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TV & Movies Dukes of Hazzard
The General Lee
Dodge Charger
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The television series The Dukes of Hazzard followed Bo and Luke Duke, two
cousins living in a rural part of the fictional Hazzard County, Georgia, racing
around in their modified 1969 Dodge Charger, The General Lee, evading corrupt
county commissioner Boss Hogg and his inept county sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane.
Bo and Luke had been sentenced to probation for
illegal transportation of moonshine - their uncle Jesse made a plea bargain
to stop brewing moonshine in return for the boys to forgo jail time and
instead be placed on probation. |
As a result, Bo
and Luke were not allowed to carry firearms (they often used compound bows,
sometimes tipped with dynamite) or leave Hazzard County (although the exact
details of their probation terms varied from episode to episode; sometimes it
was implied that they would be jailed for merely crossing the county line; on
other occasions, it was shown that they may leave Hazzard as long as they were
back within a certain time limit).
Corrupt politician Boss Hogg, who either ran or had fingers in just about
everything in Hazzard County (and whose exact powers, much like the terms of the
Duke boys' probation, often varied in different episodes) was forever angry with
the Dukes, in particular Bo and Luke, for eternally foiling his crooked scams
and was always looking for ways to get them out of the picture so his plots had
a chance of succeeding. Many episodes revolved around Boss trying to engage in
an illegal scheme with criminal associates. Some of these were get-rich-quick
schemes, though many others affected the financial security of the Duke farm,
which Boss had long wanted to acquire for nefarious reasons. Other times, Boss
hired known criminals from out of town to do his dirty work for him, and often
tried to frame Bo and Luke for various crimes such as bank robbery (thus
resulting in imprisonment and allowing Boss easily to acquire the Duke farm). Bo
and Luke always seemed to stumble over Boss' latest scheme, sometimes by
curiosity, and often by sheer luck, and put it out of business.
Due to their fundamentally good natures, the Dukes often wound up helping out
Boss Hogg, albeit begrudgingly. More than once Boss was targeted by former
associates who were either seeking revenge or had turned against him after a
scheme unraveled in any number of ways: Boss' greedy nature, Rosco's bumbling,
the criminals simply outsmarting the two or their consciences came to the
surface. Sometimes criminals who were even more crooked and ruthless than Boss
came to town. Sheriff Rosco also found himself in trouble more than once. On
such occasions, Bo and Luke usually had to rescue their adversaries as an
inevitable precursor to defeating the bad guys; these instances became more
regular as the series went on.
Vehicles
* The General Lee was Bo and Luke Duke's 1969 Dodge
Charger. It was orange with a Confederate battle flag painted on the roof, and
the words "GENERAL LEE" over each door and the number "01" on each door. In the
first episode ("One-Armed Bandits"), a confederate flag along with a checkered
racing flag in a criss-cross pattern could be seen behind the rear window. The
name refers to the American Civil War Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Since
it was built as a race car, the windows were always open, a rollbar was
installed, and the doors were welded shut. Through the history of the show, an
estimated 309 (the "LEE 1" website says 321) General Lees were used;
twenty-three are still known to exist in various states of repair. A replica was
owned by John Schneider (Bo), known as "Bo's General Lee". In 2008 Schneider
sold "Bo's General Lee" at the Barrett-Jackson automobile auction for $450,000;
the underside of the hood has the signatures of the cast from the 1997 TV movie.
The show also used 1968 Chargers (which shared the same sheet metal) by changing
the grille and taillight panel to the 1969 style, and removing the round side
marker lights. These Chargers performed many record-breaking jumps throughout
the show, almost all of them resulting in a completely destroyed car. The Duke
boys had added a custom air horn to the General which played the first eleven
notes of the song Dixie. Warner Brothers purchased several Chargers for stunts,
as they generally destroyed at least one or two cars per episode. By the end of
the show's sixth season, the Chargers were becoming harder to find, and more
expensive, so the producers used radio-controlled miniatures or recycled stock
jump footage. The third episode, "Mary Kaye's Baby", is the only episode of the
entire run that (bar the opening and closing credits) the General Lee does not
appear in. In that episode Bo and Luke drove around in a blue 1975 Plymouth Fury
they borrowed from Cooter (which unbenownst to them he'd loaded with moonshine
to deliver for Boss Hogg, a slip-up that could've wrecked their probation) that
Luke later blew up with a stick of dynamite during a duel with some mobsters.
* The 1974 AMC Matador was one of many different
Hazzard County police cars used on the series, mostly in the first season; they
had light bars and working radios. Most of the Matadors were former LAPD cars,
and until the mid-70s, LAPD cruisers were ordered with manual steering.
Consequently, the stuntmen didn't like driving the Matadors, and they were
retrofitted with power steering. Matadors were also used in Adam-12, and
pummeled by Michael Jackson in a video
* The most common police car seen in later series was the 1977-78 Dodge Monaco.
From mid season four the similar looking 1978 Plymouth Fury[3] was used.
* A Plymouth Roadrunner (yellow with a black stripe) was used by Daisy Duke in
the first five episodes of the season; for the last episodes similarly painted
1971–72 Satellites were used. For the second season, the Plymouth Satellite[4]
was used until Bo and Luke sent it off a cliff in "The Runaway". At the end of
that episode, she is given her Golden Eagle Jeep "Dixie." The model of Plymouth
Roadrunner used was the 1974 model.
* Dixie was the name given to Daisy Duke's trademark white 1980 Jeep CJ-7
"Golden Eagle" which had a Golden Eagle emblem on the hood and the name "Dixie"
on the sides. Like other vehicles in the show, there was actually more than one
Jeep used throughout the series. Sometimes it would have an automatic
transmission, and other times it would be a manual. When the Jeep was introduced
at the end of the second season's "The Runaway", it was seen to have doors and a
slightly different paint-job, but from thereafter the doors were removed and the
paint-job was made all-white, with 'Dixie' painted on the sides of the hood.
These Jeeps were leased to the producers of the show by American Motors
Corporation in exchange for a brief mention in the closing credits of the show.
* Uncle Jesse's Truck, a white Ford Pickup truck, most commonly a Sixth
generation (1973–1977) F100 fleetside.[6] However, in the earliest episodes it
was an earlier stepside bed, and varied between F100 and F250 models throughout
the show's run. Daisy also drove Jesse's truck on occasion.
* Boss Hogg's Cadillac, a white 1970 Cadillac De Ville convertible, with large
bull horns for a hood ornament. While for much of the series a chauffeur called
Alex drove it, in later years, Hogg became the car's principal driver and
frequently challenged others by invoking his driving expertise from his days as
a ridge-runner. Unlike other vehicles in the series, Boss Hogg's Cadillac is
typically treated with kid gloves.
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