So whatever happened to Luke after Uncle Jesse booted them Duke boys outta the farm?

He became Roscoe P. Coltrane.

By Jason Hink

That’s right! Our favorite General Lee passenger-ridin’-shotgun is back in County Line, a 2017 action crime-drama from Imagicomm Entertainment and INSP Films, starring ol Luke Duke himself, Tom Wopat, along with Jeff Fahey, Patricia Richardson, Dendrie Taylor and Abbi Butler. Following a theatrical run in spring 2017, County Line aired on the INSP cable network the following year. A DVD was originally issued by Cinedigm around the same time before this new DVD from Imagicomm was released in Dec. 2022, brought to us courtesy of distributor Mill Creek Entertainment. It’s good, clean fun with nicely-paced action—the type of film you can watch with the folks over the holidays.

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In Maksville County, Sheriff Alden Rockwell (Tom Wopat) is having a rough go of it. He’s respected, has a wife and daughter, and a good working relationship with neighboring York County Sheriff, Clint Thorne (Jeff Fahey). But despite years of service keeping his rural county’s law and order in check, he’s just lost re-election to a local rival, and now Sheriff Preston (Grant Goodeve)is in charge. On top of that, Rockwell’s wife (Melissa Kay Glaze) is ailing…and she passes away on election night (talk about a crappy day!).

And that’s not all. While Rockwell’s buddy, Sheriff Thorne, is busy kicking butt and taking names in York County, he also wins re-election…but sadly, his Rockwell won’t be around to help out anymore as the unofficial Maksville-York County partnership is broken up. Fast-forward a year later and Rockwell’s daughter, Ember (Abbi Butler), has been distant. Turns out, she has more bad news for her pops—she’s military, and she’s getting shipped out, leaving poor Rockwell all alone to fend for himself and the pigs he raises on the family farm. But hey, at least he has Doc Bronson (Lance E. Nichols) around to pester him with a barrage of unwanted phone calls warning him that he has heart issues, and he needs to get in for a surgery, stat!

What else can go wrong for Maksville’s former sheriff? Plenty, of course. But it’s not like he’s retiring to a reclusive life on the ranch. He still likes to visit his old pal, Sheriff Thorne, at the local greasy spoon, Maddie’s at the County Line, owned and operated by Maddie Hall (Patricia Richardson), who just happens to be single herself. It’s a fun place; Rockwell and Thorne each sit across from each other at their favorite table—a table in the center of the restaurant. See, Maddie’s at the County Line is exactly that; the restaurant itself straddles both counties, and the two police buddies’ table in the middle of the restaurant also straddles that line (when Rockwell orders a beer, Maddie reminds him that she can’t serve it to him because he’s technically in Maksville County. So she serves it to Thorne instead, sitting across the table on the York County side, who then slides the beer over to Rockwell. My kinda place!).

The poop hits the fan when local mobsters led by Zack Van Zant (Ric Reitz) are suspected in a series high-level burgles and money laundering schemes, with the hilarious Prattler brothers (Brian F. Durkin, Michael Ruff, and Davis Osborne) the henchmen carrying out the crimes (I get a good chuckle from their overly-thick Southern accents; during an armed robbery attempt at Maddie’s, one of the brothers is heard exclaiming, “I’m unna keel yew!” before they’re dispatched by lunch buds Rockwell and Thorne).

Things go from bad to worse when Sheriff Thorne, who is also a regular on the regional racing circuit, lets off some steam at the local dirt track with the town’s mechanic Skooter (Danny Vinson) on hand watching, and a sniper takes him out, hospitalizing the sheriff. When Rockwell learns his old buddy has been seriously wounded, Thorne’s feisty wife Jordan (Dendrie Taylor) hires Rockwell as a private investigator to look into the case, pissing off York’s next-in-command, squirrelly Deputy Sloan (R. Keith Harris). With all these shady characters as potential suspects, it’s a chance meeting with a mysterious teenager (Patrick Johnson)—who may or may not be affiliated with whoever is leaving behind a graffiti calling card—that leads Rockwell down the rabbithole of the source of smalltown corruption and murder.

