HossC

I recently posted pictures of Sorrell in '12 O'Clock High' from 1965. I then found a copy of a movie called 'Black Like Me' that he appeared in a year before. The sound on the video is horribly out-of-sync (like 20-30 seconds!) and the picture quality isn't great, so I won't bother posting a link, but I did get some screengrabs. I'll start with the title screen. The movie is based on the real life experiences of journalist John Howard Griffin, a white Texan who artificially darkened his skin to pass as a black man as he traveled across the deep South in late 1959. He spent six weeks traveling on Greyhound buses (occasionally hitchhiking) throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, and then wrote about the racism he encountered (from blacks and whites). Sorrell gets first billing after lead actor James Whitmore. It's quite prophetic how his name appears just above someone named Roscoe! About halfway down you'll also see the name Clifton James. Sixteen years later he would be re-united with Sorrell when he played Sheriff Lester Crabb in 'Treasure of Hazzard'. In the '12 O'Clock High' pictures I suggested that Sorrell was wearing a wig. The reason for that comment is that he was clearly already bald in 1964 (see below). He only has a small part in 'Black Like Me', playing the doctor who prescribes the pills and treatment to change John's skin color. I've looked up pictures of John Howard Griffin, and his transformation was quite convincing. Unfortunately, the same can't be said of James Whitmore, who transforms from a white man to a blacked-up white man. I half expected him to add white lipstick and start singing 'Mammy'!

Back in 1974 this song made it to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts. Billy Swan also wrote hit songs for many country artists, including Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, and Mel Tillis, and he played bass guitar for Kris Kristofferson.

It's not easy to cover a Beatles song and make it better ( appears on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), but Joe Cocker managed it. To people of a certain age (OK, my age), this song will also be forever known as the theme from 'The Wonder Years', which is why I went for the studio version. Many versions of his performance at Woodstock are also available on YouTube.

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Another one from the '80s - this one's from 1983: Kissing with Confidence - Will Powers Will Powers was the stage name of photographer-turned-singer Lynn Goldsmith. She used a vocoder to do the spoken parts, but the uncredited lead vocalist was Carly Simon. Reading through the YouTube comments, it looks like Lynn actually replies to them. Should I admit on a public forum that I have the shaped picture disc of this song? It's shaped like a pair of lips - you don't get that with MP3s .

I'll stick with the mid '80s. A rather large sample of this song was used in a 1993 hit for Utah Saints called

This song comes from the 1975 album 'Rhinestone Cowboy'. Country Boy (You Got Your Feet In L.A.) - Glen Campbell Country boy, you got your feet in L.A., But your mind's on Tennessee. I watched a great documentary on Glen a couple of weeks ago. It went from his time in "the Wrecking Crew" right up to the present day, and covered the good times and the bad (he's had plenty of both!). When I watched Garrett's selection of Dream Walkin' by Toby Keith last week, the top YouTube comment was "back when country was country!!!". If the commenter had that thought about a song from 1997, a song like this must blow their mind .

As I said in the previous post, I think the new model of Cooter's Camaro could've been more accurate. I had a quick play with image above and came up with the one below. They already have the correct wheels on other models, and most of the rest would just require changes to the decals.

