Where was The Beverly Hillbillies filmed?

The Clampett family goes from their humble home in Arkansas to a large, stately mansion in Beverly Hills. The home has an indoor pool, bowling alley, and all sorts of other amenities the family never would have experienced before. We first see the mansion through the family’s eyes. “Do you reckon we’re at the wrong spot, Uncle Jed?” Jethro asks as they drive up to the large, beautiful, pink mansion with a perfectly landscaped yard. “Could be, don’t know,” Jed replies. “It’s the right address, Pa,” Elly May says as she looks at a piece of paper. She’s sitting in the back of Jethro’s truck, with the dog on the seat between her and Granny. In the previous scene, Granny was knocked out of her rocking chair, tied on top of the truck, by a low-hanging branch, and has wisely chosen to move into the seat next to Elly May. They walk into the large foyer with the beautiful, bifurcated stairs and Jethro declares there’s a whole other house upstairs. He tells Elly May there are two sets of stairs because one is for going up and the other is for coming down. A fun fact is that this is the same mansion that was used in the 1992 film, The Bodyguard, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

Jane Hathaway, Drysdale’s secretary, is sent to welcome the Clampetts to their new home. However, when they arrive, she mistakes them for burglars and has them arrested. Mr. Drysdale is all apologetic and fires Ms. Hathaway. But Jed intervenes. He likes the efficiency that Jane Hathaway has and insists that Drysdale keep her employed. “I reckon you done what you done because you didn't know we was who we was. And if we hadn't been who we was, we'd have still been much obliged for you to have done what you done,” Jed says. In fact, he asks Ms. Hathaway to help him find a wife, and someone to help Elly May. Unfortunately, she may be a little too helpful with this mission, finding Laura Jackson for both “jobs” – and she almost ruins the family. You see, Laura, or Lauret as she introduces herself to the family, pretending to be French, is actually the girlfriend of Woodrow Tyler, a bank employee who wants to steal all Jed’s money. This Beverly Hillbillies film shoot was done on location at the Beverly Hills Civic Center and City Hall, a historic and landmark location in the city. It has Spanish Revival architecture, along with post-modern and art deco styles. It’s also iconic Beverly Hills and is one of the ways the film’s producers connected the film back to the location.

Morgan Drysdale, the son of the Clampett’s banker, is sent in his convertible to pick Elly May up and take her with him to Beverly Hills High School, where they are both enrolled. He arrives at the Clampett mansion in his convertible, as Jethro carries a motorcycle across the driveway, and Elly May sits on a bench outside petting her cats. Morgan strikes viewers as young, naïve, and trying desperately (and unsuccessfully) to be cool. Elly May stands up to greet him and he is rendered speechless – literally – making these odd coughing noises as he is flabbergasted by her good looks. She finally asks whether they’re going to school or not and the pair heads off and we next see them walking through the halls of the Beverly Hills High School. Elly May says hi to everyone she passes, as Morgan tells people that she’s with him. “I’m trying to be friendly, but these folks don’t seem to want to say hi back, they sure are shy,” Elly May says to Morgan. He replies that they are losers and none of them are worth over $300 million. We see an ATM machine and a roving cappuccino cart during the school scenes, but the school doesn’t really have these, they were added for the movie. The captain of the wrestling team stops them in the hall and demands Morgan’s lunch money. They show up at wrestling practice later because Elly May wants to wrestle Derek. The coach says she needs a signed permission slip, so she returns the next day, ready to wrestle. Morgan shows up with a bunch of his friends to support her and keep things fair. “Come on, baby, let’s wrestle,” Elly May says to Derek. The gym starts filling up, and it cuts to a scene of girls in the bathroom. A cell phone rings and the girl that answers says, “fight in the gym,” and they all run out. Elly May quickly starts using her Arkansas wrestling moves, including the “hickory nut crunch” on Derek, as he tells her none of them are legal but is obviously in pain. She ends up swinging him around and throwing him into his friends. The coach blows his whistle, walks up, and says, “young lady, I think we found a new team captain.”

Dolly Parton makes a guest appearance at Jed’s birthday party, one of the best scenes in The Beverly Hillbillies. She sings him a birthday song, complete with the line, “Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, dear Jed Clampett, they spent a fortune on me for you!” “All I want is for you to be happy,” Jed says to Elly May as they stand outside on the deck overlooking the city. She tells him that he just wants her to be happy too. They go inside and he blows out the candles on his birthday cake. That’s when Dolly comes out and starts singing, much to everyone’s surprise. Dolly invites Jed up to get a look at him and says they need a speech. That’s when he proposes to Laura (who is going by Lauret and still pretending to be French at this point). Tyler is celebrating in the background, while Mr. Drysdale, Ms. Hathaway, Jethro, and Granny all look stunned and confused. Dolly’s next song is all about love being the best gift, and just needing someone to love, and Laura keeps looking at Jed and batting her eyelashes. It drives us as the viewers nuts because we know what she’s really up to. Parton had starred in the movie 9 to 5 with Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman, so this was a fun reunion for the three of them.

Granny is famous for her Hillbilly medicine and has a large outdoor area at the mansion where she concocts her remedies. In this scene, we see her working on several remedies and testing them. Then, she overhears Tyler and Laura talking and discovers they are trying to steal Jed’s money, so she confronts them. They grab her, gag, her, and tie her up, Laura says, “Shut up, you old, hag.” After they kidnap Granny and put her in the car, Tyler and Laura are driving her through the streets of Beverly Hills. This is one of many scenes where the palm tree-lined streets of the city make an appearance. We also see Jethro driving a Rolls-Royce owned by Drysdale on Rodeo Drive. Tyler and Laura are taking Granny to the Los Viejos Retirement Home, where she is locked up.

After Granny is kidnapped and sent to Los Viejos Retirement Home (Los viejos means old people in Spanish), Ms. Hathaway sneaks in, dressed as a nurse, to break her out. These scenes were shot in a studio in Los Angeles. Granny drinks one of her elixirs and is revived – they sprint through the halls. Meanwhile, at the wedding, Tyler is set up in the back with his laptop. We see on the screen that everything is ready to transfer $1 billion from Jed’s account – all Tyler has to do is press enter. The reverend calls the wedding to order and starts reading the airplane safety instructions. Then, Ms. Hathaway and Granny head to the wedding, crashing into the scene in a Monster truck they drive over a line of parked cars, right before the reverend is about to pronounce them man and wife. Tyler and Laura run off together and are going to transfer the money anyway. Laura says, “If I can’t have their money, nobody should.” “I’m ruined,” Mr. Drysdale keeps repeating as he discovers what Tyler has done since he’s a bank employee. Then, Ms. Hathaway intervenes once again, taking a shotgun and shooting the laptop.