The Dukes of Hazzard (film)
| The Dukes of Hazzard | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for The Dukes of Hazzard | |
| Directed by | Jay Chandrasekhar |
| Written by | John O'Brien Jonathan L. Davis |
| Produced by | Bill Gerber |
| Starring | Johnny Knoxville Seann William Scott Jessica Simpson Burt Reynolds Willie Nelson David Koechner M.C. Gainey Michael Weston Lynda Carter Henry Jaderlund Kevin Heffernan |
| Cinematography | Lawrence Sher |
| Edited by | Lee Haxall Myron I. Kerstein |
| Music by | Nathan Barr |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates | August 5, 2005 |
Running time | 106 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | Approximately $53 million (with a further $17.5 million to settle lawsuits) |
The Dukes of Hazzard is a film based on the American television series, The Dukes of Hazzard. Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and released to movie theatres in the USA on August 5 2005, The Dukes of Hazzard depicts the adventures of cousins Bo, Luke, Daisy and their Uncle Jesse as they outfox crooked Hazzard County commissioner Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane. It was followed by the direct-to-video prequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning in March 2007.
Taglines
Cousins. Outlaws. Thrillbillies.
Meet the Dukes. One family having so much fun there oughta be a law.
All Speed, No Limit (UK only)
Plot
In Hazzard County, Georgia, the Duke cousins, Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) are a pair of ‘good old boys’ who get by delivering their Uncle Jesse’s moonshine in their bright orange 1969 Dodge Charger (nicknamed the ‘General Lee’).
At the start of the movie, Bo and Luke are making a delivery of moonshine to a client. Luke heads upstairs with the man's daughter to fool around, but the client comes home early and a chase ensues. Bo and Luke then crash thier car between two bulldozers at a farm. Unable to move the car, they race each other five miles to the Boar's Nest. Bo and Luke both get involved in a fistfight at the Boar’s Nest bar, after attempting to protect their cousin Daisy’s (Jessica Simpson) honor when a racing car mechanic (who is in town to take part in a big upcoming car race) makes some lewd comments. The fight is broken up by the corrupt Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane (M.C. Gainey), who is in the pay of the local bigwig ‘Boss’ Hogg. The Sheriff gleefully informs the Duke cousins that he has had the General Lee wrecked.
The Dukes get the local mechanic, Cooter (David Koechner), to fix up the General Lee. Upon returning to the Duke farmstead they find that the Sheriff has planted an illegal moonshine still in their barn and the Sheriff then declares he is seizing this land in the name of Boss Hogg.
Wanting to discover what Boss Hogg is up to, Bo and Luke break into the foreman’s trailer at a local construction site. The Dukes try to bust open a safe by attaching a length of chain between the safe’s door and Cooter's tow truck. Despite some problems, the cousins manage to steal the safe and later blow it open. Inside, they find some rock samples. Not knowing what these are, the Dukes decide to get them analyzed at the fictional Five Points University. Retrieving the restored General Lee...complete with new paint job, "General Lee" lettered above the doors, the Confederate Battle Flag on the roof(which they didn't know about...and causes problems later on), and a musical horn that plays "Dixie"...from Cooter’s garage, the cousins head to Atlanta. The story behind the car is conflicted. In "The Beginning", the Confederate flag is on the car when they find it. Cooter installs the horn later, but years before the incident at the Boar's Nest.
The next day, Daisy accidentally discovers that Boss Hogg is bribing the best racing driver.
Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Bo and Luke steal a couple of lab coats in the University’s science building and pretend to be representatives of a Japanese company, convincingly enough to get their samples analyzed. The samples are nothing more than coal but this tells the Dukes that Boss Hogg is planning to turn Hazzard County into a strip mine. The Dukes end up in jail due to a series of racial issues (both the Confederate Battle Flag on their car and their dirty faces accidentally caused by coal dust earn the wrath of local Blacks), where Boss Hogg confronts them, gloating that they are too late to stop him. The only way they could stop him, Boss Hogg is vain enough to inform them, is to get the entire town to vote against it at the court proceedings today… but those proceedings have been timed to coincide with the big race, so no one will be present at the courthouse.
The Duke cousins are freed when being transferred thanks to Daisy distracting the escorting police officers and eluding the large numbers of the Atlanta police force that give chase. Back in Hazzard County, they discover that Boss Hogg has taken their Uncle Jesse hostage to prevent them from interfering.
