Ernest Goes to Camp

Ernest Goes to Camp is a 1987 comedy film and the first film where Ernest P. Worrell is the primary character. In this film, Ernest P. Worrell is promoted from maintenance worker to camp counselor at Kamp Kikakee, which has been targeted for demolition by the head of a greedy mining corporation.



Plot
At the beginning of the film, a ceremonial pow wow involves a medicine man trying to throw a knife, a hatchet, and shoot an arrow at a tied up tribesman, but all three of these weapons miss him and because he was intact, he is declared faithful.

Ernest is put in charge of several boys and guide them through their camp activities in Kamp Kikakee, run by a Native American named Chief St. Cloud. However, these boys have served juvenile detention and are sadistic to Ernest, finding pleasure in his misfortune. The first time is one boy puts his hands over Ernest's eyes in a Guess Who? game while Ernest is driving the bus. Ernest almost crashes into another camp bus and he is blamed for bad driving. There is violence in the kitchen that Ernest tries to stop, resulting in Ernest getting his face completely smashed into a metal tray, then when it is hit off by a frying pan, he crashes into a vending machine which falls on him and he is injured.



The chefs Jake and Eddie, whose cooking is horrible, force feed Ernest their Eggs-a-ronious and he distracts them with, ''"Is that a rabbit over there?" ''and the cooks reveal how desperate they are to find edible ingredients when Jake declares he hopes the rabbit is fat, juicy, and has its' shots before Ernest goes outside to spit it out. Later on, one young camper begs for help when he can't swim, and Ernest rescues him but he was told he was not supposed to since this discourages campers in struggling to become fit.

Ernest and his scouts head to the mountains for their first camping experience to rough it. Meanwhile, Krader Industries, a mining corporation led by Sherman Krader, has found that Kamp Kikakee is extremely rich in the unobtainium mineral petrocite when their scientists branch have detected so and alert Mr. Blatz, which can make Krader Industries much wealthier than from all their past achievements combined. Sherman Krader is a Social Darwinist who argues that petrocite worth millions of dollars will benefit space programs and bring profit to Krader Industries, yet Mr. Blatz is unable to get contracts to lands. Mr. Blatz is against violence and forcing people out of territory for Krader Industries, yet Krader aggressively will stop at nothing to do so.





The boys trick Ernest into standing still while they wrap him in tight tape, which makes Ernest unable to breathe and he asks them to release him fast. They do so by attaching the tape to the bus and spinning around Ernest out of the tape. Mr. Blatz talks to Nurse St. Cloud and Chief St. Cloud about receiving royalty by selling the camp land, but Chief St. Cloud and Nurse refuse since they do not accept money as an excuse to send away the campers home.

The chefs Jake and Eddie meanwhile have conducted a machine that will grind objects together into a liquid-like phase combination. Jake makes lobster bisque using lobsters and pretends that they are talking and begging to live, then makes "chicken pot pie" using a rubber chicken, a pot and then a pie. He then makes Fettucini Alfredo, meaning unbaked fettucini noodles and a puppet guy named Fredo.

Ernest tries to fix a malfunctioned portable lamp using a match, but it goes off into the air like a rocket. Meanwhile, a family is kicked out of their house and land by Krader sending in Stinson despite Mr. Blatz's pleas to spare the family. Ernest then tries to cook meat on fire and thinking he does not have to be careful, uses a string attached to his shoe to heat the sausages and poultry breasts. He is dragged in and he is dragged into the fire, only managing to survive by jumping into the lake to extinguish the flames. Meanwhile on a picnic with Nurse and Chief St. Cloud where Ernest expresses his true feelings to nurse, he is attacked by fire ants and hospitalized. The boys give Ernest poison ivy lying to him that it was a "get well" present and Ernest needs more shots because of this.

Mr. Blatz informs Krader who was at the time practicing his shooting aim that Chief St. Cloud refuses to sell the camp away. At nighttime, Ernest, Nurse, Chief and the campers are in a campfire gathering where Nurse tells them about one of the Native Americans being chosen for the Faith Test where if someone throws a weapon at him, then the weapon will miss and he lives.

Sherman Krader the next day arrives with a deed of territory wanting the Chief to sign it and because Chief does not understand English, he tricks Ernest into believing that the deed he wants Chief to sign is for a petition to go against the mining industries to take over the camp. Ernest translates Krader's lies to Chief and so Chief signs the deed. Afterwards, Krader Industries' construction workers show up and Ernest tries to storm into their progress. However, Bronk Stinson, the same bullying worker who violently forced out the family from their house, beats up Ernest in mortal combat. Ernest tries to fight back but Stinson dodges all his attacks. Ernest's most faithful camper tries to bite Stinson's leg, but his teeth are not strong enough and he is bullied as well. Ernest's campers are distraught that Ernest loses and order him to stand up. He is sent back to Nurse for his injuries and mourns over the loss of the camp.

Ernest and his campers decide that they must fight back, and set up a vehicle out of wood with wheels and hide behind the construction crew.

In the first attack, Jake and Eddie use their machine to fling thick food mixtures at the crew while Chief St. Cloud uses a machine that flings extremely thick balls at the crew. Ernest and the campers' first attack is throwing boxes of smoke bombs that launches a small explosion. The campers then use snapping turtles attached to parachutes to drop onto the crew and bite the construction workers painfully. (The song Happy Together by The Turtles plays during this scene). Then they launch portable lamps that explode like rockets causing medium-sized explosions. Ernest then catapults a toilet full of dynamite that causes an extremely large explosion that has destroyed all equipment. One of the construction workers alert Krader from a walkie-talkie. Krader decides he will end this using his rifle to shoot Ernest and the campers.

Bronk goes on his bulldozer to destroy Jake and Eddie's machine and completely eradicate two log cabins. Ernest launches an uncontrolled golf vehicle full of explosives to ram into Bronk's bulldozer. With Bronk weakened, Ernest goes up and punches him as revenge for his bullying. However, Krader arrives and gets his rifle out. The campers flee while Krader fires at Ernest, but all his shots miss and Ernest finally snatches away Krader's rifle with his finger. Krader attempts to flee but the police arrive to arrest him and Nurse returns with a restraint order to secure the camp. The film ends happily as Ernest and everyone get to stay at Kamp Kikakee now that a new sense of kindness has changed everyone.

Ending Credits
Jake makes a completely inedible dish called Eggs-a-ronious and force feeds it to Eddie. Eddie then turns into a completely new man who can sing very well and Jake is impressed by this. Jake wants the same thing to happen to him, and eats his own dish, but it is not working.

Cast

 * Jim Varney as Ernest P. Worrell, the main character - a dim-witted yet good hearted maintenance worker who is promoted to camp counselor.


 * Victoria Racimo as Nurse St. Cloud, the nurse of the camp and the granddaughter of Chief St. Cloud


 * John Vernon as Sherman Krader, the main antagonist, the greedy head of a mining corporation


 * Iron Eyes Cody as Chief St. Cloud, a Native American who runs the camp


 * Lyle Alzado as Bronk Stinson, the secondary antagonist, a sadistic bulldozer driver who bullies Ernest


 * Gailard Sartain as Jake, the head cook of the camp who has horrible cooking skills


 * Daniel Butler as Eddie, Jake's cooking assistant
 * Buck Ford as Attorney Blitz, Krader's attorney who refuses to unfairly gain settled territory

Reception
The film received slightly positive reviews and is the best-reviewed Ernest P. Worrell film. It records a 62% at Rotten Tomatoes, higher than all other Ernest films.

Ernest Goes to Camp was also the most successful film at the box office, earning $23.5 million against a budget of $3 million and very good profit.