New Dukes Items - 11/30/2018 - Dukes Movie Items

It's hard to believe that there are still Dukes of Hazzard movie treasures out there that I haven't added to the collection yet, but I still find some now and then.  Let's take a look at all these pieces that have Johnny, Seann, and Jessica on them instead of Tom, John, and Catherine.

First up is this European only released Radio Controlled General Lee.  Not to be confused with the American release by Malibu International, this 1/18 RC is an entirely different car.  I knew it was out there, but have been looking for one for years.

The Charger body looks a little off.  It almost seems like the hood is pointing down.  It's not the best representation we've seen of the General Lee in 1/18 scale.

The RC car was made by a company called Hitari.  Google tells me that they also released a radio controlled KITT and Airwolf helicopter.

The back of the box lists the features of the car including a "turbo boost" feature.  They must have lifted that from their Knight Rider release.  The description used for the movie is the same one that is on several other movie items including the movie 1/18s.

The bottom of the box shows that this car needs a lot of batteries and that Hitari Limited is based in Bedfordshire, England.  It came out in 2005 when all the other movie stuff came out.

I'm glad I tracked this foreign toy down.  It proved to be rather difficult to find.  I'm pretty sure I have all the movie toys, but you never can tell.

Next up are a couple of different releases of the movie on DVD.

First up in an Australian release of the movie in a fun holographic box.  It features the most commonly used artwork that is featured on the main poster and the standard American DVD release.  It is a part of the Platinum Collection and was sold at K-Mart down under.

The back of the box is basically the same as the American release.  Besides the holographic portion on the front, the main difference is that this is a region 4 DVD.  It would not work in our DVD players.  I love finding these foreign releases, as evidenced by this post of foreign DVD releases.  Chock up another one for the collection.

Next up is a new "2 Film Collection" recently released by Warner Bros.  It features the Dukes movie and the 2004 reboot of Starky and Hutch.  I remember when I first heard they were making a new Starsky and Hutch movie, I knew it would only be a matter of time until we got a new Dukes.  Early rumblings had Ashton Kutcher cast as Luke, Paul Walker as Bo, and Britney Spears cast as Daisy.  Those rumors weren't too far off base as we got Ashton's "Dude, Where's My Car?" co-star and another pop superstar in the finished product.  I always thought casting Paul Walker would be type casting him as he basically played Bo in the F&F movies.  I would say the Dukes movie is better the the S&H movie, but neither compare to their respective originals.

The back of the box is marked 2018.  Keep giving us new Dukes of Hazzard stuff Warner Bros.!!!  Please!!!!

This is not the first time these two movies have been sold together.  Here is another 2 movie set I have from several years ago.

I recently picked up these four Cottman Limited edition Dukes of Hazzard NASCAR 1/64s.  I already have a few, but can't pass up a bargain.

There was a promotion with Cottman Transmissions to promote the movie between November 2005 and January 2006.  The Dukes of Hazzard Holiday Gift Pack was available at Cottman Centers.  The official description for the gift pack reads:

"The Holiday Gift Pack will be available from the end of November through the first week of January, 2006 with any service or fluid change. Each gift pack will include a limited edition diecast Cottman 1/64 scale NASCAR/General Lee racecar (limited to 5,000 pieces) and a coupon from Warner Bros for $5 off the purchase of The Dukes of Hazzard DVD. The retail value of this package is $13.00 Available at participating stores"

This car was driven by Sterling Marlin during one race in 2005.  I am not sure about the rules with NASCAR tie-ins, but it seems like a missed opportunity for any car to have the Dukes logo on the hood and not be numbered 01.

The back of this package has the same description as the other car and also has it in French.  It mentions Sherif, fais-moi peur! which might be the only toy to have the French title on it.  I'll have to do some digging to confirm that.

Next up is yet another movie mylar.  This one is the medium sized mylar.  I already have the small and large varieties.   These are used in some movie theaters above the auditorium door.

I didn't know there were three different sizes of these things until this year.  Jeff got me the small one back in 2014.  I didn't know they existed at all until then.  I picked up the large one this Spring and now tracked down this medium one.  I wonder if that's it for these guys.

Oh man, these pants have driven me crazy.  I finally have them all.  Way back in my second ever DukesCollector post, I was complaining about how hard these Wal-Mart pants are to find.  They were sold at every Wal-Mart in the country in 2005 and yet they are so difficult to come by now.  I've had the brown Boars Nest pair since 2012 and finally added the other three to the collection.

