Chickasaw County! Damn it! Who was the Sheriff of Osage County then?
The Dukes of Hazzard was the spinoff of a movie called “Moonrunners”, about two cousins, Grady and Lee Hagg who run moonshine for their Uncle Jesse. In the movie, they have to stop the county boss (who owns a bar/brothel and controls all the other moonshine in the county) and his lackey, the corrupt county sheriff, from taking over Uncle Jesse’s still.
“Droopy” Cathcarte. He shows up in episode 137, where the Duke boys are arrested for a trumped up traffic charge and put on a chain gang.
Interesting. Because I recall there being a big fuss in the tabloid press ahead of the BBC starting to show it in the UK. Along the lines of it glamourising criminals, setting a bad example to children and encouraging irresponsible driving. And it’s initial slot was relatively late on a Saturday night (“after the watershed”). But after a few weeks they moved it forwards to an early evening kids-TV viewing time.
I’d always assumed that, moral panic or not, it’d simply quickly become obvious that the series was essentially just a kids show and that showing it in an adult slot was patently ridiculous. But if the early episodes were darker, then the original decision perhaps makes more sense.
Western Civilisation survived exposing a generation of British children to Daisy Duke in shorts.
What TV needs now is more shows with car chases. Ridiculous car chases.
Of course, if they remade the Dukes of Hazzard now, it’d be all about meth labs, the new Daisy Duke would be missing teeth, and Roscoe wouldn’t hesitate to shoot Uncle Jesse.
*“Awe, them Duke boys done scuffed up my vehicle! Go get 'em, Flash!” * - Roscoe P. Coltrain.
Even if he didn’t say it exactly like that, I’ve been sayin’ it for over 25 years.
The actors did stop by once.
Yes, it’s out on DVD. My sister has all 5 seasons.
It’s good for two things:
(1) Murdock
(2) Exploding things
(3) Hi, Opal*
Don’t ever watch Season Five. That Frankie character just sucks rocks. He even ruins the explodey goodness.
*My first time ever using this properly. Now that I’ve done it, I promise not to do it again.
One thing you can do is go super slo mo during the car jump and watch the pieces fall off the cars when they land.
Probably the best part of the show, these many years later.
I think I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but way back in the day, there was an article in TV Guide about the guys who had to scout out fresh 1969 Dodge Chargers for the show, since they would junk them after using them for one stunt jump, regardless of the apparent condition of the car. The show averaged about 3 cars wrecked per episode.
I watched every second of it as a youngster. I still occasionally slide across my hood to get to the other side of the car, climb in through the window, and look for hidden ramps in bushes to make my car do a spiral when I hit it. I remember the opening song fondly, especially the image that went with the lyric “flatn’ the hills.” I still do the Roscoe “giggle” that goes something like “Gigit git goo” when I feel it fits in describing someone of the rural persuasion.
And by the way, I believe that there was a black person on the show, he was the sheriff in the neighboring county.
I agree about Enos. I believe the entire first season was filmed in Georgia, and the show had a much grittier Deliverance-type feel to it. Then production moved to California and the show got a little campier and lost some of its edge.
I have clear memories of one scene where he says to Coltrane in a low contemptful voice: “You used to be the best sheriff in this state.” It was a rare moment of drama and pathos and actually made me feel a little sorry for ol’ Roscoe.
And I liked the Enos spin-off.
Another piece of Dukes trivia is that the producers heard the “Dixie” car horn while they were scouting locations and literally jumped in a car and chased down the driver and bought the horn off him for a not-insubstantial sum. They later found out that it’s a standard-issue item you can buy in auto parts stores for a few bucks…
I was going to mention this.
“Dukes of Hazzard” never made any sense to me. Why were they in trouble with the law since the day they were born? “Moonrunners” answered the question. The trunks of those big Chrysler sedans were full of moonshine. That’s why they were running from the cops.
It’s hilarious how they managed to make a commercially successful show by removing this key plot point.
Oh, and if I remember correctly, Uncle Jesse, Cooter, and Sheriff Roscoe were played by the same actors in “Moonrunners.”
One exchange that stuck in my head for some reason:
Roscoe: You boys are under arrest! [giggles]
Bo (or Luke): Arrest? What for?
Roscoe: For… for… for breakin’ the law! [giggles again]
Luke (or Bo): Roscoe, you have to be a little more specific…
Nope. It looks like Waylon Jennings was the only holdover.
I think some of the early episdoes had them running moonshine, but that was gotten rid of when they toned down the show.
The only person who played the same character in both the movie and the series was Waylon Jennings as the Balladeer (Jennings’ band also did the music for both). No one else had the same role, although Ben Jones, who was Cooter in the TV series, played a government agent in the movie.
The only character who’s name was the same in both the movie and the series was “Sherriff Rosco Coltraine”. There was a “Cooter” in the movie, but he wasn’t a mechanic. The “Dukes” in the TV show were the “Haggs” in the movie…Grady and Lee Hagg and their uncle Jessy Hagg, and “Jake Rainey” in the movie became “Jefferson Hogg” in the series. His bar was still called the Boar’s Nest, though.
There used to be a closed gas station in Burbank (off the 5 freeway, north of downtown) which has since been torn down. It had a high chain link fence around it. At any given time there were about 30 '69 Dodge Chargers parked there. All of them painted (very poorly, I might add) in DOH orange.
Interesting, I never saw Moonrunners, but I knew from watching the show that Uncle Jesse used to run moonshine. In fact in at least one episode he runs it again, for some good justified reason. I don’t specifically remember knowing if Bo and Luke were involved before Jesse quit, it was left ambiguous.