Friday, May 2, 2008
Dukes of Hazzard
LUKAS & BEAUREGARD
LOST SHEEP
THE ORANGE WHIP
LEE VS. KITT SMACKDOWN
CHASE SCENE
CAR 229
WHISTLING DIXIE
BOARS NEST
HAZZARD COUNTY
RUNAWAY
THAT 70s SHOW
DUDE WHERES MY CAR?
THE GENERALS SORTED PAST
LUKAS & BEAUREGARD
Five Generations of Dukes had lived on Lidsville farm where Uncle Jesse raised cousins Bo, Luke and Daisy Duke. Bo and Luke were out propelling the family trade of running moonshine when they were snagged by The Man. Uncle Jesse cut a deal so they could stay out of jail if they agreed to never bootleg again. In exchange, the boys could never cross the state line or use firearms again. Uncle Jesse had his shotgun, but the Duke boys had to resort to bows and arrows if they needed some firepower. With help from their friend Cooter Davenport, the boys built a car for racing, the fastest car in Hazzard County, The General Lee. Of course, that car would get them into a whole new heap of trouble.
LOST SHEEP
Lukes CB handle was Lost Sheep #1, Bos was Lost Sheep #2, Daisys was Bopeep and Uncle Jesses naturally was Shepard. Even though he was only a Duke at heart, Cooter had a handle too, he was Crazy C.
THE ORANGE WHIP
The Dukes of Hazzard without the General Lee is like Star Trek without the Enterprise, it just wont fly. However there was one single episode called, Mary Kayes Baby where the Duke boys didnt jump hills in their orange Charger and instead tooled around in a car they borrowed from Cooter.
LEE VS. KITT - SMACKDOWN
The show ran from 1979 to 1985 and was constantly ranked in the top 10 of the Neilson Family Ties The General Lee was the biggest star of the show and it was only natural that when the show, Knight Rider was introduced, they did a promo at the Bonneville salt flats showing the Knight Rider super car, K.I.T.T. outracing the country-built Rebel rouser.
CHASE SCENE
Officially the General Lee is a 1969 Dodge Charger. But they crashed a lot of cars on that show, replacing the police cruisers were fairly easy, however replacing the old Dodge Chargers, which were no longer in production was another story all together. It got to the point where producers would spot a Charger on the street and offer to buy it from the owner on the spot.
CAR 229
All in all, there were 229 General Lees created and mostly destroyed for the show. Consequently, some of those cars had to be 1968 and 1970 Chargers. About 20 of the cars are still in existence in various states of disrepair.
WHISTLING DIXIE
The General's famous Dixie horn wasn't originally in the script for the show. When the producers were driving through Georgia to do the first few episodes, they heard a car pass with a "Dixie" horn and chased the driver down and convinced the owner to sell them the horn on the spot. They later realized that it was a simple novelty horn, which can be purchased at any auto parts store for about We Wish You a Merry Christmas times less than what they ponied up for it.
BOARS NEST
As far as the horn investment goes, it was only actually used during the first five episodes. Those were shot on location in Georgia, when the production moved to southern California, they opted to edit the horn sound in during post production.
HAZZARD COUNTY
The first five episodes of the series were filmed in Conyers, Convington and Oxford, Georgia. From episode six and beyond, the filming was permanently moved to southern California where they shot the show at the Warner Bros. set in Burbank as well as The Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall and the Paramount Ranch in Agoura, California.
RUNAWAY
Daisy Duke originally drove a yellow 1973 Plymouth Roadrunner, but Bo and Luke drove it off a cliff during a 2nd season episode when the brakes failed. The Duke boys made a daring escape and Daisy got her famous white Jeep, nicknamed 'Dixie'.
THAT 70s SHOW
Turning B-Level TV Shows into Megahit movies is all the rage these days. Charlies Angels, Mission: Impossible, The Addams Family, Dragnet, The Brady Bunch and Scooby Doo have done it, why not more? Jim Carrey is slated to be the Six Million Dollar Man and Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have suited up as Starsky & Hutch.
DUDE WHERES MY CAR?
So what is up with a big screen version of everybodys favorite hot-rodding rednecks? It looks like a go with That 70s Show stars, Paul Walker and Ashton Kutcher portraying Bo and Luke Duke. Anthony Anderson from Scary Movie 3 could be playing Boss Hogg, but more interestingly are the rumors that Britney Spears will be donning the Daisy Dukes to play Daisy Duke. The biggest question might be - are they going to paint Rebel Flag on the car?
THE GENERALS SORTED PAST
The Duke boys got the car from an impound yard. It had been used in a robbery and was banged up Toss Across bad, but they fixed it and put in the engine they built. They painted it orange "because' it was the only color Cooter had on hand. Further customizing, they painted a rebel flag on the roof, stuck in a dixie horn, and uncle Jesse came up with the name General Lee. The General could beat or catch anything on the road given half a chance.
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