The Dukes of Hazzard - Unseen [DVD] [2005]

Highly recommended overall but for all you fans out there, if you really want to be picky & make comparisons with the TV show I would say that:

1. There is a bit of swearing - eg: Uncle Jesse swears in one scene - something that would NEVER EVER happen in the show.
2. Sheriff Rosco P Coltrane is the disappointing character and brings none of the humour to the movie that James Best did in the show.
3. There is a lack of the family values that was evident in the show - in the movie Uncle Jesse is as much a lawbreaker as his nephews.

Calling this modern Bo and Luke good old boys is stretching the point a bit; these guys actually should be in jail for all of their shenanigans. Heck, the costs of all the property damage they inflict on Hazzard (not to mention Atlanta - which brings up another point: I'm almost sure the TV show was set in North Carolina and not Georgia) should be enough to bankrupt the county. There's really nothing good about either one of them, especially in terms of their treatment of women. It's safe to say that this film won't be found among Gloria Steinem's list of favorites. As a Southerner, I'm not too happy with it, either, as the film went out of its way several times to basically ridicule Southern culture. Then there's the fact that the Duke boys (and even Uncle Jessie) like to smoke something stronger than cigarettes. Denver Pyle must still be spinning in his grave. What's next? An Andy Griffith remake featuring a drug-dealing Opie?

The main problem with this film is the fact that it was primarily built around the General Lee and all the amazing jumps the studio guys dreamed of cramming together in one film. They even messed even that up, unfortunately. The jumps on the old TV show always looked real, but the jumps in the film are too high and too far to look like anything other than Hollywood stunts and special effects. The only two things addressed in the DVD's extras of behind-the-scenes footage are the General Lee and Jessica Simpson's shorts. Now I like watching Simpson gallivanting around in short shorts as much as the next guy, but I need a little more from a movie - something like a decent script, for example.

There are plenty of reasons why loyal fans of the show as well as Ben Jones, the original Cooter and former U.S. Congressman, basically boycotted the film. This rehash stomps on everything that made the Dukes cultural heroes of a sort and makes a mockery of every single character in the film. If there's a film school out there teaching students how not to remake an old TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard is surely the main topic of study and discussion. All you have to do is witness the General Lee hurling down the unpaved roads of Hazzard County to the music of AC/DC to know that something is very wrong here.