Earl Bassett
Background
Earl Bassett is the co-owner, along with Valentine McKee, of V+E Odd Jobs in Perfection, Nevada. He later owns Earl's Ranch and breeds ostriches.
During the events of Tremors (1990) played by Fred Ward
Valentine plays a prank on Earl, who is sleeping in the bed of their truck, by yelling stampede and shaking the truck. They trade each other a cigarette for a lighter and then play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to make breakfast. As they are nailing barbed wire to a fence, Earl talks about quitting their lives as handymen and finding other work. As they are driving towards town Valentine sees the new seismology graduate student's truck and veers off the road to meet her. He stops and Rhonda LeBeck greets them and asks them if they know if anyone has been drilling or blasting in the area and they tell her no. She tells them her seismographs have been picking up weird readings and they tell her they will ask around when they get into town. Earl tells Valentine, maybe they should check on the seismographs for Rhonda and then chastises Valentine for not approaching women that don't match exactly what he is looking for. They drive into Perfection and stop at Walter Chang's Market. Earl warns Melvin Plug not to mess with their truck as he and Valentine walk into Walter's Market. Inside, Burt Gummer is arguing with Walter about the ammo he special ordered for him and Heather Gummer. Earl and Valentine grab a beer and tell Walter, Burt and Heather about the seismographs and Burt warns if Rhonda finds something then the Federal Government will come in and take over their land. Valentine and Earl drop off Nestor's trash to the dump and Valentine tells Earl they need to set their sights higher. While they are pumping Melvin's septic system, raw sewage starts shooting out all over them from a loose hose. They go back to their trailer and shower and pack up their belongings in their truck and drive away. Nancy flags them down and Earl asks Mindy how many hops she has continuously hopped on her pogo stick. Nancy offers to give them a months work in order to build her a kiln, but they continue on their way to Bixby. They see Edgar high up on a transmission tower. They stop and Valentine climbs up the tower to get Edgar down. He finds Edgar dead and Valentine and Earl put Edgar's body in their truck and bring it to Jim - The Doctor who tells them Edgar died of dehydration.
Valentine and Earl speed past Howard - Roadworker and Carmine - Roadworker, but stop when they see Old Fred's sheep torn to bits. As they are looking for Old Fred, they find his head buried in the dirt. They drive back the way they came and tell Howard and Carmine there is a killer on the loose. Valentine and Earl walk into Walter's store while telling Melvin and Nestor about Edgar and Old Fred. Valentine tries to use Walter's phone, but the line is dead. Nestor tells Valentine that they have to go to Bixby to bring the police. Valentine and Earl drive back the way they came, but are forced to stop due to the rock slide. They get out of their truck and find a hard hat with brain matter inside. As they are trying to drive away, the truck gets stuck on something. Mindy sees Valentine and Earl drive back into town and they park their truck in front of Walter's store. Mindy sees something latched onto Valentine and Earl's truck, and Burt uses a shovel to detach it and Walter haggles with Valentine and Earl for it. Burt tells the others he thinks there must be more somewhere. The residents of Perfection have a meeting and Burt suggests they arm themselves and Miguel comes up with the idea for two people to take Walter's horses and ride to Bixby. Earl and Valentine are picked to go and as they are riding towards Bixby they stop by Jim and Megan - The Doctor's Wife's property and find the car buried in the ground. They ride away and the horses start to get spooked and buck them off. A Graboid pops out of the ground and starts to chase Earl and Valentine. They jump across a cement canal and the Graboid kills itself by ramming into the concrete. Rhonda walks up to them and asks them if they noticed anything weird a moment ago and sees the dead Graboid. They pry the Graboid into the canal and Rhonda has a theory on how it moves and tells them there are probably three more Graboids. As they are walking towards Rhonda's truck, they are chased by another Graboid and climb onto a large boulder. They try and wait out the Graboid, but it is waiting for them when they check to see if it is still there. Rhonda realizes the Graboids can sense seismic vibrations and they end up sleeping on the boulder overnight. Rhonda comes up with the idea to use a long stick to pole vault to her truck after they find the Graboid still waiting for them. They get into Rhonda's truck and drive back into town and tell the others about the Graboids.
