Dukes of Hazzard (2005) > Reviews > The General Lee - No 1 for me!!

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Good

Advantages:	If you liked the original series, you'll like this
Disadvantages:	Jessica Simpson

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I'm actually writing this review on the Dukes of Hazzard Unseen DVD, which i bought quite recently. I was a huge fan of the original Dukes of Hazzard as a child and always wanted my own General Lee car when I grew up (I never got it - I got a Land Rover instead). I bought this DVD really to see if the new version was as good as the old one. Heres the technical information first.

The DVD
~~~~~~~~

Warner Brothers - www.warnerbros.co.uk
Audio - 5.1 Dolby Digital
Audio Descriptive - 2.0 Dolby Stereo
Aspect Ratio - 2.40 Wdescreen/Colour
Run Time - 103 minutes approx
Languages - English
Hearing Impaired - English
Subtitles - English
Rating - 15 (strong language, moderate violence + soft drug use)
Region 2 - Dual-Layer Format

Cast
~~~~

Luke Duke - Johnny Knoxville
Bo Duke - Sean William Scott
Daisy Duke - Jessica Simpson
Uncle Jesse - Willie Nelson
Boss Hogg - Burt Reynolds
Roscoe - Joe Don Baker
Pauline - Lynda Carter (Wonderwoman for the rest of us)

The Story
~~~~~~~~

True to the original series - Uncle Jessie (Nelson) is still producing bootleg alcohol and the Duke cousins Bo and Luke (Scott and Knoxville) are his delivery boys. Luke Duke is a complete womaniser and Bo is completely obsessed with the General Lee (his car) and winning the Hazzard County annual race. When it comes to women Bo seems to be a blithering idiot, which makes him quite cute.

Daisy Duke (Simpson) is still working in the bar and wearing those trademark hotpants and tight tops. However in this film, she is blond and not the brunette we saw in the original series. Boss Hogg (Reynolds) is still up to no good and scheming to make himself a few extra dollars, with the help of the local Sherrif Roscoe (Baker).

When Uncle Jessie is thrown out of his home and his land repossessed by Hogg, the Duke boys decide to investigate this and find that Boss Hogg is taking over all the farms in Hazzard County. They find that he has a building site and break into the portacabin and steal the safe from within. In that safe are core samples which they take to the city to have analysed. They find that Boss Hogg is planning to turn Hazzard County into one big coal mine and are determined to stop him. But they get thrown in jail and it is left to Daisy to get them out. Of course this does involve a lot of cleavage and the dumb blond act, which works a treat with the male cops!

Then its back to Hazzard County to rescue Uncle Jesse and stop Boss Hogg in his tracks. In doing this Bo is in the annual race which turns into the regulation car chase with all of the police cars getting trashed in some way.

Of course the Dukes get the better of Boss Hogg at the end of the day. After all, it wouldn't be the Dukes of Hazzard if Boss Hogg won, would it?

Extras
~~~~~

* Outtakes - well these are quite hilarious as most outtakes are - but beware - the language can be quite strong

* Additional scenes - As the title states - it is scenes that were deleted from the final version. In my opinion quite rightly.

* 2 Sets of Bloopers - Hilarious!! I was in stitches watching these - even if Jessica Simpson gets almost 10 minutes to herself.

* The Hazards of Dukes: Go Behind the Scenes - Fantastic insight into how the film was made

* How to Launch a Muscle Car 175 feet in 4 seconds - An insight into the car chases and stunts

* The General Lee Lives - As it states, this is all about the General Lee.

* Daisy Dukes: The Short Short Shorts - A bio on Daisy Duke

* Jessica Simpson "These Boots Were Make for Walkin" Music Video - as it states, this is the video for the single Jessica Simpson released (a re-release of a Nancy Sinatra original) - sorry but the original was much better than simpson's poor attempt at singing and dancing.

* Trailer - the movie trailer

My Opinion
~~~~~~~~~

A great film! I absolutely loved it and couldn't stop laughing at the antics of the Dukes and Boss Hogg! The only thing that spoiled the film for me was Jessica Simpson. I dont ever remember Daisy Duke flashing so much bare flesh and nor was she a complete bimbo. Simpson's acting seems wooden and too controlled to me whereas Nelson, Scott, Reynolds and Knoxville are the true stars of this film. Their acting skills have saved the film from obscurity in my view.

I paid 19.99 euros for this DVD and this is roughly equated to £14.77, which i think was really good value for money. Obviously I would advise people to shop around as you can get some good deals on Amazon and Ebay, etc.

As you can see I actually sat down and watched the extras on the DVD for the first time and my favourite has to be the outtakes and bloopers. Knoxville and Scott were a great team and this shows throughout the film.

I give this a four star recommendation - it would have been a five star one but I just can't stand Jessica Simpson, so she's cost the film a star.

Willie Nelson is a country music icon to me and my highlight is that he sings at the end of the film - the Good Old Boys song from the original series - fantastic to watch.

If you get a chance to watch this film, please do. It has not strayed too far from the original series but with a great modern twist.

Thanks for reading!!