Walking Tall (1973 film)
| Walking Tall | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Phil Karlson |
| Written by | Mort Briskin Stephen Downing John Michael Hayes (uncredited) |
| Starring |
Joe Don Baker Elizabeth Hartman |
| Music by | Walter Scharf |
| Cinematography | Jack A. Marta |
| Edited by | Harry W. Gerstad |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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125 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $500,000 |
| Box office | $23 million |
Walking Tall is a 1973 DeLuxe Color American action semi-biopic film of Sheriff Buford Pusser, a former professional wrestler-turned-lawman in McNairy County, Tennessee. It starred Joe Don Baker as Pusser. The film was directed by Phil Karlson. Based on Pusser's true story, it was a combination of very loosely based fact and Hollywood revisionism. It has since become a well known cult classic with two of its own, a TV movie, a brief TV series and a remake that had its own two sequels.
Two actresses associated with this film went on to commit suicide: Brenda Benet, who was married to Bill Bixby from 1971-1979, took her life in April 1982; Elizabeth Hartman jumped from the 5th floor of a Pittsburgh apartment building in June 1987.
Buford Pusser (Joe Don Baker), at his wife Pauline's (Elizabeth Hartman) behest, retires from the professional wrestling ring and moves back to Tennessee to start a logging business with his father, Carl Pusser (Noah Beery, Jr.).
With a friend, he visits a gambling and prostitution establishment, the Lucky Spot, and is beaten up after catching the house cheating at craps. Pusser is seriously injured with a knife and receives over 200 stitches. He complains to the sheriff but is ignored, and soon becomes aware of the rampant corruption in McNairy County. Later, working at his dad's lumber mill, Pusser makes a club out of a tree branch. Late one night, Pusser waits until after the Lucky Spot is closed, and beats up the same thugs that left him for dead. The next day, Pusser is arrested and represents himself at trial. At one point, he rips off his shirt and shows the jury his scars. He informs them that "If you let them do this to me and get away with it, then you're giving them the eternal right to do the same damn thing to any one of you!" The jury finds Pusser not guilty, and he decides to clean up the county and runs for sheriff. Buford Pusser wins, and becomes famous for being incorruptible, intolerant of crime, and for his array of four-foot hickory clubs which he uses to great effect in dispatching criminals and destroying their clandestine gambling dens and illegal distilleries.
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Wikipedia