The Dukes of Hazzard (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Daisy Dukes: The Short Short Shorts Featurette-The General Lee Featurette-How To Launch A Muscle Car 175 Feet In 4 Seconds Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The Hazards Of Dukes Music Video-'These Boots Are Made For Walkin' By Jessica Simpson Additional Footage Outtakes Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	99:42 (Case: 104)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:26)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jay Chandrasekhar
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Johnny Knoxville Seann William Scott Alice Greczyn Steve Lemme Michael Weston Mitch Braswell Michael Roof Jessica Simpson Rusty Tennant Dolan Wilson James Roday Heather Hemmens David Leitch
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$39.95	Music	Nathan Barr

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, movie bloopers

    Running for six seasons, The Dukes of Hazzard was one of the most popular television shows of its day. It was loosely based on Gy Waldron's 1975 film, Moonrunners. This movie featured a story about two good ole' boys, Grady and Bobby Lee Hagg, who were running moonshine for their Uncle Jesse. Uncle Jesse was a kind-hearted moonshiner. He was also a little old-fashioned, and held out against the "big business moonshine tactics" of Boss Jake, who was assisted by the crooked Sheriff Cole.

    Gy Waldron, who wrote and directed Moonrunners, pitched the idea of turning the film into a weekly television series to Warner Bros. Television. Fortunately, the CBS network were looking for some light-hearted, family-oriented fun to sandwich between the family friendly The Incredible Hulk and the more adult Dallas on Friday nights. Warner Bros. gave the green light to commence production, but insisted that Moonrunners be "cleaned up", and thus a number of significant changes were made, such as Uncle Jesse retiring from moonshining.

    From 1979 through to 1985, millions of viewers world-wide were transported weekly to the fictitious Hazzard County in Georgia in the USA's deep south to enjoy some real Southern hospitality, and some good ole' boy hijinks. The Dukes of Hazzard featured plenty of slapstick comedy with comic stereotypes, exaggerated Southern drawls, larger-than-life characters and over-the-top (literally) car chases and stunts.

    Put simply, the The Dukes of Hazzard was corny, but completely charming. It had simple and often silly plots, wholesome values, and a grossly exaggerated sense of good and evil. No, there certainly wasn't much in the way of subtlety in the uncomplicated, straw-chewing Hazzard County.

    The Dukes of Hazzard followed the misadventures of the Duke boys, who were two young men out on probation for running moonshine. But as the title song informed us, the Duke boys were:

    "just some good ol' boys, never meanin' no harm"

    The good guys, and the stars of the show, were three 20-something adult cousins, Luke Duke (Tom Wopat), Bo Duke (John Schneider), and the gorgeous Daisy Duke (Catherine Bach). The cousins lived on their dilapidated Duke farm with their crusty old uncle with a heart of gold, Uncle Jesse (Denver Pyle).

    The bad guys were Hazzard County's corrupt mayor and businessman, the lovable rogue Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke), and his team of inept Keystone Cops, including his bumbling lackey Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (James Best) and the simple but sweet Deputy Enos (Sonny Shroyer).

    Boss Hogg was usually involved in a malevolent scheme to swindle a resident or visitor to Hazzard County, and it seems that in every episode the Dukes found themselves innocently caught up in a light-hearted battle with the forces of evil. The Duke boys, with the help of Daisy and the local county mechanic Cooter (Ben Jones), would be forced to investigate, uncover the various evil schemes, and foil Boss Hogg's greedy plans.

    Fortunately, the boys were also assisted by the General Lee, a bright orange 1969 NASCAR-looking Dodge Charger muscle-car with a Confederate flag proudly painted on its roof. The boys drove the car around Hazzard County with reckless abandon, hootin' and hollarin', and letting out the odd rebel yell. Every week we were treated to controlled drifts, slides and spins, and tooth rattling jumps. The General often saved the boys from being caught by the crooked cops, and proudly tooted the first 12 notes of Dixie while doing so. Interestingly, Warner Bros. Television later admitted that over 80% of the program's merchandising revenue was related to the General alone.

    When a pay dispute caused the two stars, Wopat and Schneider, to depart for the 1982-83 seasons (replaced by two other cousins, now referred to by fans as the "faux-Dukes"), ratings dived. Sadly, even when Wopat and Schneider returned the following season, the magic was lost and 1985 saw the end of the Duke boys' adventures.

    The Dukes have popped up a couple of times elsewhere. Apart from the one-season spin-off show Enos in 1980, since 1985 there has been a scattering of video games, and CBS did produce two Dukes of Hazzard reunion films, The Dukes of Hazzard: Reunion! in 1997, and The Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood in 2000.

    With the current stampede to bring past syndicated television programs to movie theatres, it was only a matter of time before the General Lee was tearing its way across the big screen. But with a plot skimpier than Jessica Simpson's Daisy Duke costumes, The Dukes of Hazzard movie seems to have completely missed the point, and the charm, of the original series.

    Indeed, Ben Jones, who played Cooter in the original series and who operates the Dukes of Hazzard museums in Nashville and Tennesse described the film as a "sleazy insult". Jones believes the film denigrates the memory of the Dukes of Hazzard and he has urged all fans to boycott it.

    In a letter to fans posted on his Web site, the former Georgia congressman Jones condemned the movie due to its "profanity-laced script with blatant sexual situations that mocks the good clean family values of our series". For more information about the boycott, you can click here.