Bo and Luke distract the Sheriff and his deputies while Cooter and Daisy free Uncle Jesse. Heading for the race track and pursued by dozens of police cars, Bo Duke ends up taking part in the race. Luke joins in a short while later driving Boss Hogg’s ostentatious car. Bo wins the race but doesn’t stop at the finish line, instead heading for the courthouse. Thanks to Bo leaping the General Lee over the police barricade and Luke driving his car through it, the way is clear for the Hazzard County inhabitants to proceed to the courthouse, where Hogg’s plan for strip mining the county is outvoted. Hogg tries to arrest the Duke cousins but is prevented by the Governor of Georgia.
Reception
Box Office
The film was #1 at the box office its opening weekend, although it had little or no competition (the only other new film opening that weekend was a low-budget independent film), and grossed $30.7 million on 3,785 screens. It also had an adjusted-dollar rank of #14 all-time for August releases. [1].
The film eventually collected $110.5 million world-wide, although it was much less financially successful outside the US.
Critics & Reviews
The movie was panned by most professional film critics. Roger Ebert gave the film one star, calling it a "lame-brained, outdated wheeze" and suggesting that Burt Reynolds' part in the film is "karma-wise... the second half of what "Smokey and the Bandit" was the first half of." [2] He also named it the second worst film of the year. Richard Roeper named it the worst film of 2005.
Amateur critics also generally disliked the movie but regarded it as average. It got a C+ rating on Yahoo and currently has a slightly-below average grade of 41% at Rotten Tomatoes.
Controversy
Ben Jones, who played Cooter Davenport in the original series, criticized the movie for its emphasis on sexual content, suggesting that the original series was more family oriented and not as sexualized. [3] He called for fans of the TV series to boycott the movie "unless they clean it up before the August 5th release date…".
But some have countered that the original series also contained sexual themes, primarily Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke)'s much-displayed "short shorts" (which have become so ubiquitous in American culture that skimpy blue jean cutoff shorts are now often simply called "Daisy Dukes"). In an August 5, 2005 review of the movie, a New York Daily News entertainment columnist said the movie's sex humor is "cruder" than the TV series, but that it is "nearly identical to the TV series in ... its ogling of the posterior of cousin Daisy Duke." [4]
John Schneider, who played Bo Duke in the original TV series, said: "I saw it. It was cute. The car stuff was great. The guys had a terrific, infectious kind of chemistry, albeit a different kind of chemistry than Tom and I had, but still it was there."[5], although a few months later, he admitted "My gosh...it was terrible! It wasn’t Dukes…. it was true to whatever it was; I just don’t know what that was!" [6]
Awards & Nominations
Seven Nominations:
- Worst Picture
- Worst Supporting Actor (Burt Reynolds, also for his performance in The Longest Yard)
- Worst Supporting Actress (Jessica Simpson)
- Worst Director (Jay Chandrasekhar)
- Worst Screen Couple (Jessica Simpson & Her Daisy Dukes)
- Worst Screenplay (John O'Brien)
- Worst Remake or Sequel
People's Choice Awards
Jessica Simpson won the "Favorite Song from a Movie" award for her cover of the Nancy Sinatra hit, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'".
MTV Movie Awards
The film was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards: Best On-Screen Team (Johnny Knoxville, Sean William Scott, & Jessica Simpson), and Sexiest Performance (Jessica Simpson).
Teen Choice Awards
Jessica Simpson won the Choice Breakout Female award for her role in this movie.
Trivia
- Although set in Georgia, the movie was largely filmed in the town of Clinton, Louisiana and the surrounding area (approximately 30 miles northeast of Baton Rouge).
- All five Broken Lizard troupe members make an appearance.
- The film's soundtrack is anchored by Jessica Simpson's remake of the Nancy Sinatra hit, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'". The remake peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. The music video features Simpson's co-star Willie Nelson on guitar and shots of the 'General Lee'.
- Many vehicles were used in the making of this movie, including: Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors as City and State Patrol police cars; 1989 Chevrolet Caprice 9C1s as the Hazzard County police cars; 1969, '68, and '70 Dodge Chargers as The General Lee; a 2004 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon as Daisy Duke’s car; a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado convertible with pistol door handles, driven by Boss Hogg; and many others (including a Shelby GT-350; a Dodge Demon 340; a Ford Thunderbolt; and a 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle).
- At one point in the film (at the college), the Dukes are pulled over by campus police; the scene is a direct parody of the opening of Super Troopers. The same actors are used (the film's director Jay Chandrasekhar and Erik Stolhanske), and the police officers have the exact mannerisms of their Super Trooper counterparts, "Thorny" (Chandrasekhar) and "Rabbit"(Stolhanske). "Thorny" even makes use of phrase, "Mother of God!" which Chandrasekhar's Super Troopers character used.