I thought we should have a single thread to post information about Dukes-related diecast models, new and old. My interest lies in 1:18 scale models, but feel free to discuss other scales. Sadly, I don't currently have the funds or the space to add to my diecast collection (especially with a less favorable exchange rate than it was a few years back). That doesn't mean that I've stopped looking at new releases, so I thought I'd start this thread with a slightly belated round-up of some Dukes-related 1:18 scale cars that came out in the months before Christmas. The first three are released under the Johnny Lightning name, but I think they all use the old ERTL molds. The first is a reissue of the Double Zero Mustang from the 'Reunion' movie. I'm lucky enough to have one of the first issue from 2001 that came with a 1:64 version - with the new release you only get the 1:18 car. It's one of the older diecasts, and doesn't have the same level of detail as some of the more recent releases, but it's still a nice model. On the negative side, the flames haven't been updated to be any closer to the on-screen version, the grille still has the Mustang logo and chrome strip instead of just the two lights, and it's still missing the "GT" badges from behind the front wheels. Even more inexplicable is the addition of a small black hood scoop on the new version - the car in the movie never had one, and nor did the original diecast version, so I can't see why they added one now. Finally, the new packaging calls it "Cooter's Ford Mustang" - no idea where they got that from! After years of waiting, we can now get a reissue of a Hazzard patrol car with a light bar instead of the incorrect "gumball" lights we've been offered in the past (see inset). You may spot that it's still a '74 Monaco, which never appeared in the show (a couple of the Georgia episodes used a very similar '75), but I'm guessing the manufacturers used the same shell as 'The Bluesmobile'. I wish they'd do a '77/'78 Monaco or Fury, but this is the best attempt so far - they've even put the "SHERIFF" decals on the fenders this time (ironically, none of the Georgia patrol cars had these). Now we have a first issue, and this time it actually is one of Cooter's cars: his Chevy Camaro from 'Luke's Love Story'. From the pictures I've seen, the interior is pretty detailed and the engine looks great. They even custom-made the hood scoop for this model. It's a shame they didn't pay the same amount of attention to other aspects of the car. First the decals: the stripes are wrong (in several ways), the door numbers should be all straight lines, and the "Cooter" text behind the doors doesn't look much like the on-screen version. There should also be a "350" on the hood scoop. As for the other details: Cooter's car was missing its grille, it didn't have hood pins, the headlights were covered over with discs (not just painted), and it had slotted mag wheels. I'm hoping they'll reissue it with these points corrected, because none of them would require much work. Finally, I'll just remind y'all that the AutoWorld 'Silver Screen' General Lee is still available. It has a higher level of detail than the standard models, and the last release has several updated features, including the removal of the headrests, revising the decals and fitting a longer CB aerial. The three models above seem to retail online for between $50 and $60 each, whereas this one costs more like $90. If I didn't already own one of the ERTL 'Authentics' Generals, I think I'd buy one of these. NB. I've seen pictures of these that look as if the roof flag is missing - as far as I know, the flag is still there, but covered with a plain orange sticker. A post on the HNet Facebook page earlier this week seems to comfirm this. Still to come, AutoWorld are set to release a 1:18 model of Daisy's '71 Road Runner (Satellite) in the summer. I've seen dates of July and August, so I'll try and let you know nearer the time. There are no pictures available yet, but y'all know what it looks like!

After Alf Shumway posted his DVD box set on the Facebook page recently I decided to finish this montage that I started ages ago. I think I must've misheard Joan Jett . I love rock n' roll, So put another dime in the Duke box, baby. Just to clear up their origin, these box sets, containing seasons 1-7, were available for a short time in the UK when season 7 was released. There's one for sale on Amazon.co.uk at the moment for £150 (about $235). If I recall correctly, they were much more reasonably priced at around £70 ($110) when I first saw them. I would have bought one, but I already had seasons 1-6, and picked up season 7 for £10 ($16), so I couldn't really justify the extra £60 ($95) for a cardboard box and duplicate copies of the first six seasons.

Some lovely nature scenes, clips of the band, and a trip through Los Angeles in a gorgeous '65 Ford Mustang - what more do you want? L.A. Woman - The Doors

At the cinema he meets Ivy Wescott (Antoinette Bower). He's in the middle of trying to chat her up when she suddenly invites him back to her flat, hence his slightly bewildered expression. I briefly thought about hanging around my local cinema on a rainy afternoon, but quickly realized that I didn't have a uniform, and there isn't a war on in these parts! Back at her flat he pours two large whiskeys before having another change of conscience. As he leaves, he falls on a broken stair and winds up back in the hospital. At the hospital he has another heart-to-heart with Gen. Savage who's in the next bed waiting for a specialist surgeon to arrive and remove the shapnel from near his heart. Like Mufn, I won't spoil the ending, but there's a few more changes of conscience still to go. I thought I'd finish with a picture of Sorrell smiling.

I finally managed to watch the whole episode of 'Faith, Hope, and Sergeant Aronson', and got some more screengrabs. It was certainly different seeing Sorrell with hair, but I'm sure he was already bald by this point, so it must have been a wig of some sort. I've updated Sorrell's picture from the intro (a few posts back) with a larger version, so I thought I'd include the title screen. Sorrell plays the Sergeant Aronson of the title, and finds himself in hospital struggling with his faith. After his friend dies in the hospital he decides that life's too short to be moral, and heads off to town.

This song was originally released in 1969: I've chosen to post the live version from 1973 because it's the one I have. I know it's over eight minutes long, but it's lost none of its power over the last 40 years!

