The Runaway

Synopsis:

While the Duke Boys are out testing the General they get passed, and covered in mud, by some strangers. For once, Rosco chases the out-of-towners who pull over at the Boar’s Nest when their car overheats. The driver and his colleague introduce themselves as private investigators who’ve been tasked with escorting their client’s daughter to a cruise ship in Miami. You can almost see the dollar signs in Boss’s eyes when they reveal that their client is millionaire businessman C.J. Holmes.

When Bo and Luke arrive, they complain about the private investigators’ driving, but with the smell of money in the air, Boss refuses to let Rosco give them a ticket. While they’re all arguing, Suzy Holmes slips out of the car and into the General. Just down the road, Bo and Luke discover their “hitchhiker” and take her back to the farm where Daisy lends her some clothes.

Suzy explains that she’s running away from her father because he won’t let her marry the farmer she fell in love with at college. Unsurprisingly, Jesse nearly explodes when he hears this, and gives a speech about how “the farmers is the backbone of this US of A nation.” They manage to contact Suzy’s fiancé, Fred, and arrange for him to fly in and get married. When they spot the henchmen approaching, they quickly come up with a car switch to evade them. The switch works, but then Rosco gets on their tail, and their plan to cross Putnam’s Creek on a barge doesn’t work out so well.

They escape from custody by pushing Rosco out of the way on a wheeled chair, and find that L.B. has already dried out the General and parked it just around the corner. To throw their pursuers off the scent, the boys swap cars with Daisy, who cautions them that she’s just waxed her car, so they’re not to get a speck of dust on it. Meanwhile, the “detective dudes” pick up C.J. Holmes from the airport, and set about searching Hazzard. Their first port of call is the garage, but the Dukes have put Suzy under a car in one of L.B.’s coveralls (although it’s very clean and a snug fit!).

Unfortunately, the henchmen run into Uncle Jesse and kidnap him. The boys go after him, but run into Rosco and Enos. For the second time in one episode their escape plan fails when the accelerator on Daisy’s car gets stuck on Kissin’ Cliff. Bo and Luke jump to safety, but the car isn’t so lucky.

The boys manage to steal Enos’s patrol car (and Rosco’s keys) and head back for town. In the meantime, Jesse gets a chance to lecture C.J. Holmes about ruining his daughter’s life and doing what’s right. A swap at Crystal Lake Bridge is arranged over the CB., which Fred hears in his rental car on the way from the airport.

Fred makes it to the bridge just in time, and after pushing C.J.’s associates into the water they escape with Suzy and Uncle Jesse. The wedding goes ahead as planned, and C.J. Holmes not only gives his approval, he also give Daisy a bridesmaid’s gift: a Jeep called Dixie.

Commentary:

Boss’s love for money is laid on pretty thickly here. After hearing that C.J. Holmes gave someone an oil well for returning his cocker spaniel, he spends most of the episode working out his reward for returning C.J.’s daughter.

Although Daisy’s yellow car would mysteriously reappear a couple of episodes later, Dixie became her car for the rest of the series. It did, however, soon lose its doors and the “golden eagle” text on the hood.

Highlights:

In one of the best know goofs of the series, when Daisy’s car goes over the cliff, a head pops up in the back seat just after the boys jump out.

The humor in this episode comes mainly from the Sheriff’s department. Enos’s day off bass fishing (in uniform, with his patrol car) is interrupted by a call on the CB. This initially causes him to fall into the water, and later he finds a fish in his waders. After Rosco and Enos get stranded at Kissin’ Cliff they have to get towed back to town.

According to Waylon, “When they told Daisy about her car, she took it pretty good.” In reality, she chases Bo and Luke around the yard with a frying pan.

Trivia:

One of the private investigators, Les Sloane, is played by Lance LeGault. He’s better known to A-Team fans as Colonel Decker. He also provides the voice of the Balladeer for the 2004 video game The Dukes of Hazzard: Return of the General Lee.

The part of C.J. Holmes is played by veteran stage and screen actor Robert Alda. In real life he’s the father of Alan Alda who played Hawkeye in M*A*S*H.

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