Hazzard Connection

Synopsis:

Augie Detweiller is running a smuggling operation, and Rosco’s determined to catch him, as soon as he figures out what’s being smuggled. He even lets the Dukes pass a roadblock so that he can stop a car carrier and search every car on it.

Bo and Luke get involved when Cooter asks them to pick up a couple of old junkers for Augie’s demolition derby. Bo then impresses Augie with his driving skills against Augie’s right-hand-man Shoulders in the concrete-lined slammer car (which still seems to be remarkably maneuverable).

Once they gain Augie Detweiller’s trust, the boys trace his operation to the old stone quarry in Stilson Canyon. Luckily, the cave has a back entrance, and after some fruitless searching of paperwork they discover Augie’s secret. He’s using the old clunkers to smuggle brand-new racecar engines from a recent boxcar robbery.

The boys decide to steal the car carrier so that they have some evidence for the state police. Augie and his henchmen give chase, but Jesse sees one of the cars off the road, and Luke unhitches the slammer from the carrier to sort out the other one.

Commentary:

Some episodes would certainly fail today’s political correctness standards, but in this one we get to see that one of Daisy’s jobs is fixing the tractor (as well as washing, cleaning, cooking etc.). With the tractor temporarily out of commission, we get our first look at the Dukes’ mule, Maudine.

Highlights:

As an aside from the main story, Bo seems infatuated with Bessie Lou, the new waitress at the Boar’s Nest. Luke spends the first half of the episode making fun of the way “she walks like a trucker,” has “shoulders like a linebacker” and how “her neck’s too long”. Of course, at the end of the episode there’s a double date: Bo with the “ugly new waitress” and Luke with her “even uglier sister.” Neither of them was heard of again.

Trivia:

John Quade, who plays Augie Detweiller, made several movie appearances alongside Clint Eastwood, including Westerns The Outlaw Josey Wales and High Plains Drifter. He was also Chola, the hapless leader of the Black Widows biker gang in Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can.

You may also spot Gerald McRaney (below, center) among Augie’s henchmen. This episode was recorded before his best known lead roles in Simon & Simon and Major Dad. McRaney was considered for the role of Luke Duke at one time.

–synopsis and vidcaps by Hoss (with info from The Dukes of Hazzard Unofficial Companion).