Shot In The Dark: The Perils Of Excessive Artistic License

July 14, 2005

The Perils Of Excessive Artistic License

Ben Jones, who played "Cooter the Mechanic" on the original "Dukes of Hazzard" TV series, doesn't like the treatment his treasured family classic received in Hollywood:

"From all I have seen and heard, the "Dukes" movie is a sleazy insult to all of us who have cared about the "Dukes of Hazzard" for so long ... ," Jones wrote. "Unless they clean it up before the August 5th release date I would strongly recommend that true blue Dukes fans hold their noses and pass this one up."

A spokeswoman at Warner Brothers pictures, which is releasing the movie, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment on Wednesday.

I can't make this stuff up.

It's not like I was a big fan of the original - I'm pretty dyspeptic about most TV, really - but for all of Jones' complaining, I have to wonder; if the show were coming on the air today, would it be as "family" as it was back then?

(Via Red).

Posted by Mitch at July 14, 2005 12:02 PM | TrackBack

Comments

I noticed that unlike the remakes of "Lost in Space," "The Brady Bunch," and “Battlestar Galactica” that none of the original cast members listed on www.imdb.com are making even a cameo appearance. Usually when a popular show is being remade into a movie or a new series with new cast members and some of the original ones agree to appear in cameos, it’s usually taken as a positive sign by the fans of the original.

Posted by: Thorley Winston at July 14, 2005 11:00 AM

Anything with that SCARY-looking Jessica Simpson in it is out as far as I'm concerned (someone noted she looks like Ricky Martin..). My daughter related a story (probably from Oprah or some other asinine TV show) that Jessica was going to be a gospel singer, but, dang, her boobs were just too big for that and the Christian music establishment wouldn't "let" her sing gospel. Yeah...right...So, she goes directly in the oppposite direction making you wonder how it was that she even contemplated Christian music in the first place. What a load of crap (and my daughter believed it till I nastily pointed out that she apparently will believe ANYTHING!).

Anyway, we had a little Dukes of Hazzards fan here for years (until he grew up, left the house and got married).

Posted by: Colleen at July 14, 2005 02:11 PM

I can't stand ANY of Simpson's music (and her sister is worse), but I'll give her this much, she doen't go COMPLETELY the other way from Gospel. She, alone, was probably the only pop star of her generation to openly espouse abstinence until she got married.

Worth something, right?

Posted by: Allison at July 14, 2005 03:16 PM

Yep, that's true, Allison. I heard that her dad said that as long as they waited til they were married he didn't care if they went at it like jack-rabbits (or something like that!). That IS refreshing and I'll give her points for that.

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