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Dukes of Hazzard - The Complete Seventh Season, The

Warner Bros. // Unrated // December 5, 2006
List Price: $39.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by Ian Jane | posted December 5, 2006 | E-mail the Author
The Series:

As the saying goes, 'all good things must come to an end' and so The Dukes Of Hazzard officially went off the air at the end of its seventh season. There'd been a lot of ups and downs for the show, particularly during the fifth season, but the final run for Bo and Luke did manage to squeeze in a few episodes that stand as some of the best that the season had to offer. Sure, there are some odd gimmicks here, probably as an attempt to save the series which had fallen victim to dwindling ratings, but even if you take those out of the equation the good out weighs the bad. There's nothing here that will convert you if you aren't already a fan of the series, but for those who enjoy the show, it's a solid selection of action, cornball humor and comedy.

Everyone, or at least almost everyone, knows who The Dukes Of Hazzard are already but for the few who don't, here's a brief rundown of the premise – Bo and Luke Duke are two car loving guys who tend to get into trouble with the local law, run by the corrupt Boss Hogg and his cronies, even when they're obviously trying to do the right thing. As Waylon Jennings' theme song states, they are indeed very much like 'two modern day Robin Hoods.' They live with their Uncle Jesse, a wise man who always seems to know everything about everyone in town, and their sexy cousin Daisy, who waits tables at the local tavern and who isn't above using her feminine charms to help her cousins out of the hot water they always seem to find themselves in.

The entire series is pretty hokey and some of the humor might not seem edgy enough for today's audience (which would explain why the sexiness factor was turned up for the feature length movie that came out in 2005) but there's certainly a serious sense of nostalgia that the show delivers to those who remember its original run fondly. The series definitely found and audience, one which thrives to this day thanks to syndicated re-runs, and of course, DVD releases.

The seventh, and final, full season of The Dukes Of Hazzard ran from September 21, 1984 through February 8, 1985 and the episodes appear in this DVD set in their chronological broadcast order as follows:

Happy Birthday, General Lee: Bo and Luke are happy to celebrate the eighth anniversary of when they got their famous car by telling the story of how a pair of thieves used it as a getaway vehicle in a robbery. Bo and Luke later found it in a scrap yard and decided that they could fix it up to race it. The rest is history.

Welcome, Waylon Jennings: When Waylon Jennings comes to town with his traveling Nashville Museum in tow, two hoods decide to steal it and Waylon's assistant, Betty Jo (Shannon Tweed), thinks it was the Duke boys. Bo and Luke team up with Waylon to get the memorabilia back and Waylon treats everyone to a show at the local bar. Keep yours eyes open for a special guest appearance from Willie Nelson's pony tails (for real).

Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Duke: A chemical truck dumps a bunch of weird toxin into a small pond where Bo decides to take a drink from. After ingesting the stuff, he turns into a loudmouthed jerk and trash-talks everyone in town before deciding to rob Boss Hogg's bank. Luke knows this isn't like his cousin so he and the rest of the crew need to figure out how to stop him before its too late.

Robot P. Coltrane: Two hoods steal a high-tech robot and eventually sell it to none other than Boss Hogg who promptly fires Rosco and names the robot (which he names Robot P. Coltrane!) the new Sheriff. Of course, Rosco isn't too stoked about this and the Duke Boys really aren't too keen on the idea either.

No More Mr. Nice Guy: Boss figures he can put the Duke Boys behind bars if he cons them into thinking that they've won some prizes from a local store that are actually stolen. Before he can bust them for it, he gets conked on the head and actually turns into a nice guy for a chance – of course, that doesn't last.

The Dukes In Hollywood: The Duke Boys save a big time Hollywood star when he has an accident on the set of his latest film which just so happens to be shooting in Hazzard. The producer sees them and offer them some Hollywood work, which they accept, not knowing that Boss Hogg and Rosco are coming along for the ride whether they like it or not.

Cool Hands, Luke And Bo: Colonel Claiborne rules nearby Osage County with an iron fist and he makes Boss Hogg look like a saint by comparison. When Bo and Luke have to drive though his turf, they wind up doing time on a chain gang as part of Claiborne's scheme to ruin Boss once and for all.

Go West, Young Dukes: Boss Hogg figures he can take the Duke farm when he finds an old legal document where Jeremiah Duke signed over the farm to Thaddeus Hogg. The Dukes obviously don't want this to happen so they do some snooping around of their own and find their great, great grandmother's diary that explains how this all came to be.

Cale Yarborough Comes To Hazzard: NASCAR driver Cale Yarborough plays himself as he comes to Hazzard to visit a sick kid in the local hospital. Of course, Hazzard being so prone to bank robberies, it isn't long before he and the Duke Boys are working together to catch a pair of hoods.

Danger On The Hazzard Express: Boss Hogg hires three goons to rob a train using a remote control car so that he can get the goodies that are stashed inside. Unfortunately for the Duke Boys, the hoods smash up their car and choose the General Lee to use in its place. Look for Steve James of American Ninja fame in a guest role.

Sittin' Dukes: A pair of inmates bust out of jail and hide out in Hazzard so that they can track down Luke and make him pay – it seems Luke was responsible for sending him to prison in the first place. The Dukes get roped up in their scheme and Sheriff Little gives pursuit.

Sky Bandits Over Hazzard: A team of bank robbers use a helicopter to hoist an armored car into the sky. Of course, Boss fingers Bo and Luke for the crime but when it happens a second time he has no choice but to admit they didn't do it and so he and Rosco let them out of jail so that they can help catch the real crooks.

The Haunting Of J. D. Hogg: Boss' Uncle Silas has died and left him a sizeable inheritance that he has instructed Boss to give to charity. Bo and Luke know that Boss will keep the money for himself and so they fake a haunting where Silas' ghost shows up to teach his nephew a lesson. Tom Wopat directs.

When You Wish Upon A Hogg: Hughie Hogg is back ,this time to cheat his relative out of his entire fortune. How? By convincing Boss, who is prone to stupid stuff like this, that he has a bottle that contains a magic genie who grants wishes. You'd think Boss would learn...

Strange Visitor To Hazzard: Hazzard gets U.F.O. fever when a rash of spottings hits the town. Bo and Luke think it's all a load of bunk until they find an alien hiding in the back of their car. Bo and Luke put him up but it doesn't take long for Boss to hear about their find, which he intends to steal and then sell to the highest bidder.

Enos And Daisy's Wedding: Enos finds himself framed for the most recent robbery of Boss Hogg's bank. Daisy knows that he didn't do it but Boss and Rosco want to make her testify as she was there when it happened. To get out of having to testify against the only nice cop in town, she marries him. Wopat directs again.

Opening Night At The Boar's Nest: The final episode, directed by John Schneider, finds Boss and Lulu organizing a talent show to be held at the Boar's Nest. Rosco decides to enter and to make Boss disappear with his magic, but soon too tough guys with a grudge against Boss show up to complicate things for the crew.

When the dust settles and the tires stop squeeling, the last season of The Dukes Of Hazzard is not the best in terms of originality or character development but this far along in their collective saga, it really didn't matter. What we get here are some really odd twists (the inclusion of the robot and the alien episode to name just two) and a few fun guest stars. It feels a little desperate at times but that thankfully doesn't really hurt the show's charm much – if anything it just makes it all campier and funnier now that time has aged it to perfection like the fine cheese that it is. The cast members would go on to do different things but none of them would really get out of the show's shadow. Lately they seem to have embraced that, appearing at gatherings and in special features for the DVDs. It's a shame that Warner Brothers didn't include the TV Reunion special in this last set, however – that would have been swell to see.

Video:

The show was shot and composed for TV as we all know, so it shouldn't surprise anyone to see it presented here in its original fullframe aspect ratio. As far as the transfers go, it is a mixed bag. Some episodes fair better than others, but a few have got quite a bit of minor print damage present throughout. While this is to be expected on a show that's over two decades old, the real problem is once again with the mild to moderate edge enhancement and the aliasing that is noticeable throughout, giving quite a few scenes a shimmering effect that is mildly distracting. It's not all bad though – print detail is high and colors look good, while black levels remain pretty stable. So while it's not perfect, it is at least watchable and realistically looks as good as anyone probably figured it would and considerably better than the DVD releases of the earlier seasons.

Sound:

The episodes are presented here as they were originally broadcast, which is in Dolby Digital Mono. There's the odd snap crackle and pop on the soundtrack but overall it is pretty clean sounding. Levels are well balanced and there's a bit of lower front-end action in a few scenes that I hadn't expected but was pleasantly surprised by. Not much to complain about here, really. It's a good mono soundtrack with clear dialogue and well balanced levels. There are optional subtitles available in English, French and Spanish, and an English closed captioning option.

Extras:

The set contains menus and episode selection across each disc, and on the third disc you'll find a few other treats starting with the fifteen minute featurette, A Tribute To Waylon Jennings in which his widow talks about his love for the show and how he came on board. The three main stars of the series (John Schneider, Tom Wopat and Catherine Bach show up here as does the series creator and they talk about what a blast he was to work with. Along the way we get to check out some clips of his work and a few pictures as well. It would have been nice if this had been fleshed out more and given us some more background on Jennings, as he had an interesting life, but as a tribute piece it's quite effective.

Also included here is a video in which John Schneider, Tom Wopat and Catherine Bach cover Waylon's theme song for the show and a 'making of' documentary in which the three of them are interviewed about how this project tribute project came together in the first place. Neither of these are particularly remarkable but they do give us a look at what the three stars look like now and the footage from DukesFest 2006 that we see (all too briefly) is interesting in that it gives us a peek at just how rabid fans can be for this series.

Final Thoughts:

A few more supplements would have gone a long way towards sending the long running series off in style but as it stands, Warner Brothers has done a nice job with the set. Fans already know they want this, just to complete the series' run and The Dukes Of Hazzard – The Complete Seventh Season comes recommended to those who are established aficionados of those good ol' boys.

Ian lives in NYC with his wife where he writes for DVD Talk, runs Rock! Shock! Pop!. He likes NYC a lot, even if it is expensive and loud.

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