The four of them look great together... finally.

The package is the same on each pair.  They feature the movie Z logo and a familiar shot of the General Lee.  The background is the same design used on all movie products.

The pants were made by Exquisite Apparel.  Google tells me that they are a clothing wholesaler based in New York.

The back of the package shares its design with the Dukes movie toys and has a feature list that is similar to the RC car features.  Instead of "Working Lights" and a "Yee Haw Button" the pants feature "roomy fit" and "button fly."  Also on the back package is the original price of $11.93.  I paid so much more for these pants.  So much more.

There are two different General Lee themed pants.  They are very similar to each other.  Both are mostly blue and feature the Gen'ral and large 01s.  The biggest picture of the General on the top pair is at an angle where the biggest picture on the other pair is a profile.  The profile print says General Lee where the other one has stars.  We shall call the top one Blue Star General Lee Pants and the bottom one Blue General Lee Profile Pants.  You got to have official names for everything.  It's a rule.

The other two pairs are easier to tell apart.  The grey pair has Johnny and Seann's heads floating around as well as stylized pictures of the General Lee, big Yee Haws, and the Z logo.  Everyone needs sleep pants with Johnny Knoxville's head on them.

The fourth pair is the pair I've had the longest.  It features the movie's Boars Nest logo.  They are brown and have the tagline "Best Brew in Hazzard."  I like this take on the Boars Nest, but like everything movie related, the show version is just better.  All four of these pants are still in their original packaging that include a hanger.  I'm so happy I finally added this entire set to the collection.  It was not easy.

The final item in this movie themed post is a German movie poster.  Man, do I love the foreign variants.  In Germany, the Dukes of Hazzard is called Ein Duke Kommt Selten Allein.  That translates to A Dukes Seldom Comes Alone.  Which probably references the fact that Bo and Luke are almost always together.  I have a German version of the movie on UMD, but haven't tracked down a German DVD yet that is being advertised on this poster.  It's interesting that the American version says "Cousins, Outlaws, Thrillbillies" on the license plate above the word "Unrated."  This German version says "Die Version. Die."  When translated, the whole message on the license plate says "The version that was too hot for cinema, uncensored."

I have to be getting close to owning just about everything movie related out there.  But I am just about to start to search for German DVDs of the movie, and I'm sure I'll stumble across other movie items I don't own yet.  I stress yet.  The search continues!!!

40th Anniversary Of The Dukes of Hazzard Celebration - January 26, 2019 in Nashville TN

This is going to be amazing! On January 26, 1979 the Dukes of Hazzard premiered and the world fell in love with Hazzard County.  Now, 40 years later, to the minute, the world is invited to relive the premiere episode with the cast of the show.  Catherine, Ben and Miss Alma are hosting a weekend full of events all centered around the pilot episode, One Armed Bandits is being shown at the Troubadour Theater with the Dukes cast at 8pm, January 26h, 2019, exactly 40 years after it was first aired.

The celebration takes place January 26 and January 27, 2019.  The events will begin at Cooter's in Nashville Saturday morning.  There will be autographs and photo ops, fan get togethers, cars and collectibles.  It will be so much fun.  Saturday evening there will be a "Toast and Talk" at 7 at the Troubadour followed by the screening at 8.  The party then moves to the Nashville Palace for a Celebration Concert by the cast and special guest Whey Jennings.  Dukes of Hazzard definitely runs through Whey's blood as he is the grandson of none other than Waylon Jennings.

Sunday will be more autographs, more cars, more photo ops, and more fun.  Catherine, Tom, Sonny, Rick, Ben, and Alma invite everyone to this once in a lifetime event.  I can't wait to watch One Armed Bandits with the Dukes.  Tickets to the screening and concert are limited as there is limited seating.  They are available on Cooter's Eventbrite Page.  

You don't want to miss this event.  You know I won't miss it.  It has been a few years since I've been to Nashville and I can't wait to get back.  I am also excited to visit in the winter.  By the end of January here in Pennsylvania, I'm sure I will want a break from the snow.  Nashville will be the perfect escape.  

Some of you might be thinking that showing One Armed Bandits at 8pm isn't 40 years later because the Dukes originally aired at a later time slot, 9pm, during the beginning of the first season.  Miss Alma already thought of that.  Nashville is in the Central Time Zone.  When Dukes of Hazzard originally premiered at 9pm in the Eastern Time Zone, it was on at 8pm in the Central Time Zone.  Remember the old commercials "8, 9 Central?"  Miss Alma is always one step ahead.  

We have more announcements about the event to come including some cool photo fun.  This is going to be great.  I can't wait!

New Dukes Stuff - 11/10/2018 - The Dukes Pencil! Eddie Macon's Run Items, Bobbleheads and More

It's time for another blog filled with Dukes of Hazzard goodness including one of the absolute hardest to find golden era items in the world.

Eddie Macon's Run was a movie John Schneider starred in that was released in 1983.  It was based on a novel of the same name.  Starring along side John was a little know actor named Kirk Douglas, obvious sarcasm, and it also marked the film debut of an actual little known actor at the time, John Goodman.  It follows the tale of a wrongfully incarcerated man, John, and his break out from jail and run from the law, Kirk.  These are some items from the movie.

First up is a lobby poster featuring a large picture of John and his leading lady, Lee Purcell, along with another shot of John and Kirk Douglas.  Even though John was the star, when Kirk Douglas is in your movie, he rightfully gets top billing.  The movie's tag line is "Eddie Macon is running from a nightmare... running to a dream... and running for his life."  That's one heck of a tagline.

Next up is a VHS copy of the movie.  I'm not sure how long after the theatrical release home videos came out back then.  This tape is marked 1983, the same year the movie was released in theaters.  Until Top Gun was released on VHS in 1987 for $26.95, movies cost between $80 and $100 on VHS.  They were mostly sold to rental stores such as Blockbuster, and our local rental place, Videoland.  So this copy had to cost a lot when it was first released.

It is in nearly perfect condition, but seems to have been a rental because it has a "please rewind tape" strip on it.  Maybe it wasn't the most popular movie on the shelves, but who could resists Bo Duke and Spartacus together in one movie?  The back of the tape box mentions Dukes of Hazzard!

Also included is a copy of the book the movie was based on.  It is a rerelease of the novel that's described as "The breathtaking thriller now a Universal movie starring Kirk Douglas and John Schneider."  It has another large picture of John on the cover.  These three items make a nice package of Eddie Macon's Run items.  They aren't worth that much as they aren't that sought after but make a nice little addition to the Dukes collection.  I can file them with the Christmas Comes to Willow Creek items I own that include some autographs and a press release.

Lately I have been buying these Ertl 1/64 carrying cases whenever I see them for inexpensive prices.  I guess I've bought a lot recently.

One even came with some Duke cars included.  Hmm, what can I put inside these cases?

Oh that's right, I never stop buying Dukes 1/64s.  This is my latest haul.  They come from ebay, local shops, and a few come from a recent Fred Peters Auctioneers action.  John Peters had an auction filled with mostly '90s toys like Spawn figures, later Star Wars stuff, and some comic books.  There were a few gems hidden within like some Dukes trading cards and a few of these Ertls.

Also incuded in the "Larry lot" as John called it was this orange Charger General Lee rip off that I have never seen before.  It is clearly a Gen'ral wanna be and not just an orange Charger because it has a push bar that is similar to Ertl's take on it, but the whole grill and bar are black.  It has a tan interior, which the golden era Ertls did not have- they had black.

The bottom just says Dodge Charger and made in Hong Kong.  I wonder who made this car.  It's not a Yatming that made several different General Lee rip offs.  I'm glad John found it for me.  Into the Ertl carrying case it goes.  I love filling those things up.

Next up is a odd item.  It's an officially licensed Daisy Duke notebook straight from WBShop.com.  When the new complete series DVD set came out earlier this year, I ventured to Warner Bros's official online store to see if they were selling it.  I was pleasantly surprised to see not only were they selling it, they had a few more Dukes items listed.  I couldn't buy them quick enough.  They offer three items that are all Daisy Duke themed.  First up is this notebook.  I didn't take it out of its plastic wrapping.  

The other two items came packaged like this.  Not the most displayable items in the collection.  But I decided to keep them sealed.

Luckily, WBShop has a nice picture of each item.  This is the notebook.

 They also offer Daisy Duke notecards.

And a Daisy Duke poster.  All three items use the same (great) picture of Daisy.  I have a suspicion that they are all "print to order" items.  The note cards measure 3.5 by 5 inches and you get 25 of them.  The poster is 10 inches by 15 inches.  The notebook is 5 inches by 8 inches and has 160 pages.  They are certainly weird items, but I'll take anything I can get that from WB that acknowledges the Dukes of Hazzard actually exists.  If buying these items makes WB see that we want more new Dukes items, everyone should go get these pieces.  Do you hear us WB?!  We love the Dukes of Hazzard and want more!!!!

Speaking of getting more Dukes of Hazzard.  Hampton Inn wants everyone to be reminded of the Dukes of Hazzard.  I guess.  This is weird.  Apparently Hampton gives these coffee cup sleeves to all its guests.  It seems to me whoever designed them is a Dukes fan.  My guess is there are other numbered items in the room.  Coffee would be number 1, maybe a pastry would be number 2, and so on meaning they want you to drink coffee as soon as you wake up... maybe.  The zero in front of the one definitely makes this Dukes inspired.  

Several friends have given me these lately.  I love when people see Dukes-like stuff and think of me.  My goal is for everyone to see Dukes of Hazzard and think of Larry Franks.  One day.  I have also seen many people online post pictures of these little Hampton coffee sleeves and equate them with the Dukes.  Maybe Hampton Inn is trying to be the official hotel of the Dukes of Hazzard.  This is a good start.

And since we're talking about giving us more Dukes of Hazzard, no one gives us as much Dukes of Hazzard as Cooter's Place.  It is the center of all things Dukes.  We love it.  They have a few new items that I had to share with everyone.  First up is this awesome General Lee jumping Rosco bobble head.  I guess it's technically a bobble head because A. it bobbles, and B. it says so on the box.  It does not, however, have a head that bobbles.

The package design is very nice.  It features the General Lee both from the front and in the air.

The car is about in between 1/64 and 1/43 in scale.  This is a very nice piece.  The box mentions collect them all.  I wonder what else Cooter's has up their sleeve.

Well another bobble head.  This actually has a head that bobbles!  This is the Cooter's Official Bobblehead Ben Jones AKA "Crazy Cooter."

This is another fine product.  Cooter features his signature yellow hat and brown work shirt.  The box design is really nice as well.

Both of these bobble heads are available at all three Cooter's locations as well as Cootersplace.com.  They are limited though. Act fast!  I like that Cooter's is moving into the collectible market.  This should be fun.

Speaking of Cooter's, here is a Cooter's Garage cup full of pencils.  Let's call this a pencil cup.

The pencils that are held within this cup all come from Cooter's and have great designs.  There are pencils decorated with the General Lee, Daisy's Jeep, Cooter's tow truck, Boss's caddy, and more obscure cars like Lucifer, Cooter's Camaro, and the #44 stock car.  There are also fun color changing pencils.  These are great additions to the collection and are all readily available from Cooter's.  But there is a pencil that is not readily available.  There was once a pencil created during the golden era of Dukes that for some reason has become one of the most scarce Dukes items out there.  I've been trying to track one down for years.  I came close before, but it always slipped through my grasp.  Until now!

Presenting the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil!  I asked DukesCollector Cooter to put on white gloves when holding the pencil, but neither of us could find any tiny enough to fit his hands.  Oh well.  I am so excited to add this regular old pencil to my collection.  It is so rare and so awesome.

The design is pretty simple.  It features artwork of our three cousins and the General Lee wrapped around the pencil.

Bo is on top.  The artwork doesn't have much detail.  The white pencil uses black, blue and orange colors.  This doesn't leave any room for detail on the faces.

The General is below Bo on two wheels.  Below the General is Daisy.  Each character has a label below them.

General Lee is jumping below Daisy and Luke is on the bottom.  There are stars throughout the design.

The tiny Gen'ral has enough detail to be recognizable, but not enough to require more than the orange color.  The 01 and flag are just drawn in black.  It also says Dukes of Hazzard a few times on the pencil.  I am sure so many students took this pencil to school in the early '80s.  You weren't cool unless you took a test using the official Dukes of Hazzard pencil!

The pencil is trademarked 1982 and created by Leadworks.  Those keeping score at home should recognize the name Leadworks.  They made another product that is incredibly hard to track down.

I half expected sparks to fly and I think I heard angelic music when I inserted the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil into the Leadworks Dukes of Hazzard pencil cup.  Both of these items are super rare.  They are both marked Leadworks Inc. Cleve. OH.  The artwork of the cousins is shared on both of them.  Poor Boss Hogg didn't make it onto the pencil.  I am very fortunate to have the pencil and the cup.  These are killer pieces.

Cooter says hats off to the pencil and pencil cup.  He's pretty shocked I was able to add them to the collection, and so am I.