Line #8 Film/WalkingTall1973

Context Film / WalkingTall1973

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1	[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/walking_tall_1973.jpeg]]
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3	A 1973 American action thriller film directed by Phil Karlson, starring Creator/JoeDonBaker, Creator/ElizabethHartman and Creator/RosemaryMurphy. It's [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely based]] on the true story of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buford_Pusser Buford Pusser]], Sheriff of [=McNairy=] County, UsefulNotes/{{Tennessee}} from 1964 to 1970.
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5	Followed by two sequels: ''Walking Tall Part 2'' (1975) and ''Walking Tall: Final Chapter'' (1977), both of which had Creator/BoSvenson [[TheOtherDarrin take over the role of Pusser]]. There was also the MadeForTVMovie ''A Real American Hero'' (1978), starring Creator/BrianDennehy as Pusser, along with a short-lived 1981 [[RecycledTheSeries TV series]] with Svenson again in the role.
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7	Later remade as a [[Film/WalkingTall2004 2004 film]] with Wrestling/DwayneJohnson starring as Pusser, which was itself followed by two DirectToVideo sequels starring Creator/KevinSorbo.
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10	!!The 1973 original provides examples of:
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12	* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Pauline]] is killed this way, and the effect is surprisingly graphic for a low-budget 70's movie.
13	* CarryABigStick: Buford metes out some good old fashioned, bone-breakin' justice with a massive homemade shillelagh.
14	* DirtyCop: The former Sheriff, along with one deputy we later discover to be on the take.
15	* DoesntLikeGuns: Sheriff Pusser at first refuses to carry a gun because his wife doesn't approve.
16	* EveryCarIsAPinto: 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!
17	* FreakierThanFiction: From the [[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-buford-pusser-photo-joe-don-baker-photo photo]] of the two of them standing together, tall and muscular Joe Don Baker is clearly dwarfed by the real Buford Pusser.
18	* GoodPolicingEvilPolicing: 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.
19	* IncorruptiblePurePureness: The bad guys offer Deputy Grady more than his lifetime salary to turn on Buford, but he flatly refuses.
20	* LetsGetDangerous: When Mrs. Pusser agrees to let her husband start packing heat, it is ''on.''
21	* NobleBigot: 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."

Context Film / WalkingTall1973