Valentine thinks they should leave, but most of the others think someone will come when they discover the phone lines are down. Valentine pulls off a map of Perfection Valley from the wall and points out that the Graboids are heading in the direction of the town. As they are talking, Walter comes up with the name Graboids. After playing a prank on Earl, Melvin screams and they find him up a light pole. A Graboid emerges from the ground and everyone runs into Walter's store except Nestor and Melvin. They hear Mindy jumping on her pogo stick and Valentine grabs her shortly before Nancy runs to her. A Graboid grabs the pogo stick and Nancy and Mindy runs into their house while Valentine jumps onto a truck. Another Graboid comes and Rhonda gets stuck in barbed wire while she is trying to run away. The Graboid starts to pull Rhonda towards it and Valentine helps her. They run back to the store and the drink refrigerator turns on and starts to make a loud noise. A Graboid bursts into the store and drags Walter underground. The other Graboid breaks into the store and Earl, Valentine and Miguel climb to the roof while Rhonda climbs up a water tower. Valentine tells everyone to get onto their roofs. Burt calls Walter on the CB and Valentine tells him the Graboids are heading in his direction and to get on their roof. Heather and Burt manage to kill Graboid with an elephant rifle and tell the others they killed it, and Valentine tells them there are still two more. The Graboid that originally attacked Valentine and Earl's truck starts to attack different buildings to test their structural integrity. It pushes over Nestor's trailer and pulls him underground. Valentine calls Heather on the radio and tells her they have to leave together and before she and Burt can drive their truck to pick up the rest, a Graboid grabs it and destroys it. Earl has the idea to use the bulldozer to pull a trailer to carry everyone to safety. Miguel has the idea to use Walter's riding lawn mower to distract the Graboids while Valentine runs to the bulldozer. The lawn mower hits a berm and turns over and the Graboids race towards Valentine. Rhonda yells to Valentine to stop and breaks a pipe leading to the water tower, which attracts the Graboids. Valentine runs to the bulldozer and attaches the trailer to it and picks up the others.
Burt and Heather make pipe bombs and get into the trailer with the others. They drive towards the mountains, but before they can reach them, the Graboids set a trap and dig a pit in the direction the bulldozer is heading, causing it to crash. Burt uses a pipe bomb to make the Graboids run away, but they come back again. They use another one to make them run away while they run towards a set of boulders. Burt tells Heather that if it comes to dying by the Graboids or starvation, he plans on letting them take him while he is holding a lit pipe bomb. Earl has the idea of attracting the Graboids and then feeding them a pipe bomb. They manage to kill one, but as they try it against the last one, it spits the pipe bomb back at them. Valentine, Earl and Rhonda are forced to run off the boulder and as they try to run back, the Graboid emerges in front of them. Valentine has the idea to use himself as bait and runs towards the edge of a mesa. Earl runs after him followed by Rhonda who hands Valentine a lighter to light the fuse on the last bomb. Valentine uses the bomb to make the Graboid run towards the edge of the mesa and it falls to its death. Back in town, Rhonda takes a photo of Valentine and Earl and then comes and talks to Valentine. She says bye to him and Earl and Earl nudges Valentine to ask her out.
During the events of Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) played by Fred Ward
In Perfection Valley, Nevada, Earl struggles with Wildfire who he is trying to mate with Susie. He lassos Wildfire who drags him through the dirt and Earl threatens to barbecue him and Susie if they don't start making babies. A taxi pulls up and Grady Hoover and Senor Ortega get out and approach Earl. Senor Ortega pulls out a newspaper article with a photo of Earl Bassett and Valentine. He then tells Earl that an oilfield in Mexico had to be shutdown due to workers being killed by Graboids and offers to hire Earl to hunt Graboids. Earl starts to walk away and Senor Ortega mentions they already tried to hire Valentine. Earl goes into his trailer and Grady follows him inside and tells him Senor Ortega is willing to pay 50,000 dollars per dead Graboid, but Earl tells him no. Grady then starts to look at all of Earl's memorabilia and Earl admits he didn't get any money from merchandising. Earl motions to a Playboy centerfold and tells Grady it is there to remind him not to chase after things he will never get. Earl finally agrees to do it when Grady tells him it might be his second chance and Grady tells Senor Ortega, he is going with Earl.
Earl and Grady take Earl's truck into Mexico and park at the Petromaya Field Office. They are greeted by Pedro and meet up with Senor Ortega. Senor Ortega walks them to their equipment and offers to pay 100,000 dollars if they can capture a Graboid alive. Kate White walks up and is introduced to Earl and Grady by Senor Ortega who then leaves. Julio drives up and Kate introduces him to Earl and Grady and Julio comments that Earl must have made a lot of money on royalties. Later, Kate tells Earl that six people were killed and she shows him some maps with the locations of where the workers were killed. Pedro helps load the truck while Julio shows Grady the monitor to see seismic activity. The next day, Earl and Grady drive Earl's truck towards the location of the Graboid attacks and Earl tells Grady he is going to invest his money this time and Grady notices Earl shaved for Kate. A Graboid starts to follow them and they use a remote controlled truck to bait the Graboid into swallowing the toy and a bundle of dynamite. Earl then blows up the Graboid. They then continue to blow up Graboids one after another. While eating lunch on a large rock, a Graboid takes their radio which Grady had left on the ground. During the night a coyote howls until it is eaten by a Graboid. The next day, Grady tells Earl he plans on using his reward money to open a theme park, Grady Hoover's World of Natural Wonders. Grady's umbrella flies away and as he goes to retrieve it, he and Earl hear music coming from the ground. The Graboid grabs the chains they were using to attract the Graboids and starts pulling the truck until it crashes it into a rock, ripping the chain off the truck. They look at the monitor and see a large amount of Graboids heading in their direction and hurriedly drive away.
