I was flipping through the channels relaxing the other night and I stumbled across the Dukes of Hazzard. Now its been on & off the air for quite some time (like THIRTY YEARS). I used to make fun of it a couple of years ago. I find myself flipping back to these old episodes. Its easy to notice the silliness within the show and the numerous coincidences but there is a lot of interesting things about it. I call it the "Mysteries of the Dukes of Hazard"... I started noticing little things. First off I started to watch it again because I noticed the Bo & Luke always wear the SAME shirts. Uncle Jesse wears the same thing. The only person that gets new clothes on the episodes is Daisy! Of course!! (Hello?? Daisy Dukes... Heard of them??) Except for yesterday's episode #110 in 1983. Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrain was a basketball coach in the begining and his outfit is something that must be mentioned. He was wearing white sweatshirt, white sweatpants, his official sheriff cowboy hat AND his duty belt including his gun! Well folks, lets just say that no one is attractive in sweatpants. Another things I noticed was when Bo & Luke picked up Daisy & LuLu (Boss Hogg's wife) they picked them up in the General Lee. Now if you are familiar with LuLu Hogg she is well... A large lady. And if you're familiar with the General Lee you know that its doors are welded shut. Yet she & Daisy were sitting in the back seat waiting for the boys! Apparently in Hazzard County they also defy the laws of physics.
Yet I am drawn to this show! Its got some realistic points. There is always road construction in Hazzard County just like HERE! There are lots of backroads that they use at a high rate of speed, just like here! People on this show pull out onto the road without looking! I really think I am drawn to it because I can remember watching this show with my family in 1983. I also think people are drawn to this show because everything was solved in the 60 minutes, they always had popular musicians on there, AND it was always exciting! It was a simple show with this idea of family and helping each other including strangers like that southern hospitality. Good looking cousins as best friends, good looking female cousin, a wise Uncle Jesse to keep cool heads! No cussing and very little violence, plus there was a very obvious line between good & evil. And of course good always wins! Even if the bad guy is two gorgeous female twins!
Then there is the General Lee. The show used 256 different cars. One was used per SHOW! The show made that type of car so popular they started have difficulty finding them and started building them on site The General Lee was in every episode but one. And in the end very ending they had to use remote controlled cars for some scenes & used jump shots from previous episodes.
There is Dukefest! YES! DUKEFEST!! I wouldn't go but I am sure there are still LOTS of people that go & enjoy the festivities. LOL It was organized by Ben Jones (Cooter!!) He has a website www.cootersplace.com and its the official headquarters of Hazzard Nation. And there is www.hazzardnation.com which has pics of the most recent Hazzard Nation gathering.
Its always fun to go back and watch old shows from when you were a kid. It brings back memories. I'm not saying you should plan your annual vacation around the Hazzard Nation festival every year but just watching a silly show like this makes me laugh because it was a long time ago & it brings back lots of good memories!
Ciao
USMCdaffy
