndicated or basic cable Ernest series might have been the better move at this point. The Looney Tunes style is far more suited to short form than feature length.

Speaking of length, Rides Again was packaged with a Mr. Bill short film, Mr. Bill Goes to Washington. For those unfamiliar, Mr. Bill is a claymation character parodying children’s television. His shorts were featured in some episodes of Saturday Night Live starting in 1976. Apparently, the people on the show liked these things because Mr. Bill’s creator, Walter Williams, was hired as a full-time staff writer in 1978 and produced 20 more of them. I guess Cherry and Wiliams became acquainted through filmmaking, which is why this short story is here. It has no thematic connection to Rides Again, and I have never found Mr. Bill funny.

There is undoubtedly ambition in some of the set pieces here, so I give Cherry credit for that. The other elements of Ernest’s movies feel lacking here, with key supporting characters and recurring story aspects absent. I don’t remember Ernest doing any other characters. He may have, but that’s how unmemorable the moments in Rides Again are. You watch the film, and it’s like cotton candy, dissolving with no trace. The problem is that so many other elements in the movie don’t get developed and feel pointlessly tossed in, hence my description of this as messy. 

The franchise would pivot in the next movie, a picture I enjoyed far more than expected. In the next review, I’ll talk about the first of three straight-to-video features, Ernest Goes to School.