Starring Tom Wopat, John Schneider, Catherine Bach, Denver Pyle, Sonny Shroyer, Ben Jones, James Best, Sorrell Booke
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: Warner Brothers
Buy on Amazon.com link

As a child of the ‘70’s and being married to an avid Dukes fan (when re-runs ran on TNN a few years back, he actually paid my sister to video tape every episode! Thank goodness they are all on compact DVD now!), I just had to write this review.

The other half and I settled in for a lazy Sunday afternoon for a Dukes marathon. To get myself into the Dukes mood, I decided to watch the Extras first, beginning with the original screen test of John Schneider and Tom Wopat (Bo and Luke Duke). It’s amazing how far technology has taken us since 1979! This grainy, raw, early video taped footage looks like a bad 1970’s soap opera. It was interesting to see them in action and the chemistry they did have, however, the dialogue was pretty cheesy.

The second part of the Extras on Disc 4 was a bit more interesting. This portion of the Extras included the Annual Dukefest in all of its glory. There are some real die-hard Duke fans out there. Some of which look like they never left Hazzard County! The Stunt Show and Drag Race were really cool to watch. I just love watching cars go fast and flip over. One thing we did notice, however, was the absence of the show’s most popular members at Dukefest. While Daisy, Enos, Cooter and Roscoe made appearances and met with fans, Bo and Luke were nowhere to be found. Does that tell us something?

After we completed the extras including the painful rendition of the Good Ol’ Boys by Shooter Jennings and watching Daisy try and still squeeze into those “Daisy Dukes”, we settled in on the episodes.

The Second Season contained 23 episodes, some of which had appearances by notable stars of the time. Two of my favorite episodes featured Cale Yarborough (Yes I am a Nascar Fan!) and Loretta Lynn.

As everyone knows and/or remembers, the Dukes of Hazzard tale begins with two cousins Bo and Luke Duke (just some good ol’ boys never meaning no harm) being sent to live with the Uncle Jessie and their beautiful cousin Daisy after getting in trouble with the law. Every episode of the Dukes begins with some sort of trouble coming to Hazzard County or Boss Hogg coming up with some crooked scheme (like the Loretta Lynn episode, where Roscoe sets up a detour to get Loretta to the Boars Nest!).

Trouble would ensue, the Duke boys would be blamed, Boss Hogg would send his Sheriff (Roscoe) and the bumbling Enos to “Get Those Duke Boys!”. Meanwhile, the Dukes were out there trying get the bad guys themselves. About halfway through every episode was “The Chase” an infamous ploy also used on CHiPs (must be something with 70’s television).

“The Chase” scenes always involved some high speed pursuit through roads, fields, cows and etc. always ending with a jump scene over a river, with Enos and Roscoe in hot pursuit. Who didn’t love those chase scenes! Watching the General Lee in action always made for a good time. In the end the Dukes would get the bad guys and all would be well again in Hazzard County.

I can’t say that I didn’t dislike Season 2, and of course we own Season 1. I can’t say that I liked it all that much either. I think it’s because the story line was pretty much always the same in every episode. The good points of the show were always how there was a focus on looking out for your family, doing good and helping people when you can. I will say, it was nice to watch a piece of 1970’s television nostalgia and remember what TV was like before reality television.

I’m just curious to know if they will release future episodes, including Season 5 when Bo and Luke left Hazzard to try out for NASCAR and the cousins Coy and Vance came in. That was truly a “Jump the Shark” moment.

Features:
Extreme Hazzard: Documentary gallery covering the 25thn-anniversary festival of The Dukes Of Hazzard in Tennessee and featuring series stars and stunt drivers along with Dukes fans from around the world John Schneider and Tom Wopat screen tests

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Mono CC

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: Episodes #7 with Nascar Driver Cal Yarborough, Episode #18 with Loretta Lynn, Episode #4 with the Mob Guys
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 1133 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: