The Dukes of Hazzard

The Duke family.

Today I decided to take a break from my never ending list of movies that I’d love to review but, it’s for quite a good reason  I’m talking about probably one of the greatest car chase TV shows ever made: The Dukes of Hazzard. A TV show that warmed up thousands of homes around the globe from 1979 to 1985 delivering adventures rated for all audiences. It’s no secret that the TV show producers may have spent some time watching films that had elements they thought were interesting enough to exploit on TV show. Movies like Smokey & the Bandit were a big success back in the day, and they were plenty more such as Eat my Dust, Grand Theft Auto, The Great Texas Dynamite Chase, Smokey Bites the Dust, Death Race 2000 just to name a few.

Probably the movie Eat my Dust was the most influential. Take the orange Camaro doing tricks, the hillbilly driver, the girl he’s with, who’s all in for action, the stupid cops and the countryside setting and voila! You got The Dukes of Hazzard.

The Duke Cousins.

The main character, a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T.

Catherine Bach AKA Daisy Duke, oh god!

Good ol' Uncle Jesse.

What can I tell you that hasn’t already being told about The Dukes of Hazzard? Well, it was a fantastic show which ran from 1979 to 1985. It was one of those great fantasy shows where the little guy always managed to outwit the big guy.

The bad guy, Boss Hogg.

Our good pal Cooter.

I bet you're looking at the car.

Oh my god!

The theme tune for the Dukes of Hazzard described the Dukes as two modern day Robin Hoods. They were indeed. Throughout the series Bo and Luke Duke (and their cousins Coy and Vance) outwitted Boss Hogg and usually the bumbling Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane. The show had comedy, action, plenty of car chases and of course beautiful ladies all over the place.

The corrupt Boss Hogg (more than a true villain he was a true mumbo jumbo) and his bumbling sheriff (Roscoe Coltrane for most of the series) always were cooking up some scheme which would help them either obtain money illegally or get the Duke boys banged up in jail. The Dukes would always find out their plan and race around in the General Lee (the name of their car) to outwit them. Bo and Luke always gave Boss Hogg and his sheriff plenty of sleepless nights. Hogg and his sheriff tried everything they could to put the Dukes away but nothing ever worked and they always ended up looking as silly as ever. Aiding the Dukes were their beautiful cousin Daisy, Uncle Jesse and Cooter Davenport.

Merchandising.

Holy!

Stunt Cars.

The great thing about the show was how it mixed comedy and action. Comical scenes included any scene between Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe (both were as stupid as can be)and also any scenes involving the Dukes and Uncle Jesse.

The really great thing about shows such as The Dukes of Hazzard was the way the good guys always outwitted the system. They could pretty much do whatever they wanted and we were rooting for them because they were doing it in the name of justice.

So, if you're all into classic MOPAR car chases, family oriented adventures, stupid cops being stupid and hillbillies saving the day with great country background music this is your show, certainly it is mine. The 5 seasons are all available on DVD.

Here the opening sequence:

Unfortunately the Warner Bros. bastards have released a couple of awful movies based on this great & untouchable TV show. Shame on you!