I didn’t know what I was getting into when I sat down to watch County Line. With Tom Wopat the star, I was prepared for classic TV-level action with a dose of down-home country values and good-ol-boy characters tongue-in-cheek enough to offset any gunfights and fisticuffs to not be too offensive. There’s definitely much of that here, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing; I really enjoyed County Line! Maybe it helps that I was a huge fan of The Dukes of Hazzard growing up (the original, not the later reboots and remakes), so I was looking forward to watching Wopat again for the first time since those golden days of TV (back when TV was escapist and fun).

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And Wopat doesn’t disappoint. It’s always a crapshoot when watching a childhood favorite 35-40 years later because, well, you know how it is when revisiting an old movie or show…sometimes you catch yourself thinking, Wow, I thought this was good??…but as I watched County Line unfold, I couldn’t stop thinking just how good (and natural) Wopat was in the role of former Sheriff Alden Rockwell. In fact, it was such a natural fit that I could see Rockwell as the senior citizen version of Luke Duke, had Luke eventually got off probation and become the “good” sheriff of Hazzard County (sorry, Enos). It’s a silly thought, for sure…but not completely unfounded: the rural setting, the loose-with-the-law cops, the family farm, and the awe-shucks demeanor of all involved are all reminiscent of that fictional TV county from long ago. Even Maddie’s restaurant reminds me the Boars Nest (good job to scripters Jon Nappa, Shea Sizemore, and Jason White for playing to these strengths, intentional or not. Or maybe they just know their audience well). It should be noted that this isn’t the first time Wopat’s played a sheriff; he portrayed Sheriff Jim Wilkins for 6 episodes in one of my mom’s faves, A&E’s Longmire, but I’ve never watched it.

County Line sports solid pacing, thanks to director Shea Sizemore’s inserting action set-pieces at the right moments, allowing the exposition and talky parts to not muck up the proceedings. Just when I thought we were getting a scene that was going to drag, the action picks right back up and we’re on to the next bit of plot. (Again, this crew knows its audience. Well done.)

But while the direction is strong, it’s really the characterizations that make County Line a pleasure to watch. Along with the aforementioned Wopat’s strong performance, we get a parade of characters, each with their own quirks and distinct, memorable personalities. From Patricia Richardson’s Maddie, who is laid back yet inspirational; to Danny Vinson’s Skooter (who not-so-coincidentally reminds me of Cooter from The Dukes), the characters are generally all strongly drawn, with Jeff Fahey adding some heft as the aging-but-still-vigorous Sheriff Thorne. Abbi Butler, who plays Wopat’s military daughter, returns late in the film with some exciting kick-ass action sequences, further adding to the diversity of characterizations, which I quite enjoyed.

Also of note is the original (and catchy) country music score, written and orchestrated by Rob Pottorf, which at times plays like another character itself, acting as nice bookends to the film’s acts and further evoking that fun, playful (and at times, serious) rural flavor.

Imagicomm’s DVD is framed in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks about as good as you can expect from the DVD format (it looks just fine to me), with color “mastered in high definition.” Audio is 5.1 stereo and English SDH subtitles are included. There’s also a nice set of five special features: three short, behind-the-scenes vignettes featuring interviews with various cast members, mostly including Wopat, Fahey and Richardson, a trailer for County Line, and additional trailers from other INSP-produced films.

County Line may seem hokey to those who only care to watch the latest MCU blockbuster or Disney movie (sorry, I repeat myself), but if you grew up on The Dukes of Hazzard or any of the classic action shows of the 1960s through the ’80s, you may be pleasantly surprised by this movie. And if you’re looking for something that plays well for family viewing, you can certainly do worse than this inoffensive little Western-actioner. And it appears I’m not alone in feeling that way; as of this writing, two sequels have already aired: County Line: All In and County Line: No Fear, both released in 2022. If they’re as fun as this first County Line, then I hope the series continues.

Jason Hink is a writer, editor and content producer. Sign up for his Email Newsletter here. For more of Jason’s reviews, visit here.