I've just looked at the scene you mentioned, and I think you're talking about the black shapes that I've arrowed in the picture below. I have seen them before, and as far as I know they are parts of a lens shade. They can generally be seen when the camera is mounted on a vehicle (like it is here), and are probably put there to prevent reflections from the vehicle causing lens flare, although they shouldn't be visible. I've borrowed the pictures below from the Bloopers thread. The first shows a similar issue when the camera mount is visible in 'Dukes Meet Cale Yarborough'. You also have to remember that the camera equipment was a lot bigger 30 years ago. Nowadays when you see vehicle-mounted cameras on shows like 'Top Gear' or 'Mythbusters' they are no bigger than a small torch. When Dukes was filmed they looked like this the one below, spotted in 'Double Sting' (you see another one on the General during the Styx River jump).

I'll have to find a way to return to our "back" theme at a later date, because I still had quite a few to go. In the meantime, I'll console myself with some rock and roll from 1959 :

Not only did the car run on moonshine, it also had its own still in the trunk. Just for the novelty value, here's a car jumping over an orange Charger. What a surprise - the Dodge doesn't make it to the end of the show. A second, massive explosion rips through the car as it comes to rest. It looks like the pyrotechnics guys had fun with this one. It's not all bad news for Charger fans - by the time Michael has run 50 yards from KITT, the Charger has become a black 4-door Fury or Monaco (and all the hay bales have disappeared). So there you have it - between two 'Knight Rider' episodes they manage to blow up a General Lee look-alike and burn down the Duke Farm.

I thought there were some screengrabs from this episode somewhere on HNet, but I couldn't find them when I looked yesterday. The episode was called 'Give Me Liberty... or Give Me Death' (S01E15), and concerned an alternative fuel race with a large cash prize. The reasons for the Dukes/General Lee comparisons are obvious when you see one of the race cars: An orange '69 Dodge Charger with Vector wheels does sound kinda familiar. Added to that, the car was driven by a couple of Southerners called Sonny and Lester Prince, who wore Confederate flags on their jackets. The car itself ran on moonshine (as did its drivers!). I love the way that the props department had to come up with a fake racing team name and ended up with "Racing Team". Here's the complete line-up of all six entrants. It's amazing that all six looked and sounded like regular petrol engines when they were introduced. Maybe we're more used to some of these alternative fuels being real-life realities nowadays. The orange car did differ from the General in one very noticeable way - the doors opened!

It looks like the guy behind the miniatures was Jack Sessums. Here's a picture I found on Jimmie's website: It's at the bottom of his page about the patrol cars. The caption reads: "MINIATURES: One Rosco car many overlook is the miniature. These were used late in the series and were all built by model-maker Mr. Jack Sessums who also built the miniature General Lees used in the series. Jack built miniature vehicles for almost all of the 80s action television shows including Knight Rider and Airwolf. He passed away in 2005 after a battle with cancer - but his work will be seen and enjoyed by many for years to come." If you do a Google image search you'll see him holding Airwolf, although most of the pictures seem to be from Knight Rider. I don't (yet ) know what happened to the Dukes models, but I did find out where KITT and the Knight Rider semi ended up: Miniature Semi and K.I.T.T.

I found an old MySpace page that has 18 behind-the-scenes pictures of the miniatures: The Dukes Of Hazzard Miniatures I wouldn't be surprised if the same crew did the miniature sequences in 'The Fall Guy' too. Here's one of the pictures:

The industrial plant at the end of 'Close Call For Daisy' is the San Fernando Valley Generating Station - see the last picture in this post (there's a Google Maps link too). I have now covered most of the filming locations in the Hazzard Square thread, and CDoherty has covered some more in the Valencia Oaks Movie Ranch thread. There are still a few places left to find, but we're knocking them off one by one .

There are quite a few scenes that were filmed at night, and it started in the very first episode. Take a listen to John and Cathy's commentary to 'One Armed Bandits' on the DVD. At the end of the chase around the Boar's Nest car park where Rosco's car (driven by Daisy) gets hit by a piano, John says: "Now this is night time. Look how dark the top of the car is. This means that we worked past sunset and now it's night time, 'cause those lights are really bright."

It's at the eastern end of Lake Sherwood, and still looks virtually the same today. I covered it in the 'Hazzard Square' thread before Christmas. Take a look at this post and you'll find a couple of screengrabs from the show, a couple of aerial views and a Google Maps link to the location.

Or "Matt Kenseth" days to go (he's driving Joey Logano's old number this year for Joe Gibbs Racing). I've looked at pictures of the 2013 Fords and Chevys, but I think this is the first time I've seen the 2013 Toyota: