THE DUKES OF HAZZARD

US, 2005, 104 minutes, Colour.
Johnny Knoxville, Seann William Scott, Jessica Simpson, Burt Reynolds, Joe Don Baker, Lynda Carter, Willie Nelson, Junior Brown, Michael Weston, James Roday.
Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar.

To be fair to the makers of The Dukes of Hazzard, they intended to make mindless entertainment. Everyone will agree that they have succeeded with the mindless! For anyone wanting to see two yobbos give up being self-absorbed for a moment and become absorbed with cars, speed, chases and crashes (plus more than a peek at Jessica Simpson pretending to be coy to distract the law), then, of course, this is it. Another momentary distraction of interest is Burt Reynold’s hairpiece. And, Willie Nelson’s corny joke-cracking hillbilly.

Suffice to say that this is loud, macho, adolescent, boorish (except for the funny line when the two Dukes, played by Johnny Nashville who seems just along for the rides and Sean William Scott who acts as if he really believes in his character and the show, say to a group of menacing African Americans who call them Georgia Hillbillies, ‘we prefer Appalachian Americans’). And that is all it intended to be – except to get the box-office cash from the loud, macho…

1.The popularity of the original series? Derivative of Smokey and the Bandit? Knockabout car comedy? The backblocks?

2.The updating to the 21st century? The southern states, Georgia? The same attitudes, prejudices? Car racing? Moonshine? Authorities? The comparison between the series and the film?

3.Hazzard County, Georgia? Moonshine? The entrepreneurs, the law? The geological sample? The university? The attitudes in Atlanta, in the Georgia countryside? The strip mining? The court? The car racing?

4.The importance of cars, the styles, driving, speed?

5.The stars, Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass background? Seann William Scott and the American Pie background? Jessica Simpson and her singing career? Burt Reynolds and Smokey and the Bandit? Joe Don Baker and his Walking Tall films? Lynda Carter and Wonder Woman? Willie Nelson and his songs and films? The contribution to the film?

6.Bo and Luke, cousins, the moonshine, their Uncle Jesse? The sheriff, Boss Hogg? The General Lee, the souped-up Charger, professional driving? The rivalry with Billy Prickett? Professional champion? Coltrane and the still on Jesse’s farm, the seizing of the property? The same with other farmers? Bo and Luke, Hogg’s safe, the sample, going to the university, the information about the sample? The car chase – and the confederate flag on the car? Going to jail, Hogg’s visit, Prickett and his rivalry? Hogg’s plan during the race? Daisy, being the boys’ cousin, the escape, the rally, Bo winning, the confrontation at the courthouse? The Dukes and their being let off?

7.Uncle Jesse, the moonshine, the farm, the boys, the clash with Hogg – and the ending punch?

8.The governor, his role, the Good Ol’ Boy? Pauline and her presence?

9.Boss Hogg, the Burt Reynolds character, greedy, Billy Prickett and the races, the specimen, the plan for the strip mining? His defeat?

10.The raucous nature of the film, the raucous comedy? Jessica Simpson as the sex symbol? The Daisy-Mae? type form Li'l Abner? The contemporary Dukes and their jokes? The background of Georgia – and the updating of the hillbilly comedy?