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 2005 film loosely based on the American television series, The Dukes of Hazzard. The film was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and released to theaters in the US 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 a prequel, titled The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, that was released to television and DVD 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)
Plot
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In Hazzard County, Georgia, the Duke cousins, Bo (Seann William Scott) and Luke (Johnny Knoxville) are a pair of ‘good old boys’ who get caught 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 their car between two bulldozers at a farm after making a jump over a broken bridge off a huge mound of dirt after Bo and Luke bet the phone book that Bo wouldn't break a single bottle of the moonshine case that was left to deliver. As it turns out, both Bo and Luke get hit by the phone book, because Bo didn't break any bottles until he took the case out of the car, at which time the bottom fell out, and all except one of the bottles broke. 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 and slaps her on the butt. 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 the 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 conflicting. 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, Billy Prickett (James Roday), who is from Hazzard, with $200,000 worth of real estate. Daisy tries to change Prickett's mind by saying that Coca-Cola would pay him $100,000 to put their logo on his door, while Budweiser would pay that same amount of money to put their logo on his trunk.
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 African-Americans), 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, as theorized from Hogg's facts by Luke.
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, Daisy walks into Enos's office in a bikini, taking advantage of his attraction to her. She makes it look as though she is about to kiss him, while asking him where Boss Hogg and Roscoe are. Believing that he actually is going to get a kiss, Enos tells her that they are at the farm holding Uncle Jesse hostage. She then walks out just as Enos is about to kiss her.
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 Boss' 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, who also pardons Bo & Luke of their crimes. Uncle Jesse then punches out Boss Hogg, and the Governor decides to pardon him as well.
Later, the Dukes have a huge barbecue in celebration of everyone getting their property back and Uncle Jesse is asked to sing a song, which turns out to be the Willie Nelson version of "Good Old Boys", the Dukes of Hazzard theme.
Reception
Box office
The film was #1 at the box office its opening weekend, although it had little 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 successful financially in the US.
Critical reception
The Dukes of Hazzard 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] Ebert also named it the second worst film of the year. Richard Roeper named it the worst film of 2005.
Only 14% of critics gave the film positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 154 reviews.[3]
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.[4] He called for fans of the TV series to boycott the movie "unless they clean it up before the August 5th release date."
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."[5]
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."[6], 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!" [7]
Awards & nominations
At the 26th Golden Raspberry Awards, the film received seven nominations, but didn't win any. The nominations included:
- Worst Picture
- Worst Supporting Actor (Burt Reynolds)
- 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
At the 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'".
The film was nominated for two MTV Movie Awards, including Best On-Screen Team (Johnny Knoxville, Sean William Scott, & Jessica Simpson), and Sexiest Performance (Jessica Simpson).
Jessica Simpson won the Choice Breakout Female award for her role in the film at the Teen Choice Awards.
Prequel
A prequel to the film, titled The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning, was released to televison on March 4, 2007, and released to DVD on March 20, 2007.
References
- ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/weekends/month/?mo=08
- ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050804/REVIEWS/50725002
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dukes_of_hazzard/
- ^ http://www.cootersplace.com/news_movie.asp
- ^ http://www.nydailynews.com/08-05-2005/entertainment/col/story/334641p-285784c.html
- ^ http://just-john.net/
- ^ http://www.moviehole.net/interviews/20060420_exclusive_interview_john_schne.html
