the IDIOT

i love the dukes of hazzard, from the obvious daisy delight (mmmm) to boss hogg (genius i) and sheriff rosco P. coltrane (genius ii) — classic buffoon characters, and a show that was far funnier and more subtly artistic than most people understood. it has only recently hit me how similar the dukes of hazzard was to later TV creations by david lynch (especially the deliciously stupid on the air).

since the new movie was announced, there have been oscillating rumbles over the famous confederate navy jack painted on the roof (and elsewhere, depending on which episode) of bo and luke duke’s dodge charger, the general lee. even the cop cars had the flag on the front plate. well here’s an interesting pic for the “those duke boys were southern racists” crowd:

is that a black man there between beauregard duke and cooter davenport? i don’t understand. it looks like he’s their friend. that racist show. to cast some black guy as a mere friend — in the first episode no less. he should have at least been made the county commissioner. and did anybody else notice that there’s a K in “duke”? three cousins? KKK, anyone? exactly.

sorry. didn’t mean to talk so much at the beginning of this long post. is this more what you were looking for, perv?

daisy duke. the acting was cheesy, but also soulful. catherine bach is a strange one, always so happy to be in hazzard county, working her ass off (i think she’s really like that, judging from DVD commentary). here she is slamming a brief but classic rant on bo and luke.

“…and thanks for asking about my virtue — which you didn’t — being intact — which it is!”

click pic for audio (.wav)

of course, when daisy duke does turn and leave your ass in a huff, you at least get the view for consolation.

there’s a classic moment in the first episode where rosco drives two crooks to the boars nest [sic] to identify whether it was daisy who’d set them up wearing that red bikini shown above. when they pull up and see her in different clothes, she’s leaning completely inside her car window looking for something, and all you can see is her ass and legs.

rosco asks, “is that her?”

the crooks nod their heads, grinning. “yeahhhhhhhhh… yeah, ‘at’s her!”

the pics here of daisy don’t come close to some of the truly moving shots in the series. action is… it’s a wonderful thing, and a lot of hot daisy clips are from the back — obviously not appropriate for a family oriented blog like this.

will i be going to see the new dukes of hazzard movie? much as i dig burt reynolds (the new boss hogg), probably not. what i saw of the trailer made me want to drop a bomb on hollywood. without question i would have seen a dukes movie with the remaining original cast. it’s not like they’re run down or in jail or something. catherine bach (be still, heart) is still a sweetie, just with a little more cushion. john schneider and tom wopat (bo and luke) have stayed in great shape. bring in some more originals (including jeff altman as hughie hogg), and add danny devito as boss hogg (obvious) and — going limbward here — michael caine as uncle jesse (or sam elliot if you must; anybody but socialist willie) — you’re on a gravy train with biscuit wheels. and ditch the bullshit super-duper teeny bopper 2005 throwaway music that was on the trailer. ugh. waylon jennings was just fine.

have to admit that jessica simpson looks very good in daisy dukes, but she’ll never have the simple charm and, ::heart skipping beats just thinking about it:: drop dead brown hair of catherine bach.

she was cute as hell wearing a ski mask, for crying out loud. throw in the, um, other stuff, and any american boy with his genes in order went to bed friday nights in 1979 dreaming of daisy duke and all he could do for her if just given the chance. LOL.

the actors on the dukes of hazzard did more driving than many would expect. there are continuous shots of some serious sliding turns where you can confirm it was john schneider at the wheel. even catherine bach, usually doubled in stunt scenes by a man with a wig, is tearing up some dirt for real here and there. it’s no wonder those actors are quite open about missing the series. they had fun, which is one reason the show is fun, even today.

time warp anybody? imagine this on today’s network TV: bo duke is having a picnic in the woods with a new girlfriend, and he’s showing her how to use a bow. curious, she turns to him and asks, “why did you take up bow huntin’?”

“well i didn’t have no choice. see luke and me’s on probation and can’t own no guns, so… it’s either use those bows there or throw rocks.”

“at what?”

“well at game! see we run low on food, we have to go huntin’. now jesse, he don’t take kindly to no government assistance; he’d rather starve.”

no, daisy duke isn’t the only reason i love the dukes of hazzard.

Tags: david lynch, goils, michael caine

Posted 20050707 10:31 under TV. Follow responses through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are closed.