Buford Pusser, Sherriff of McNairy Co., Tennessee and one-man crime-fightin’ unit, died 40 years ago today in a “suspicious” car crash. Killed the Corvette, too. His exploits inspired the movie* Walking Tall* and probably did more for the sales of baseball bats since Babe Ruth.
I remember the movie despite being fairly young. I seem to recall someone getting his hand stuck in a garbage disposal. Been terrified of those things ever since! Anybody know who I’m talkin’ about without Googling him?
Don’t piss off the Boys from Alabama-- Drive-By Truckers
I remember the movie with Joe Don Baker, but not Pusser himself. The sequels were not up to the quality of Walking Tall for my money, and the ones done with Dwayne Johnson I chose to ignore.
Baker became one of my favorites of that era and I especially liked his work in Charley Varrick which has some excellent work by Walter Matthau as well.
I saw Walking Tall at the movie theater back in the day. It’s hard to watch anything with Joe Don Baker these days without giggling at the memory of the MST3000 treatment of Mitchell.
Buford Pusser worked as a pro wrestler for a little while, before becoming Sheriff. The movies about him later inspired Cowboy Bill Watts to use “Walking Tall” as a catch phrase. Watts also freely incorporated lumber/bats in his wars against The Freebirds and The Russians.
I remember when the movie came out when I was a kid but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen it. I also remember seeing his car in a car museum in Pigeon Forge, TN when I was a kid. It had a bullet hole in the fender.
Here’s a link to the Drive-By Truckers song mentioned in the OP.
“The Boys From Alabama”
I saw the original movie with my gf when it came out. I went home and I saw Pusser on the Tomorrow show, afterwards. I was totally freaked out, and, when I told my gf the next day, she was too.
We were such idiots.
Having said that, the sequels sucked, and so did the Rock’s movie. Well, the movie was alright, just nothing to do with Buford Pusser and/or his story, so the Rock owes me 14 bucks. I may have to take it out of his hide.
Yeah, I’ve been a fan for several years. They’re playing in Birmingham on Oct. 11 but that’s the same day as the Alabama vs. Arkansas game so I don’t know if I’ll make it.
I hate to admit it, but I agree with this! Even when I was seeing BJ for the first time I realized what an amateurish pile of cheese it was. The “acting” was on par with a high school play and the situations so highly concocted as to seem comic book. But damn if it wasn’t a fun ride! Same with WT. The thing in common between the two is that the follow-up efforts stunk!
I suspect that if we put our minds to it that we could name at least a dozen low-budget indie films from the early 70’s to rival these two. Might even go back as far as Easy Rider (1969) (which has risen above its cheapness of production to the heights of cult movies.)
One more side note: did you happen to notice the inconsequential role that JDB had in Cool Hand Luke (1967) – a mere six years before starring in WT? One might be tempted to compare the early rise of both JDB and Dennis Hopper in that movie, even though Hopper had already mad a bit of a splash as early as Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
His story has been told and retold through a series of movies, the most recent I’ve seen he was played by The Rock, a homage to his early career as a wrestler. Joe Don was a fairly one dimensional actor, but this role suited him pretty well. Pusser’s story is remarkable, his law and order campaign resulted in the death of his wife, and many suspect his own death as well. I think I’d like to see the book written about him for a better picture, although the first movie is considered a reasonably accurate portrayal, at least for a movie.
The only such event that’s stuck in my memory is when Junior Soprano spent a long time waiting for somebody to get his hand unstuck. Can you describe the scene in more detail?
