Walking Tall

1973

Action / Biography / Crime / Drama / Thriller

19
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 77% · 13 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 71% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.9/10 10 6702 6.7K

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Plot summary

Ex-wrestler and Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser walks tall and carries a big stick as he tussles with county-wide corruption and moonshining thugs.


Uploaded by: OTTO
June 28, 2022 at 05:56 AM

Director

Top cast

John Brascia as Prentiss Parley
Dawn Lyn as Dwana
Lynn Borden as Margie Ann
Carey Loftin as Dice Player
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
1.12 GB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 1
2.08 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
2 hr 5 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by Coventry 7 / 10

Tennessee Rednecks as "White Trash" as they come

Lemme y'all tell a story about a fine working-class hero named Buford Pusser!

Actually, being a European and born in the 80s, I only know Buford Pusser from his Wikipedia page and the many things I heard & read about this film. "Walking Tall" is supposedly one of the most successful and loved drive-in/exploitation movies of its era, so it must have ended up on my must-see list sooner or later. It's a partially biographical and partially fictionalized tale about a "real American Hero", and illustrates the period between Buford's homecoming to McNairy County, TN, and the tragic assassination of his wife in 1967. The sequel picks up from there, and normally would have starred the real Buford Pusser if he hadn't died in questionable circumstances prior to the start of production. Bo Svenson took over the role from Joe Don Baker (who refused in honor of Buford Pusser) and portrayed him in the two sequels and a short-lived television series.

So much for the information you can also find on Wikipedia. "Walking Tall" is a bizarre drive-in/exploitation experience, since it's one of the sole movies of its type that successfully merges emotional drama with extreme bits of violence. Usually these "Dixie-rednecksploitation" efforts heavily focus on the moonshining, liquor-smuggling and illegal gambling activities - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that - but "Walking Tall" clearly wanted to put the emphasize on human beings and their personal quests. This naturally includes Pusser's quest to rid his beloved county of all the smutty mafia practices going on, but also his wife's quest to safeguard her husband and family, and the quest of the Dixie mobsters to proceed with their profitable business and eliminate the intrusive Sheriff. It's definitely different, but "Walking Tall" works very efficiently. Even though a bit too long for my taste, the atmosphere is moody and ominous throughout, and all the significant characters are well-developed. The action sequences are very violent, and the aforementioned assassination even downright shocking, but it certainly adds power and realism to the film. Great acting performances all-around, notably from Joe Don Baker and the integer Elizabeth Hartman as his wife, but also from many respectable names in the supportive cast, like Noah Beery Jr, Gene Evans, Felton Perry and Bruce Glover. With regards to that last name, it's amazing how Bruce Glover and his son Crispin look identical!

Reviewed by Hey_Sweden 7 / 10

Extremely effective as visceral entertainment.

"Walking Tall" is certainly one of the most ass kicking movies ever made. It's a fictionalization of the true story of Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, played here with conviction and intensity by Joe Don Baker. Buford has retired from life as a wrestler, hoping to settle down to a quiet life in his hometown, but he finds out that everything has gotten crooked, with local bigwigs running the show. Soon enraged at a system that does little to nothing to help the common man, he wages a personal war on corruption, using any method necessary. The movie does its job as far as manipulating its audience. It doesn't take long for viewers to get their blood lust up, and loudly cheer on our swaggering hero as he gives the assorted sleazy cretins their just desserts. And it doesn't hold back in the violence department, either; even if the blood is typically bright red movie blood that looks more like paint than anything, there's a lot of it that flows before the movie is over. And we can also definitely take interest in a story of a regular Joe who fumes at the injustices of the world, and refuses to live in a place where the big shots can have their way at any time. When Pusser puts a pompous, ineffective judge (Douglas Fowley) in his place, or humiliates a rat by having them crawl on all fours, it's not hard to pump one's fist in the air and yell, "YEAH!" All of the bad people are one dimensional, sleazy, selfish jerks; even though they may disagree with one another on methods used, they all look out for number one and enjoy their hold on the community. Provided one can take the brutality, and doesn't mind having their buttons pushed so obviously, "Walking Tall" is gripping. A superb cast really helps in the selling of the material, with Elizabeth Hartman as the troubled but loyal wife, Gene Evans as the ineffectual sheriff, Bruce Glover and Felton Perry as deputies, real-life siblings Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn as the Pusser children, Noah Beery Jr. and Lurene Tuttle as Buford's folks, Rosemary Murphy as trouble making Callie Hacker, and assorted other character players such as Arch Johnson, Don Keefer, Sam Laws, Kenneth Tobey, Pepper Martin, Red West, Logan Ramsey, Richard X. Slattery, Sidney Clute, and John Myhers. Now, granted, all of what happens is plenty predictable, but it's hard to deny how this could become a crowd pleasing entertainment on a non-think level. And Buford's story didn't end here, with two sequels, a TV movie, a short lived series, and a loose remake & subsequent sequels to follow, just going to show how enduring the concept of a strong, principled man fighting for what's right can be. Seven out of 10.

Reviewed by classicsoncall 7 / 10

"Buford, why don't you try this job on for size?"

Revisiting films I saw for the first and only time when they were originally released can be interesting. This picture was a stunner back in 1973, and though it's held up pretty well over the decades, I can see how a lot of modern day viewers would find the character of Buford Pusser to be morally objectionable given his methods in bringing corrupt criminals to justice. The one scene that completely violates political correctness today had to do with Buford's son Mike (Leif Garrett) walking into the hospital with a rifle after the ambush! Holy smokes, could you just see that happening today? The kid would have gotten arrested and sent into counseling.

Buford's (Joe Don Baker) childhood buddy Lutie (Ed Call) had a pretty good description for The Lucky Spot - he called it a shopping center for sinners! I thought that was pretty colorful, but nowhere close to accurately describing what a bunch of Neanderthals the average citizen of Selmer, Tennessee was. Knowing that this was based on a true story, it's pretty chilling that characters like this could actually take over a small town to this degree, especially the ones you rely on to enforce the law. I'd have to say that Gene Evans' portrayal of Sheriff Al Thurman ranks right up there with Brian Dennehy's Sheriff Teasle in "First Blood" as one of the dumbest and most corrupt lawmen in film. And I watch a lot of westerns.

On the other hand, there is one scene that brings the 'dated' argument to a whole new level when you stop to think about it. When Buford and his wife (Elizabeth Hartman) purchased their first home, they paid six thousand dollars for a house, three hundred acres and two catfish ponds! Say what you will, but that sounded like a dream sequence to me.

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