Road Pirates

Synopsis:

Hazzard has suffered a number of truck hijackings, so Bo and Luke fit nitrous oxide to Cletus’s patrol car to help him catch those responsible. Even with the state police combing the county, Boss Hogg still hands over $10,000 cash for $100,000 worth of stolen TVs. Just to confuse things further, one of the hijacked truckers claims that he was stopped by a Hazzard sheriff.

As Rosco was with Boss all morning, suspicion falls on Cletus, with Bo and Luke as his accomplices. All three make a run for it and, once free of Rosco, make plans to catch the real hijackers. After breaking into the Sheriff’s office they find that all the hijacked shipments originated in the same place, so Bo and Luke dig out their smart clothes from High Octane and head for the shipping terminals of Colonial City.

With a little help from Daisy, Bo and Luke get on board a couple of trucks in case they’re hijacked.

When Luke’s truck does get hijacked, he ends up at the hijackers’ warehouse and the scene is set for a dirt bike chase finale.

Commentary:

The recycling of old stunt footage is very noticeable in this episode with Cletus’s patrol car turning into an AMC Matador for the nitrous oxide jumps, twice!

At least Enos’s absence gets a mention when Waylon explains that Cletus was “called to active duty when Doc Petticord decided to separate Enos from his appendix.”

Highlights:

The slapstick comedy theme returns when Cletus, Bo and Luke escape from Rosco after being handcuffed together. First Cletus gets dragged straight into a lamppost, and then Boss and Rosco fall into a convenient area of wet cement – “You know, Boss’ paving company mixes the only cement that’s thin enough to fish in.”

Poor old Cletus doesn’t get a lot of luck in this episode, or as Waylon puts it: “I swear Cletus is the only man I know who’d be wrong if he voted ‘maybe’.” Rosco wants to issue an all points bulletin to have Cletus arrest himself, then Cletus has to appear in an identity parade on his own.

Cletus’s jumps may have been recycled, but we do get some brand new two-wheeled action at the end.

Trivia:

The Colonial City shipping terminal is actually located at the back of the church in Hazzard Square.

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