fade

Staff member
I'm impressed by your idea, but I just don't think you can have an intelligent. Dukes of Hazzard. Not when most of their problems were solved by jumping the car or not using doorknobs, which is the opposite of intelligence. Or at least safe driving.



Also, this. Very much this.
They weren't stupid in the show though. The ridiculous movie adaptation with Stifler had them as idiots, but they were pretty clever in the original show. They spent a lot of time outside the car in the show. That's just the part everyone remembers. That and exploding arrowheads.

They went through the windows because the General Lee was modified into a stock car (as in racing). Generally, the doors are welded shut and the door hardware is removed.
 
They weren't stupid in the show though. The ridiculous movie adaptation with Stifler had them as idiots, but they were pretty clever in the original show. They spent a lot of time outside the car in the show. That's just the part everyone remembers. That and exploding arrowheads.

They went through the windows because the General Lee was modified into a stock car (as in racing). Generally, the doors are welded shut and the door hardware is removed.
I have watched the original show in the past (both during the 80's and more recent years on reruns...I think CMT?), and while they're weren't as dumb as the movie makes them out to be, they weren't rocket scientists, either. Even the theme song is about them focusing on their driving.

I'm not saying you couldn't do the plot you proposed, but if you tried with with their original format, it would need a lot of tweaking. And Daisy might need some pants.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I have watched the original show in the past (both during the 80's and more recent years on reruns...I think CMT?), and while they're weren't as dumb as the movie makes them out to be, they weren't rocket scientists, either. Even the theme song is about them focusing on their driving.

I'm not saying you couldn't do the plot you proposed, but if you tried with with their original format, it would need a lot of tweaking. And Daisy might need some pants.
Uhh, are we remembering the same theme song?

As I recall, it's mostly about how the law won't let them be, with only "straightening the curves, flattening the hills, someday the mountain might get them but the law never will" being a passing reference to their driving. Other than that, it's mostly about just the good ol' boys "fighting the system like two modern-day robin hoods" because "making their way the only way they know how" is "just a little bit more than the law will allow" :p
 

fade

Staff member
And in the album version, Jennings cracks a joke about them only showing his hands and not his face on TV.
 
Uhh, are we remembering the same theme song?

As I recall, it's mostly about how the law won't let them be, with only "straightening the curves, flattening the hills, someday the mountain might get them but the law never will" being a passing reference to their driving. Other than that, it's mostly about just the good ol' boys "fighting the system like two modern-day robin hoods" because "making their way the only way they know how" is "just a little bit more than the law will allow" :p
Just the good ol' boys
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
Staightenin' the curves
Flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will
Makin' their way
The only way they know how
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow
Makin' their way
The only way they know how yeah
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow
I'm a good ol' boy
You know my momma loves me
But she don't understand
They keep a showin' my hands
And not my face on TV

I think it leaves it open to interpretation. It doesn't explicitly say they're getting in trouble for alltruism, just that they're always getting in trouble with the law for whatever they're doing, even though they're not trying to harm anyone. That could include having a lead foot.
 

fade

Staff member
I mean, Daisy went to college and then to grad school in the show, short pants or not.[DOUBLEPOST=1502727229,1502727108][/DOUBLEPOST]Come on, guys. They were in trouble with the law for moonshining. That was the setup for the show. They were on probation, which is why they always had to stop at the county line.[DOUBLEPOST=1502727365][/DOUBLEPOST]I remember them facing down drug runners and human trafficking among other things. Other than Eonus, the cops were in Hogg's pocket. They were basically vigilantes.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Just the good ol' boys
Never meanin' no harm
Beats all you never saw
Been in trouble with the law
Since the day they was born
Staightenin' the curves
Flattenin' the hills
Someday the mountain might get 'em
But the law never will
Makin' their way
The only way they know how
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow
Makin' their way
The only way they know how yeah
That's just a little bit more
Than the law will allow
I'm a good ol' boy
You know my momma loves me
But she don't understand
They keep a showin' my hands
And not my face on TV

I think it leaves it open to interpretation. It doesn't explicitly say they're getting in trouble for alltruism, just that they're always getting in trouble with the law for whatever they're doing, even though they're not trying to harm anyone. That could include having a lead foot.
The end of your lyrics are different from the ones in the opening of the show...

This should queue up to the section in question


But yeah, the first 5 lines could be paraphrased as "These likeable fellows never meant to hurt anybody, but it's amazing how they've been criminals since they were young." The next 4 lines are "They drive so fast as to alter the landscape - it's likely that their end will come in a crash, not a jail cell."

