Review of The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) by Markb. — 19 Sep 2005

A lot can happen in 25 years! In 1980, when the junk-food CBS-TV show this was based on was at the peak of its popularity, could Willie Nelson--at that time amassing real cred as both a character actor and leading man (The Electric Horseman, Honeysuckle Rose)--have guessed that he'd be taking on Denver Pyle's role as Uncle Jesse? More to the point, did Burt Reynolds, at that time the #1 box office star (until he cranked out a few too many shoddy, repetitive Dukes variations for buddy Hal Needham) have had even the slightest fraction of a clue of an inkling that he'd be putting on Boss Hogg's white suit? (In the words of The Grateful Dead, "What a long strange trip it's been!") Maybe my never being a fan of the TV series (written largely by former McHale's Navy scribes and likewise featuring all-American party boys taking on the corrupt, inept establishment with the use of labyrinthine, Sting-like schemes, but one Captain Binghamton is worth a thousand Hoggs) allowed me to appreciate the inevitable movie as dumb but relatively painless.

That's not exactly ringing praise, I admit, but as 2005 TV show translations go, it's a lot easier to sit through than the last 40 minutes of Bewitched and any nanosecond of The Honeymooners.

Director Jay Chandresekhar (whose Broken Lizard gang brought you the fairly funny Super Troopers and the downright terrible Club Dread) manages a nice balance between admiring and satirizing the show; Duke boys Johnny Knoxville and Sean William Scott, as well as Nelson, Reynolds and Lynda Carter all seem to be enjoying themselves, and happily Jessica Simpson seems to be in on the joke.

(I still think the producers should've honored Catherine Bach, the original Daisy Duke, either by dying Simpson's hair or casting a brunette.) The worst element of the movie--directly transferred from the show--is retaining the Confederate flag logo on the Dukes' car; I'm as politically incorrect as I wanna be, but what once may have been accepted as a sign of healthy American rebellion is now a sign of racism, lynchings and murder, and should've been replaced with an American flag; Chandresekhar's meager attempts to deal with the controversy on screen are extremely weak.

Other than that, Dukes would be an excellent time-machine candidate; it would play quite well on a 1976 drive-in triple feature along with Six Pack Annie and the 407th reissue of Thunder Road--especially with a case or three of Coors in the car.

Bob Denver's recent death (which made page 2 of the NEWS--not entertainment--section of USA Today and inspired not one but two columns by Slate's online critics) certainly increases the possibility of a Gilligan's Island big-screen endeavor; not that I'm encouraging it in any way whatsoever, but if it's inevitable, Chandrasekhar is the man for the job.

(Note that I'm in favor of this happening, mind you; I just said that I'm NOT encouraging a Gilligan's Island movie, but if one were going to be made anyway, then...oh, never mind.