Warner Bros. Creating and Ruining a Part of American History With The Dukes of Hazzard
Uncle Jesse and his family taught the ways of life; what were morally right, what was morally wrong, as well as common sense. They taught family values, love, and respect. But they also taught that family wasn’t just family but they were your friends as well. Even thought their family was the most respected family in Hazzard County, they were constantly conned and set-up by the local authorities, Sherriff Rosco P. Coltrane (James Best) and County Commissioner Boss Jefferson Davis Hogg (Sorrell Booke).
Each and every day, like hundreds of men, woman, and children, I would turn on CBS and watch The Dukes of Hazzard. I was six years old when I began watching the show. Being that young, I enjoyed it for the witty humor, Bo Duke, and the car chases with the 1969 orange stock car The General Lee with its rebel flag on the roof and the big 01 on the doors. But as I grew older, I began learning the family values the show taught. The teachings of “please” and “thank you”. The teachings of respecting your elders, the use of “sir” and “ma’am”, and watching your language.
Today I am twenty-four years old and own The Dukes of Hazzard on DVD and still watch it religiously. The Dukes of Hazzard was and is just not a television show. It is a television show that parents knew that they were sage from violence, sex, drugs, and profanity that was all over the other channels. It was where families could be families and sit and spend time together. It was where you could learn about life and morals and family even if you weren’t being taught at home, you were taught by The Duke Family of Hazzard County. The Dukes of Hazzard made you laugh, made you cry, and made you feel like you were there. That you had a place to be each and everyday.
In 2005, Warner Bros produced a movie called The Dukes of Hazzard that disgusted the original Dukes cast and completely outrages millions of fames, including myself. I refused to go to the movie theatre to see this. I refused to contribute one cent to this disrespectful film. The constant previews on television were enough to make my stomach churn. About six months ago I got the displeasure of viewing the Dukes of Hazzard movie, and I turned it off within then minutes and refused to view anymore. The movie stars Burt Reynolds as Boss Hogg, Willie Nelson as Uncle Jesse, Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke, Johnny Knoxville as Luke Duke, and Seann William Scott as Bo Duke.
The beginning of the movie shows Seann William Scott waiting for Johnny Knoxville in a fake General Lee as Knoxville is having sex with some girl and ends up hanging out the house window half naked, getting shot at when her brother catches them, and then the fake Duke Boys speed off breaking down fences and screaming like a couple of wild banshees. Daisy Duke’s character is portrayed like a sluttish sex symbol with no respect for herself at all.
There are drugs, Willie Nelson is smoking marijuana through an apple, and there is extreme profanity and disrespect to women. Warner Bros should be highly ashamed of themselves and I believe they owe an apology to every real Dukes of Hazzard cast member as well as the fans. This movie should be disregarded entirely in my opinion. Please remember The Dukes of Hazzard the way it’s supposed to be remembered, as a wholesome family series.
