Synopsis:
Hazzard County meets its politest bandit when a masked man robs the County Commissioner in his courthouse office. The fella makes his get away in the passing General Lee because the Sheriff has towed his vehicle to the Impound Yard. The boys drive the robber out of town and then he orders the boys to get out of their car and tells them they will get the General back unharmed and gassed up since it’s the least he can do. Bo gets him to agree to a car wash too.
While the boys are making yet another escape from Rosco (Boss assumed that the masked robber was Bo Duke, seeing as he only saw Luke at the wheel of the General as it passed), Daisy meets a fella at the Boar’s Nest who gives her a down on his luck story, she agrees not only to let him stay the night in the barn but also to help him get his car back.
Bo and Luke make it to still site #2 (the one closest to the Boar’s Nest) to talk to their uncle, only be captured by the Sheriff, Enos and their employer Boss Hogg who says it was the boys who robbed him. While the boys are taken to jail, Jesse heads back to the farm with the truck where he meets Daisy and this fella, who says his name is Neil Bishop and he is a chicken rancher from Clarion County. At Daisy’s urging, however, Jesse heads to town with her car to try to figure how to help the boys out of jail.
Daisy in the meantime, picks up on Neil’s odd behavior (his itching to unload Jesse’s pick up truck…which was where he stashed the money when he drove the Boar’s Nest). She pulls the distributor cap from his car and when he tries to leave the farm, she holds a shot gun to him. The tables turn when Jesse comes back to the farm, Neil gets the gun from Daisy and Jesse arrives in time to confirm his suspicion based on the information Bo and Luke gave him at the jail, that the polite young man down on his luck was the same one that rob Boss.
Bo and Luke shuck and jive Enos that they want to confess….and they end up tying him to a chair and hanging him on a wall.
They return to the farm to find Jesse and Daisy being held by Neil. Neil explains his reasons for taking Bos’ss money, telling them how Boss sold him a worthless tractor and ten chicken incubators not worth a damn. “You tell a good yarn,” Jesse says, to which Daisy’s adds “but you’re still holding that gun.” Realizing he had no reason to be holding the Dukes at bay he throws the shotgun to Luke and the bag of money to Bo. He also tells them the bag contains “liquor money”. Realizing that Neil stole Boss Hogg’s illegal liquor money, the Dukes make a plan to help Neil out and clear own their names.
Commentary:
The first season showed us a lot of the Duke’s moonshine heritage. In the last few minutes of this ep, we meet a revenuer Harvey Essex.
This is a really good episode in spite of a blooper. The boys drove Jesse’s pick up to the still site because Daisy had it at the Boar’s Nest so she could pick up supplies. Jesse had to have taken her car to the still site since it is near the tavern, which is a few miles from town. He is getting out of the truck when Daisy and Neil pull up to the farm. How did Jesse manage to get both vehicles back to the farm. Seems the writers assumed people would not pick up on that.
Another interesting thing is the missed opportunities to id the robber with his torn army jacket. When the boys go to the Boar’s Nest they explain to Daisy what happened to them. She tells them that the General was just towed away from there. Prompted to describe what the robber looked like, all the boys offer was that he was wearing a mask. It’s not until after the boys are in jail and talking to Jesse that they describe the torn army jacket.
Some of the best lines. “That’s just like you Duke boys, leading a little boy into a life of crime. Does your Uncle Jesse know you’re doin’ this?” Rosco says that while the boys are shucking and jiving him by pretending a little boy is their partner.
A few scenes later, Luke asks his uncle why he brought a shotgun. Jesse replies, “Bein’ around the still without a shotgun is like being in church without a shirt on, it don’t feel right.”
It seems like Enos is up on the wall for a week because the episode starts with Boss in his office counting money, the balladeer says that J.D. does that on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Daisy mentions in one scene that it is payday. One of the last scenes with Boss, he is counting money again and the balladeer comments that it is Friday…again.