Earl calls Burt and Burt tells him Heather is visiting her sister. Earl tells Burt about the Graboids in Mexico and asks for his help. While looking at a fossil, Kate realizes it is a fossilized Graboid spike. By aging the rock, she comes up with the idea that the Graboids existed from before the Cambrian Era. Pedro calls everyone over to look at the monitor and Julio points out a large object coming their way. Burt drives up in a Deuce and a Half and Earl introduces him to everyone. Burt shows them the equipment he got from the Mexican government and gives them elephant guns. Burt admits to Earl that Heather isn't coming back and then shows off the .50 caliber rifle he got. Earl and Grady and Burt then go their separate ways to hunt Graboids after Burt gives Earl and Grady some of his MRE's. Grady notices a Graboid is heading away from their direction and he and Earl follow it. They are ambushed by the Graboid and Earl reverses his truck down a slope. They walk over towards the Graboid who appears to be distressed. Grady gets the idea to try and capture it and Earl calls Kate and asks her to send Pedro to come and pick them up. During the night, the Graboid shrieks in pain and when Earl and Grady check on it, they find it ripped apart from the inside. Earl tries to contact Kate, but the radio goes out. They hear another Graboid shriek in pain and see Pedro driving towards them in his truck. The truck suddenly stops and Earl and Grady pack up their gear and head towards Pedro's truck. They get to the truck and find it destroyed and find the only thing left of Pedro's body are his arms.
Earl and Grady get to a radio tower and find it destroyed, but find an abandoned car. They hear a noise and see a new form of Graboid walk outside of a building. The Shrieker opens the top of its skull and then shrieks and charges at Earl and Grady, who shoot and kill it. They hear more coming and drive away. In the morning, Earl and Grady arrive and help Kate fight off a Shrieker and tell her the Graboids have changed and Pedro is dead. As they are trying to leave, their car is destroyed by a Shrieker. Burt drives up in his truck and angrily tells Earl he was denied critical information. He then shows him the captive Shrieker he brought back and they put it in a cage. They test the ability of the Shrieker to detect them and realize it senses with thermal vision. Kate then figures out they communicate by emitting heat. Grady feeds it part of an MRE and after it eats it, it vomits up another Shrieker. A Shrieker breaks into the office and Earl looks into the warehouse and sees a large group of Shriekers eating Burt's MRE's. Earl, Burt, Kate and Grady run towards a building, but it turns out to be only partially completed. They use doors to hide themselves while they walk towards Julio's car. A lone Shrieker is standing between them and Julio's car and Burt uses his .50 cal rifle to kill it. When they get to the car, they find out Burt's fired round penetrated the engine block.
As they are running towards the cantina, a Shrieker senses them and shrieks. Earl and Kate make it into the cantina while Grady is forced to climb up an oil tower and Burt has to jump into the bucket of a front loader. Earl uses a heated up jumpsuit tied to a clothesline to distract the Shriekers while he and Kate climb up the oil tower Grady is on. While they are waiting to be rescued, Kate tells Earl what brought her to Mexico and Earl asks her out on a date. Kate tells Earl about how she used to model while going to college and Earl recognizes her as the model from the centerfold he had hanging in his trailer. Grady calls Earl and Kate over and they watch as the Shriekers start to form a pyramid to get to where they are at. Burt gets out of the bucket and runs towards another warehouse. The Shriekers all follow him and he runs out the backdoor and locks them inside. The Shriekers start to shriek and Earl, Kate, Grady and Burt realize the warehouse stores sweet snacks. Earl has an idea to spray himself with a fire extinguisher to block his heat signature while he goes into the warehouse and gets some of Burt's bombs which are inside. The foam from the fire extinguisher starts to wear off and Earl manages to set the timer on a bomb and climb out of the building using a fire hose. Earl tells everyone to run and Burt tells everyone to keep on running when he finds out Earl put the bomb in Burt's truck. The bomb explodes causing a giant depression in the ground and killing all of the Shriekers. Earl asks out Kate again and she accepts. Grady calculates how many Graboids they will get paid for and suggests to Earl that they open Grady and Earl's Monster World theme park.