The next 4 lines are "They do what they can to get by, but what they do is considered unlawful, albeit it may be a gray area for many people" - I think this is a reference to the family business - the reason that Bo and Luke can't carry firearms, they're on probation for moonshining/illegal transportation of alcohol.

Then the final lines of the show's opening, which differ from yours... are self evident :p
 
For a show that's "not about the driving", they did incorporate the "speed trap" thing in almost every episode. I had to double-check this part, because I know I saw it more than once, they even had the "celebrity speed trap" as a way of introducing the guest stars. Yes, the Dukes did other things, but come on, it was about the racing. It was 70's/80's tv's version of The Fast and Furious franchise.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
For a show that's "not about the driving", they did incorporate the "speed trap" thing in almost every episode. I had to double-check this part, because I know I saw it more than once, they even had the "celebrity speed trap" as a way of introducing the guest stars. Yes, the Dukes did other things, but come on, it was about the racing. It was 70's/80's tv's version of The Fast and Furious franchise.
I don't think anyone said it was "not about the driving," just that there was more to it than just the driving, as opposed to the movie remake - which was just Hillbilly Fast and Furious meets Jackass. My particular nit was your assertion about the theme song. :p
 
I don't think anyone said it was "not about the driving," just that there was more to it than just the driving, as opposed to the movie remake - which was just Hillbilly Fast and Furious meets Jackass. My particular nit was your assertion about the theme song. :p
As Fade pointed out, the lyrics I sited were from the album, so your nit stands. It depends on which version you're listening to.

I never saw the movie, but from every trailer, that's the impression I got.
 
As Fade pointed out, the lyrics I sited were from the album, so your nit stands. It depends on which version you're listening to.

I never saw the movie, but from every trailer, that's the impression I got.

They made Daisy blonde and Roscoe a psychopath.

But Burt Reynolds!
 
For a show that's "not about the driving", they did incorporate the "speed trap" thing in almost every episode. I had to double-check this part, because I know I saw it more than once, they even had the "celebrity speed trap" as a way of introducing the guest stars. Yes, the Dukes did other things, but come on, it was about the racing. It was 70's/80's tv's version of The Fast and Furious franchise.
Aye. I've been watching the show a lot fairly recently* and every episode has lots of driving, there's nearly always a chase (or even two) and some stunts.

But this conversation started with the suggestion that Bo and Luke were kinda stupid. Bo is a bit of a dumb blond, but Luke is smarter than average.



*I uh, grew my hair out a few years ago because of the show. :oops:
 
Aye. I've been watching the show a lot fairly recently* and every episode has lots of driving, there's nearly always a chase (or even two) and some stunts.

But this conversation started with the suggestion that Bo and Luke were kinda stupid. Bo is a bit of a dumb blond, but Luke is smarter than average.



*I uh, grew my hair out a few years ago because of the show. :oops:
I didn't disagree with the Dukes being smarter than the movie would imply, I said they needed to tweak the format for there to be a smarter adaptation. That means cutting into the once-a-episode car stunts, which they'd often bend backwards to get into the plot.
 
That was more or less because the cars were about half the show's budget.

If you don't understand your basic Southern culture, you don't understand the basics of DOH. Southerners have a love/hate relationship with anything outside of their own culture. Case in point: NASCAR was essentially founded on the idea that Bill France could convince Northern companies with money to sponsor a bunch of redneck moonshiners to drive fast in circles in cars that could be purchased the day after the race (Win on Sunday, Drive on Monday was the mantra).

The intelligence level was different between the Dukes and your "big city" types - but only because the big city types would look down and (usually) underestimate them. That was actually one of the selling points of the show - the American "we can outfox the big-city slickers" ideal that was gaining traction during the late 70's and early 80's.

What's ironic: the Dukes of Hazzard would have probably never even thought about voting for someone like Trump.
 
You know, you could make a much grittier Dukes of Hazzard in the style of Justified. Boss Hogg running an Oxy ring, the Dukes bootlegging and growing weed, both of them having to deal with meth dealers trying to infiltrate the area. Opening episode has a scene where Rosco chases down a dealer from out of the area and beating them to death. That kind of thing.
 

fade

Staff member
As long as it didn't get too gritty.

For political stance I would reckon Bo and Luke for RINOs. They'd vote a party ticket because that's how they were raised, but they'd still be pretty progressive about a lot of things.
 
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