A 1973 American action thriller film directed by Phil Karlson, starring Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Hartman and Rosemary Murphy. It's loosely based on the true story of Buford Pusser
, Sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee from 1964 to 1970.
Followed by two sequels: Walking Tall Part 2 (1975) and Walking Tall: Final Chapter (1977), both of which had Bo Svenson take over the role of Pusser. There was also the Made-for-TV Movie A Real American Hero (1978), starring Brian Dennehy as Pusser, along with a short-lived 1981 TV series with Svenson again in the role.
Later remade as a 2004 film with Dwayne Johnson starring as Pusser, which was itself followed by two Direct to Video sequels starring Kevin Sorbo.
The 1973 original provides examples of:
- Boom, Headshot!: Pauline is killed this way, and the effect is surprisingly graphic for a low-budget 70's movie.
- Carry a Big Stick: Buford metes out some good old fashioned, bone-breakin' justice with a massive homemade shillelagh.
- Dirty Cop: The former Sheriff, along with one deputy we later discover to be on the take.
- Doesn't Like Guns: Sheriff Pusser at first refuses to carry a gun because his wife doesn't approve.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The old Sheriff's car a'splodes from under the hood simply by running off the road into a river bank. Before it crashes, even!
- Freakier Than Fiction: From the photo of the two of them standing together, tall and muscular Joe Don Baker is clearly dwarfed by the real Buford Pusser.
- Good Policing, Evil Policing: Bufford Pusser catches the dealers cheating at a casino called The Lucky Spot, and the proprietors cut him up with a knife and leave him for dead. After he complains to the Sheriff, and nothing is done, he learns of the rampant corruption in his hometown, which, eventually, prompts Pusser to run for Sheriff, himself. His opponent dies trying to run Pusser off the road.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The bad guys offer Deputy Grady more than his lifetime salary to turn on Buford, but he flatly refuses.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When Mrs. Pusser agrees to let her husband start packing heat, it is on.
- Noble Bigot: Subverted, Buford has no reservations about referring to the eight innocents poisoned by tainted moonshine as "niggers," but he only does so to incite friend and deputy Obra Eaker into taking action. Buford is determined to punish those responsible for their deaths just the same, something he notes the old Sheriff would have let slide for the victims "not being his favorite color."
