Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8819 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-01-09
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The teaming of Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott as well as the presence of the '70s-flavored car chases that were a specialty of the TV series guarantees that The Dukes of Hazzard will be even more lowbrow than the show that inspired it.

However, this brain-damaging comedy is more "rehash" than "remake," as good ol' Georgiaboys Luke Duke and his cousin Bo are frequently upstaged by the General Lee, the Confederate-flagged '69 Charger that they drive, jump, race, and fly in as they smuggle moonshine for their Uncle Jesse, played by Willie Nelson.

Meanwhile, cousin Daisy Duke--Jessica Simpson--is reliably available to model her short-shorts and awesome figure, while corrupt honcho Boss Hogg--Burt Reynolds, who should know better--recruits a local NASCAR star to advance his wily scheme of converting Hazzard County into a strip mine.

Director Jay Chandrasekhar, previously behind Super Troopers manages to mine some good-natured humour from the movie's oval-track detour and a few colorful supporting players. Otherwise, consider yourself warned: The Dukes of Hazzard is shameless Hollywood product at its most forgettable, trafficking in shameless white, rural Southern stereotypes. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
It was inevitable that THE DUKES OF HAZZARD would leap onto the big screen, and now, thanks to Broken Lizard's Jay Chandrasekhar (SUPER TROOPERS, CLUB DREAD), it finally has. Slipping into the boots made famous by John Schneider and Tom Wopat, Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville play moonshine-selling cousins, Bo and Luke Duke. Along with their ridiculously gorgeous cousin Daisy (Jessica Simpson) and joke-telling Uncle Jessie (Willie Nelson), the Duke boys love to get the goat of Hazzard County's most crooked law enforcement officials, including Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane (M.C. Gainey) and county commissioner Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds). But when they discover that Boss Hogg is using his leverage to run them off their farm in order to turn Hazzard County into a strip mine for coal, things get personal. With the help of their faithful friends, Bo and Luke set off on their riskiest adventure yet. Showing his reverence for the classic 1980s show, Chandrasekhar incorporates freeze-frames, humorous narration, and extended action sequences, resulting in a crowd-pleasing romp that promises to introduce a whole new generation of fans to the Duke boys. While Scott, Knoxville, and the scantily clad Simpson deliver the goods, it is The General Lee the pair's electrifying orange Charger that steals the show.

Customer Reviews

Highly enjoyable - worth watching
Ok, lets be honest here. Regardless of whoever star in the new Dukes of Hazzard movie, they can never come close to emulating what was achieved in the TV series. When you come to watch the movie, it is best to try though it may be difficult to forget about what was done before. If you can, you will find an extremely enjoyable film, that blends comedy and action together Smokey & the Bandit style with a few nods to the TV show thrown in along the way. The plot which has be said is extremely thin on the ground sees cousins Bo,Luke,Daisy and their Uncle Jesse fighting to keep hold of their farm from the greedy town mayor, Boss Hogg who wants to use the land for coal mining. Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott make a reasonably good pairing as Bo & Luke - much of the comedy moments stemming from their verbal bickering. Jessica Simpson does what Jessica Simpson does best as Daisy Duke - look good in bikinis, short skirts etc. On the down side Willie Nelson has very little to do and Burt Reynolds is completely wasted as Boss Hogg. But forget all the human stars. The real star of the movie is of course the General Lee which has never looked better and the car chases & stunts are as good as anything produced in the TV series.

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.

A slap in the face to fans of the television series
The Dukes of Hazzard truly earns a place in the hall of shame of terrible, ill-advised remakes of previously popular TV shows. Maybe, if you've never seen the show, you might think the movie is OK; the rest of us can only sit and cringe while Hollywood basically makes a mockery out of everything the show was about. The script is bad in and of itself, but the casting is a total disaster. I don't mind Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott so much, but Jessica Simpson is no Daisy, Burt Reynolds is almost the antithesis of the real Boss Hogg, Willie Nelson turns Uncle Jessie into some coarse country comedian you can't begin to respect, and Roscoe - what the heck happened to the Roscoe character? James Best was one of the real stars of the television show; he made most of the comedy happen, and most kids included a Roscoe P. Coltrane impression in their comedic repertoire. I've never even heard of M.C. Gainey, but he could never even begin to fill Best's shoes, even if the script had actually given us a character remotely similar to the original. Maybe Burt Reynolds wanted to hog all of the bad guy spotlight; I can't think of any other reason why the Roscoe character would be treated with such contempt and neglect by the filmmakers. And why is Lynda Carter even in the movie?

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.

Truly Hilarious film!
On my first watch of the film I wasn't expecting much as I thought Jessica Simpson acting would be something to never witness. Strangly though Simpson is actually quite effective as well as easy on the eyes. This low expectation of the film may have been the reaosn why I enjoyed it so much. I never saw the original myself and I have also never seen the TV series. I had nothing to compare it to and no anticipation which means I wasn't set up to be disapointed.

If you like comedy films and you are a fan of Seann William Scott's movies then you will enjoy this. It has some great moments and I thought it was extremely funny as well as action packed.

I recommend to the fans of the series that you just take the film as it is. It's a modern take on an old story, they are not aiming to surpass it and they could never equal it in the eyes of the fans. Watch this movie with no prior expectations and you will love it. There was no way that a modern film could live up to the series.

If you like comedy films then I suggest you add this to your collection as it's funny and action packed. The soundtrack is also brilliant.