    While the The Dukes of Hazzard film looks like it was a lot of fun to make, sadly it's not much fun to watch. Although it has moments when it slips into being a high spirited, high energy romp, overall I was never convinced. The film is far too self-aware and modern. For example, in the original series the Confederate flag is naively, but proudly, emblazoned across the roof of the General Lee. In the film, however, the flag is painted across the General's roof without the Duke boys' knowledge, and they seem slightly ashamed and even embarrassed of the flag, and what it represents. With this sense of modernity and political correctness, I certainly never found myself back in Hazzard County. The barroom brawls and crazy car chases desperately try to be reckless fun, but it all seems far too contrived and unnatural.

    Director Jay Chandrasekhar and writer John O'Brien (who was also responsible for the awful and insulting adaptation of Starsky & Hutch), both seem to have viewed the original series as being ridiculous, and their attempt to bring the Dukes into the 21st century doesn't pan out. Indeed, the adaptation comes off as being merely cheap multiplex mediocrity.

   As for the story, in the movie Bo Duke (Seann William Scott) and his cousin Luke Duke (Johnny Knoxville) are likeable, young, reckless, irreverent hell-raisers, who enjoy their fast car and all the pretty farm girls in Hazzard County. Unlike the television series, the Dukes are back in the moonshine business, and the Duke boys deliver the jars of 'shine for their loving Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson).

    All seems to be going well until the evil Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds) seizes the Dukes' farm, along with those of their neighbours.

    With the help of their gorgeous cousin, Daisy (Jessica Simpson), Bo and Luke escape capture by the corrupt local police, and set out to investigate Boss Hogg's evil intentions for Hazzard County.

Video

    The quality of the transfer is excellent.

    The transfer is presented in the widescreen aspect ratio of 2.40:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    The sharpness is excellent, as can be seen in the detail in the university laboratory at 50:43, or the cityscape of Atlanta at 58:47. The black level and shadow detail are also excellent. For example, consider the interior shot of the car at night at 27:15, or the detailed exterior night shot of the junkyard at 37:06.

    Colour is used extensively in the storytelling, and there are a number of bright primary colours which suit the film. The palette is well saturated, and the skin tones are accurate.

    There are no problems with MPEG artefacts or Film-To-Video Artefacts. This is a very recent and pristine print, with only a few film artefacts, such as tiny black or white marks scattered infrequently throughout.

    While at times I did notice some very slight edge enhancement, it was never distracting.

    Only English and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are provided, and they are accurate.

    This is a dual layer disc, with the layer change occurring during Chapter 16 at 53:26. The feature is divided into 29 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film has a wonderful sound design, and is a home theatre treat.

    Originally released theatrically with SDDS, dts, and Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, this DVD only offers English Dolby Digital 5.1, unfortunately encoded at the inferior rate of 384Kb/s.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync are excellent, although there is obviously a lot of looped dialogue, layered over the sound of roaring engines and screeching tyres.

    The film's orchestral musical score is credited to Nathan Barr, but what one remembers is the collection of banjo twangin' and toe-tappin' country, hillbilly and bluegrass music. Also, Willie Nelson covers Waylon Jennings' original and very memorable theme song, Good Ol' Boys, and for marketing purposes Jessica Simpson also kicks in with her cover of These Boots are Made for Walking.

    The surround presence and activity is excellent and very immersive. The rear speakers are used effectively to help carry the score, such as during the car chase at 61:20, and provide surround effects, such as during yet another car chase at 80:21. There are a number of rear directional effects, such as the panning between speakers during the bar room brawl at 14:58.

    The subwoofer is also utilised when required, for example during the explosion at 35:30.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The extras are short but genuine. They have been made with a consistent tongue-in-cheek light-hearted style which suits the film. Unless stated otherwise, all extras are presented in an aspect ration of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

Menu

    With audio and animation.

Forced Trailer

    A commercial for Warner Bros. Movie World automatically plays when the disc is loaded.

Featurette-Daisy Dukes: The Short Short Shorts (4:42)

    Featuring Jessica Simpson and some of the costume designers from the film, this is a short look at the short shorts in the movie. For those interested, there is also a step-by-step guide on how to make a pair of Daisy Dukes.

Featurette-The General Lee Lives (5:14)

    Featuring the Director and many of the film's talented stunt drivers, this Featurette looks at the classic '69 Chevy Charger, and includes some behind the scenes footage of some of the car stunts and techniques adopted in filming them.

Featurette-How To Launch A Muscle Car 175 Feet In 4 Seconds (4:50)

    The title of this featurette pretty much explains the contents - a look at how the SFX team achieved some of those outlandish car jumps. Fortunately the filmmakers opted for real cars and real jumps, and there is little, if any, use of CGI in the film.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The Hazards Of Dukes (14:49)

    Featuring the film's producers, director, cast and crew (including the stunt drivers), this Featurette takes a behind the scenes look at the production of the film. The cast also discuss their characters.

Music Video-'These Boots Are Made For Walkin' By Jessica Simpson (4:18)

    A music video which features Jessica Simpson in a bikini giving the General Lee a wet, soapy sponge bath.

Additional Footage (25:31)

    A number of extra scenes, including a similar, but alternate ending.

Outtakes (5:05)

    A collection of bloopers.

Theatrical Trailer (1:45)

    The film's fun theatrical trailer.

    Dukes of Hazzard has been released on DVD in Region 1 in two versions. One version is described as being the "Unrated Widescreen Edition" According to one of our readers, Beau Kennett, who owns a copy, Katie is topless in the dorm scene in the Unrated version, (she's wearing clothes in ours). The Unrated version also has more extras, with a few extra additional scenes and a few extra outtakes. Thus, I would favour this R1 Unrated Edition.

    Bawdy and brainless, loud and lewd, the The Dukes of Hazzard is a fun but disappointing film that lacks the goofy, slapstick and innocent charm of the original series.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is also excellent and very immersive.

    The extras are relatively short but fun.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall