Good Ole' Boys
The title of this here entry is twofold: Firstly, in refrence to the Dukes of Hazzard and Secondly in refrence to the town of Stirling ON where I will be participating in the debauchery and drunkenness of my best friend Bryan's Bachelor Party.
Firstly: Since the Dukes of Hazzard movie came out on Friday night, I have seen it twice, and were someone to ask me to see it again I would gladly do so. For those of you who know me, you will have no trouble recalling or imagining that I have a lot of 'good ole boy' in me, from my American relatives in the South (go Dixie) to my enjoyment of redneck culture. By redneck culture I mean, I like Lynyrd Skynyrd, I have a cowboy hat that I have worn in public, and if I could afford it, I would drive a truck. Well I think its partly this, and partly that I grew up from a wee lad watching the Dukes of Hazzard on TV. The original show ran from 1979-1985, and I was born in 1980, so you can see the overlap is nearly perfect.
My ties to this show are so deep that my very first conscious memory of my parents house (which I still inhabit some 21 yrs later) was the first night we took possession of it, and I was sat down in my bedroom (which is no longer my bedroom but is not all that different other than the colour of the walls.) with a box of Mister Donut donuts (where an Avis rent a car now stands) and a small 10" Black & White TV watching the Dukes of Hazzard contentedly whilst my parents unloaded boxes. Now find me anyone else who can tell you exactly what they were doing in that much detail 21 years ago!
Anyhow, I'd always watched the show on reruns, be it on CMT or TNN, or those godforsaken 'reunion' movies CBS unleashed on the world which only served to soil the legacy of them Duke boys and their clan. Anyhow, it was in the last 6-8 months I noticed that the Dukes of Hazzard had come to DVD !!! In the words of Bo Duke; YEEEEEHAW! I purchased it from my used CD/DVD/VHS store of choice, and rushed home literally to watch the first season...well I nearly cried when I got home to find the discs weren't even in the package (which before you scoff WAS still sealed). So I had to wait until the next day to return and get a refund and the girls who worked at said store (Chumleigh's for those of you with a Kingston Konnection) were just as flabberghasted as I. Not to worry friends, for not less than 5 days later I found same said DVD back at the same friendly neighbourhood store and this time, upon inspecting carefully for all 3 discs, did again purchase it, and watched the first 12 or so episodes of season 1 in less than 4 days.
Fast forward to my birthday this year, and I receieved the second and third seasons of this fine programme from my wonderful girlfriend Steph (although I kinda paid for one season so that she'd get the other). My birthday, falling at the end of July, very nearly coincided with the theatrical release of the Dukes of Hazzard movie, starring Johnny Knoxville, Stiffler William Scott, Jessica Simpson (ugh), Burt Reynolds, and a dang good ole' boy himself, Willie Nelson. Now for those of you who scoff at it, just imagine if it had been Paul Walker & Ashton Kutcher as the Duke Cousins....exactly. Could have been a disaster of epic purportions. Well I went to see the movie on its second day of release b/c I was working the friday night it came out...GRRR. Steph went too, and kudos to her b/c I know that were it not for me I highly doubt she would have gone to see it. Ironically I was to go see it again some 3 days later because my best friend Bryan's fiancee would not go see it, so I was lucky to see it twice :) Yes lucky, I can hear some of you shuddering at the thought, but if you know me then you know I was in my element!
As for the movie itself: its obviously been updated for a more realistic feel than the original show did, and this translates to a bit more cursing, a bit of a meandering away from the true plotline of the show, and a bit of character tweaking. So in some cases I can see where people would be pissed off at it for not being like the show, but I have to say I was only minutely dissapointed with some of the choices. Ben Jones, who played Cooter B. Davenport in the original show ranted about how the movie was a disgrace to the legacy of the show and how it had lost its good wholesome family values, which he felt wasn't a surprise since the makers of the movie didn't really want anything to do with the original cast.
Now that was one of my complaints. I had definitely held my breath for the course of the film in that I would see a cameo of John Schneider and Tom Wopat much in the same way we had seen cameos of David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser alongside Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in Starsky and Hutch. Sadly that didn't materialise, but I did read in the paper that John Schneider (the original Bo Duke - to Stiffler's new one) went up to Knoxville and Scott at the premiere, gave both of them big hugs, and then said 'hey lets do a yeehaw...' which they did, prompting Johnny Knoxville to remark "see Shawn I think THAT's what they wanted us to sound like". For those of you who would like a cultural refrence, John Schneider also plays Johnathan Kent on Smallville, which interestingly enough Tom Wopat also had a guest appearance on one episode (Tom Wopat clearly being Luke to John's Bo).
The other few complaints about the movie are as follows: 1-The doors on the General Lee opened the first couple times, which was just a no no, although they did write in a fairly acceptable reason why they weren't to begin with, but I still think that for a race car, the doors would NEVER have opened. tsk tsk.
2 - I had no problems with Bo and Luke being a little more crass, but Uncle Jesse, well he would never have had to cuss. And you know I normally have no problems with linguistic freedom of expression.
3 - Rosco (NOT Roscoe!!!!) Coltrane was not a feared lawman, he was always a bumbling idiot, but I suppose they did that in accordance with being a little more believable.
4 - Jessica Simpson didn't dye her hair brown to play Daisy, which was pretty much my only complaint with her in the whole film. THankfully they didn't have her sing IN the movie, just over the crappy credits, not even the blooper reel credits (that went to Willie Nelson, singing the Theme Song, previously sung by his late good buddy Waylon Jennings - who also played the Baladeer (narrator for you city slickers) in the show.
5 - The fact that the guy from Super Troopers managed to put his characters from that movie into this one...dude its one thing that you got to direct it, be thankful, and glad u didn't fuck it up.
Those were my only real complaints about the film. Yes Bo was a little over the top, but he was a little wild in the show sometimes too.
High Points - 1- THE SOUNDTRACK!!!! I am going to purchase this immediately. Good slice of country rock, 70s rock and pure hard core driving fast with shades on music. ACDC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, James Gang, Ram Jam, ZZ Top....Jessica Simp...aww fuck it can't be perfect can it?
2- Johnny Knoxville as Luke I'll say from the top I am a fan of his from Jackass so I was really counting on him, and he pulled it off well. Not to say Stiffler didn't, but he was only playing a hillbilly version of himself.
(or as the best line of the movie Knoxville has after being told to get out of the car 'hillbillies' he replies 'acutally we prefer Appalachian Americans'!!! Fuck thats too funny.
3 - General Lee after the initial problems, which I'll admit made sense in the story, the car kicked ass. I mean can u say HEMI?.
4 - The fact that the movie seemed like a long episode instead of a movie. This may seem odd, but I do believe that having it seem like a longer episode made it fare better and it had less background info to give. Also it leaves open the sequel road, but I don't know if thats best left untouched...probably.
5 - Feeling like I was 5 years old again, along with other people in the theater who I know also grew up on it.
OK I think i've probably blabbed enough without ruining the movie for any of y'all that haven't seen it .
Next topic was going to be the bachelor party in Stirling but I imagine that will take up a whole entry in itself, and the Dukes deserve their own entire entry :)
PS. Lets have some comments (thank you Paul and Bri, but I hope there are more coming)
I wonder if I only write this for my own mental exercise....
anyway....Y'all Come Back now Y'Hear?
Firstly: Since the Dukes of Hazzard movie came out on Friday night, I have seen it twice, and were someone to ask me to see it again I would gladly do so. For those of you who know me, you will have no trouble recalling or imagining that I have a lot of 'good ole boy' in me, from my American relatives in the South (go Dixie) to my enjoyment of redneck culture. By redneck culture I mean, I like Lynyrd Skynyrd, I have a cowboy hat that I have worn in public, and if I could afford it, I would drive a truck. Well I think its partly this, and partly that I grew up from a wee lad watching the Dukes of Hazzard on TV. The original show ran from 1979-1985, and I was born in 1980, so you can see the overlap is nearly perfect.
My ties to this show are so deep that my very first conscious memory of my parents house (which I still inhabit some 21 yrs later) was the first night we took possession of it, and I was sat down in my bedroom (which is no longer my bedroom but is not all that different other than the colour of the walls.) with a box of Mister Donut donuts (where an Avis rent a car now stands) and a small 10" Black & White TV watching the Dukes of Hazzard contentedly whilst my parents unloaded boxes. Now find me anyone else who can tell you exactly what they were doing in that much detail 21 years ago!
Anyhow, I'd always watched the show on reruns, be it on CMT or TNN, or those godforsaken 'reunion' movies CBS unleashed on the world which only served to soil the legacy of them Duke boys and their clan. Anyhow, it was in the last 6-8 months I noticed that the Dukes of Hazzard had come to DVD !!! In the words of Bo Duke; YEEEEEHAW! I purchased it from my used CD/DVD/VHS store of choice, and rushed home literally to watch the first season...well I nearly cried when I got home to find the discs weren't even in the package (which before you scoff WAS still sealed). So I had to wait until the next day to return and get a refund and the girls who worked at said store (Chumleigh's for those of you with a Kingston Konnection) were just as flabberghasted as I. Not to worry friends, for not less than 5 days later I found same said DVD back at the same friendly neighbourhood store and this time, upon inspecting carefully for all 3 discs, did again purchase it, and watched the first 12 or so episodes of season 1 in less than 4 days.
Fast forward to my birthday this year, and I receieved the second and third seasons of this fine programme from my wonderful girlfriend Steph (although I kinda paid for one season so that she'd get the other). My birthday, falling at the end of July, very nearly coincided with the theatrical release of the Dukes of Hazzard movie, starring Johnny Knoxville, Stiffler William Scott, Jessica Simpson (ugh), Burt Reynolds, and a dang good ole' boy himself, Willie Nelson. Now for those of you who scoff at it, just imagine if it had been Paul Walker & Ashton Kutcher as the Duke Cousins....exactly. Could have been a disaster of epic purportions. Well I went to see the movie on its second day of release b/c I was working the friday night it came out...GRRR. Steph went too, and kudos to her b/c I know that were it not for me I highly doubt she would have gone to see it. Ironically I was to go see it again some 3 days later because my best friend Bryan's fiancee would not go see it, so I was lucky to see it twice :) Yes lucky, I can hear some of you shuddering at the thought, but if you know me then you know I was in my element!
As for the movie itself: its obviously been updated for a more realistic feel than the original show did, and this translates to a bit more cursing, a bit of a meandering away from the true plotline of the show, and a bit of character tweaking. So in some cases I can see where people would be pissed off at it for not being like the show, but I have to say I was only minutely dissapointed with some of the choices. Ben Jones, who played Cooter B. Davenport in the original show ranted about how the movie was a disgrace to the legacy of the show and how it had lost its good wholesome family values, which he felt wasn't a surprise since the makers of the movie didn't really want anything to do with the original cast.
Now that was one of my complaints. I had definitely held my breath for the course of the film in that I would see a cameo of John Schneider and Tom Wopat much in the same way we had seen cameos of David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser alongside Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller in Starsky and Hutch. Sadly that didn't materialise, but I did read in the paper that John Schneider (the original Bo Duke - to Stiffler's new one) went up to Knoxville and Scott at the premiere, gave both of them big hugs, and then said 'hey lets do a yeehaw...' which they did, prompting Johnny Knoxville to remark "see Shawn I think THAT's what they wanted us to sound like". For those of you who would like a cultural refrence, John Schneider also plays Johnathan Kent on Smallville, which interestingly enough Tom Wopat also had a guest appearance on one episode (Tom Wopat clearly being Luke to John's Bo).
The other few complaints about the movie are as follows: 1-The doors on the General Lee opened the first couple times, which was just a no no, although they did write in a fairly acceptable reason why they weren't to begin with, but I still think that for a race car, the doors would NEVER have opened. tsk tsk.
2 - I had no problems with Bo and Luke being a little more crass, but Uncle Jesse, well he would never have had to cuss. And you know I normally have no problems with linguistic freedom of expression.
3 - Rosco (NOT Roscoe!!!!) Coltrane was not a feared lawman, he was always a bumbling idiot, but I suppose they did that in accordance with being a little more believable.
4 - Jessica Simpson didn't dye her hair brown to play Daisy, which was pretty much my only complaint with her in the whole film. THankfully they didn't have her sing IN the movie, just over the crappy credits, not even the blooper reel credits (that went to Willie Nelson, singing the Theme Song, previously sung by his late good buddy Waylon Jennings - who also played the Baladeer (narrator for you city slickers) in the show.
5 - The fact that the guy from Super Troopers managed to put his characters from that movie into this one...dude its one thing that you got to direct it, be thankful, and glad u didn't fuck it up.
Those were my only real complaints about the film. Yes Bo was a little over the top, but he was a little wild in the show sometimes too.
High Points - 1- THE SOUNDTRACK!!!! I am going to purchase this immediately. Good slice of country rock, 70s rock and pure hard core driving fast with shades on music. ACDC, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Molly Hatchet, James Gang, Ram Jam, ZZ Top....Jessica Simp...aww fuck it can't be perfect can it?
2- Johnny Knoxville as Luke I'll say from the top I am a fan of his from Jackass so I was really counting on him, and he pulled it off well. Not to say Stiffler didn't, but he was only playing a hillbilly version of himself.
(or as the best line of the movie Knoxville has after being told to get out of the car 'hillbillies' he replies 'acutally we prefer Appalachian Americans'!!! Fuck thats too funny.
3 - General Lee after the initial problems, which I'll admit made sense in the story, the car kicked ass. I mean can u say HEMI?.
4 - The fact that the movie seemed like a long episode instead of a movie. This may seem odd, but I do believe that having it seem like a longer episode made it fare better and it had less background info to give. Also it leaves open the sequel road, but I don't know if thats best left untouched...probably.
5 - Feeling like I was 5 years old again, along with other people in the theater who I know also grew up on it.
OK I think i've probably blabbed enough without ruining the movie for any of y'all that haven't seen it .
Next topic was going to be the bachelor party in Stirling but I imagine that will take up a whole entry in itself, and the Dukes deserve their own entire entry :)
PS. Lets have some comments (thank you Paul and Bri, but I hope there are more coming)
I wonder if I only write this for my own mental exercise....
anyway....Y'all Come Back now Y'Hear?
posted by Gavin27 @ 6:13 PM
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