While Daisy and Neil in the General are leading Rosco on a chase, Bo dons the jacket and another mask in order to return the money to Boss, (“Who you calling Bo??”) Luke meets with Harvey at that time who tells the oldest Duke that Uncle Sam doesn’t like being part of a set up. The ending as a result is fast paced.
Highlights:
When we first see the boys, they are going to the post office to pick up a pair of mail order boots for Bo. The genuine leather footwear becomes the target of Luke picking on his younger cousin while they make their numerous escapes in this caper. By the end of the ep, Luke is pouring beer into the one of the boots since they are trashed.
Enos is hung on the wall when the boys make good on an escape attempt in order to get home where Daisy is with Neil. The funny part is Rosco comes in his office and calls to him over the cb, when Deputy Strate doesn’t reply, the good Sheriff proclaims, “I’m gonna tie you up and hang you on the wall like a side of beef.”
He leaves and Boss comes in a few minutes later and when he doesn’t find Rosco or Enos, he mutters, “You’d think in a police station, you’d find at least one cop….hangin’ around.”
Boss comes running out of the courthouse with the revenuer watching, he steps into the road as the General Lee flies by. He ends up on the hood of Rosco’s patrol cruiser when he doesn’t get out of the way. It makes for a funny moment because the Sheriff says “There’s Boss Hogg in the road down there. Get out of the way or I’m gonna hit you, Khee khee. OH! I am gonna hit him.” Sounds of vehicle coming to a stop and then, “What you doing up there on my hood, I bet that smarted.”
Just after Rosco helps Boss off and helps him realize that his money has been returned, the revenuer walks up to them as Boss declares that the Dukes are the craziest critters I’ve ever seen. The last thing we hear from Boss while he is led into the county building by Harvey who now has the bag is this classic. “Can’t you keep your mouth in a public place?!” When it was him who screamed about the money not the Sheriff.
It ends with the Dukes and Neil having a toast because as Daisy puts it. “Y’all realize we just pulled off a non robbery?” They discuss who should get the reward money. Since Neil was the one, he’ll get the money so he can continue in the chicken business.
Jesse asks the boys how they got out of jail. its Bo who reminds Luke they forget something. Enos, who is still hanging on the wall, sound asleep.
A balladeer line summons it all up nicely. “They don’t do nothing in Hazzard like they do it any place.”
Trivia:
The brown sign in front of the court house reads:
HAZZARD
COUNTY BUILDING
JIM BRONKE ATTORNEY AT LAW
AXTELL BAIL BONDS
HAZZARD LIBRARY
DEPARTMENT OF RECORDS
FARM BUREAU
HAZZARD WATER & POWER CO.
The Feed and Grain is on the same property as the Boar’s Nest. Happy Hour at the Boar’s Nest is from 12 to 12.
The revenuer agent drives the same make and model of car but different year as Jesse’s runner that was used in High Octane.
Fred McCarren who played Neil Bishop appeared on the 1983 sitcom Amanda’s which is the show that Rick Hurst (Deputy Cletus Hogg) left the Dukes of Hazzard cast to be in. Mr. McCarren was in several other movies and TV series, the most interesting of which is Hill Street Blues. That show costarred Kiel Martin who was younger cousin ‘Bobby Lee’ in the 1974 movie, Moonrunners. Which is how the Dukes Of Hazzard came to be.
Stu Nisbet who played revenuer Harvey Essex in this episode portrayed many roles during a 40 year career. The wide variety from a 1963 episode of Twilight Zone, 1966 episode of western Laredo, the 1974 – 1980 private eye show The Rockford Files, A comedy Mama’s Family in 1989, and over 40 movies. One of which was Thunderbolt and Lightfoot that DOH cast member Catherine Bach (Daisy Duke) was also in.
Synopsis by Tara, vidcaps by Hoss
Wanna watch this episode right now? You can download it from Amazon.com for just $1.99!
 |  |  |
You must be logged in to post a comment.