Alex Carson
The Dukes Of Hazzard was a classic comedy action series that follows the crazy antics of Bo and Luke Duke, two cousins in rural Georgia, who are on probation for running moonshine. Along with some local friends, their Uncle Jesse, and cousin Daisy, they get into trouble with the law, and are generally spending time trying to solve local problems while staying ahead of law enforcement.
It was a fun, hilarious, and campy take on southern lining, with an emphasis on cars and car chases. And like any great and long running show, it had its share of bloopers and behind the scenes intrigue. In this video, we’re taking a look at some of the classic bloopers form the show, as well as revealing a few things you might not know about it! So stay tuned, as Facts Verse dives into the bloopers and BTS action on The Dukes of Hazzard!
The Probation Issue
In the 5th season, Bo and Luke were suddenly not on the show. The real reason for it was that Tom Wopat and John Schneider were in contract disputes with the show. But one blooper that was noticed after they left was that they reportedly went off to compete on the NASCAR circuit. It was a convenient way for the writers to combine the fact that the actors were in a lawsuit with Warner Bros, with the fact that the characters were great drivers. The only problem? They were on probation for moonshine running. So while they would easily have been able to compete in any NASCAR races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, they definitely wouldn’t have been allowed to go race out of state. Of course, the workaround is that the Duke boys were never ones to exactly listen to the law.
Dukes of Hazzard Blooper: What’s in a name?
Throughout the series, Sheriff Coltrane’s first name received some variety when it came to how it was spelled. Whenever we saw it on screen, it was written either with an ‘e’ at the end, or without. The correct spelling of Rosco was r-o-s-c-o, without an e. But often you’d see it written as r-o-s-c-o-e. It’s possible this was a case of people just being a little lazy in the art department, or in the script department. Or maybe the creatives at the show were just having a little fun, and assumed no one would notice. It’s also possible that they were making a point about the literacy rates of the deep south, especially rural areas in that era.
Who’s Driving?!
To save money, the editors of the show would often reuse footage. The most common occurrence was with shots of the boys driving in the General Lee during a car chase. And we can’t blame them. With the sheer amount of car chases that happened in the series, it would have been a lot of the same thing over and over if they had to refilm essentially the same types of shots every episode. They likely would have gotten away with it if they had checked a little harder for continuity.
There were many occasions where a chase would start, and one cousin would be driving. Then they’d use some stock footage from a previous episode, and suddenly the other one was behind the week. Then when they went back to the stuff they filmed for the episode, it would be back to the first one. So either the boys were fully magic, or the editors were a bit lazy. In that same vein, there would be times when they’d use previously shot footage of whoever was chasing them. Or they’d literally use footage from elsewhere. So when the episode would cut back to the cars chasing the Duke boys, not only would they sometimes suddenly be different, they wouldn’t even be the makes and models that the Hazzard Sherriff’s department used.
More Car Issues
Eagle eyed viewers have also noticed that there were occasional shots of the inside of Uncle Jesse’s truck as he was driving it. The problem? The shots always show the gear shift in the park position. Clearly they had taken some B-roll footage of the truck’s interior while it was in park, and thought they’d be able to just slip into a scene where the truck was in drive. There’s also an episode where Roscoe crashed the General Lee into a trailer. It happened after he stole the car, and tried to make a jump with it, just like the boys did in virtually every episode. But his attempt is a big fail, and he lands the back wheels of the Lee onto the top of a trailer.
As he does, we can see the inside of it. And instead of being someone’s actual trailer, it’s totally empty, and was obviously just a prop. Not that we blame them for using one, cause otherwise they’d just be destroying more stuff. But that one was probably on the editors for not cutting around it.
Dukes of Hazzard Blooper: The General Lee
Then there’s the fun little mistake regarding the way people get into the General Lee. Bo and Luke have their patented method where they jump through the open window. But viewers have also noticed that there were times in the series when other people, who wouldn’t necessarily know about that trick, have just decide to jump right in the same way. This was often without being told about that trick, or even seeing that the Duke cousins did it. And it’s also a hilarious blooper that in various times throughout the series, a hay stack serves as a way to stop a speeding car. Like somehow the soft hay, if it’s in a pile, can make a speeding car come to a halt. But hey, they had to find fun ways for the car chases to end, right?
Are you from around here?
These days, most actors are expected to speak in the appropriate accent based on where their character is from. If you’ve seen Mare of Eastown, you’ve seen a great example. But apparently in the 1980’s it wasn’t as much of a priority. While there are certainly some solid southern accents in Dukes of Hazzard as a whole, when it came to Tom Wopat and John Schneider, who played Bo and Luke… not so much. Not only did they not really have a Georgia specific accent, despite their characters having theoretically grown up there, but they also didn’t really have a southern accent in general.
And this was only made worse when they had time off in season 5 because of a contract dispute. But clearly fans of the show were okay with it, cause Bo and Luke were a couple of the most popular characters of the era. These types of issues didn’t apply only to the actors. As is common these days, the filming of the show didn’t take place in the setting the story takes place in. The workarounds are to make some trips to the real location for b-roll and extra footage, and then place that in selectively throughout the show.
But many people have noticed that there wasn’t a lot of care making the exteriors really look like authentic Georgia. Much of the plant life and the general terrain of the show’s exterior shots were ones that don’t actually appear in the state of Georgia. In the later seasons, they kind gave up even more. There are numerous shots of exteriors in the late seasons that show plant life that doesn’t even appear in the south, let alone Georgia!
Daisy Duke’s Daisy Dukes
The tiny shorts that Daisy Duke wore in the show ended up becoming a cultural phenomenon. So much so, short shorts were eventually just referred to as “Daisy Dukes.” But they almost weren’t even a part of the show. There was a lot of arguing as the show was in early production as to whether the shorts were appropriate. There were back and forths between Catherine Bach, who played Daisy, the production team, and the network.
At one point, a compromise was reached where Catherine could wear incredibly short shorts, but only if she had on pantyhose underneath. Even Bach was a little dubious on the outfit, until she went across the street and noticed that waitresses were wearing tiny miniskirts. So she felt like it wasn’t a huge leap for Daisy to wear revealing bottoms. And she ended up leaning into the decision, providing many of them for the costume department herself. She even posed in them for a poster, and it went on to sell 5 million copies. So clearly it was the right call.
Sorrell Booke Was Very Different
Sorrell Booke did an amazing job portraying the show’s villain, Boss Hogg. Hogg was a bit of an idiot, a glutton, and generally a pretty easy antagonist for the Duke boys to constantly beat. And Booke was incredibly convincing in the role. So you might think he was, at least in some ways, similar to his character. But in reality, he couldn’t have been more different form Boss Hogg. Booke was an Ivy League graduate who spoke several languages. He also served in the Army and was part of a top notch military intelligence unit. He wasn’t even as rotund as Hogg was, and had to wear a fat suit for the role!
Dukes of Hazzard Blooper: The Dixie Horn
One of the trademarks of the show was that when you pressed on the horn in the General Lee, it played a quick version of the southern anthem, “Dixie.” But this was actually just a happy accident, and wasn’t written into the show. The creators of the show knew they wanted something to play when the horn was pressed, but didn’t know what. One day, as they strolled down an Atlanta street, they heard a nearby car with the custom “dixie” honk. They quickly hustled over before he could drive away, and on the spot offered him a big chunk of change in exchange for the horn. And the rest is history!
Now it’s time to head from you. Who was your favorite character on The Dukes of Hazzard? Let us know in the comments section below!
