# Buford Pusser, dead 40 years today. Anybody remember him? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 22, 2014, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154 "2014-08-22T00:32:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/21 "2014-08-22T14:46:24Z")
I think **Rolling Thunder** is the movie he’s thinking of. William Devane is a Viet Nam POW that returns home and is given money for his service. Local thugs want the money and try to torture him by shoving his hand into a garbage disposal. It came out in the middle 1970’s. About the same time as Walking Tall. > **[Rolling Thunder (1977) ⭐ 6.9 | Crime, Drama, Thriller](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076637/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_91)** > > 1h 40m | R > [@Zeldar](#): > > 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? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/22 "2014-08-22T14:52:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I think **Rolling Thunder** is the movie he’s thinking of. William Devane is a Viet Nam POW that returns home and is given money for his service. Local thugs want the money and try to torture him by shoving his hand into a garbage disposal. It came out in the middle 1970’s. About the same time as Walking Tall. > [Rolling Thunder (1977) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076637/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_91) Yes! I saw that recently – not at the time it was new – and really liked Tommy Lee Jones in it (always do!). Grisly movie! ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/23 "2014-08-22T14:52:27Z")
I met him at a car show in Shreveport when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/24 "2014-08-22T15:51:41Z")
Back in March we took a cross-country driving vacation to visit family in Tennessee. On our way back we decided to get off the Interstate for a while, and so found ourselves driving through Adamsville, where we saw the signs proclaiming it the proud hometown on Sheriff Pusser. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop at the [museum](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Pusser-home.jpg/1280px-Pusser-home.jpg), because we needed to make it to Memphis in time to see Graceland that afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/25 "2014-08-22T16:06:14Z")
I have a ceramic hippo named “Buford Pusser”. I inherited it from my dad. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/26 "2014-08-22T16:11:51Z")
I saw both the original and the Dwayne Johson versions of _Walking Tall_. The original was hokey and cheesy and fun. The remake was hokey and cheesy and boring. But I have always preferred a good Bad Picture to a bad Good Picture. It is unfortunate that the former is so much rarer than the latter. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/27 "2014-08-22T17:16:31Z")
I liked the Rock version, though I hadn’t seen the original. I just found a mixed black/white/Samoan family living in the sticks a little implausible. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/28 "2014-08-23T05:11:35Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > 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? > [@aceplace57](#): > > I think **Rolling Thunder** is the movie he’s thinking of. ] I could be very wrong, but I seem to remember Pusser sticking someone’s arm down a garbage disposal after his wife got shot. Something like he found out who was responsible and got revenge. Too long ago to remember clearly. I just know I be real careful around garbage disposals. 😃 Don’t recall ever seeing _Rolling Thunder_ at all. I guess the only way to confirm or deny is to… \* Watch it again.\* Nah. I got hops to harvest! But all y’all, feel free and report back! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/29 "2014-08-23T05:53:10Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > Back in March we took a cross-country driving vacation to visit family in Tennessee. On our way back we decided to get off the Interstate for a while, and so found ourselves driving through Adamsville, where we saw the signs proclaiming it the proud hometown on Sheriff Pusser. > > Unfortunately we didn’t have time to stop at the [museum](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Pusser-home.jpg/1280px-Pusser-home.jpg), because we needed to make it to Memphis in time to see Graceland that afternoon. Ms Hook and myself did visit the museum (we were in the area to tour the Shilo battlefield). It was in his house and pretty cool in a cheesy kind of way. We have pictures of us holding the club he carried for a while. I’d always thought the accident was suspicious, at least in the movie they made it seem that way. But the reality, as explained by the lady (who went to high school with him) running the museum, was that it was most likely an accident. He had been at the county fair with his daughter. He left to go home and was followed a few minutes later by the daughter and whoever was driving her and her friends. There was only about, IIRC, 5 minutes between them. He was known to drive like a maniac. They had the car there and the lady made no mention of a bullet hole which I’m sure she would have if there had been one. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/30 "2014-08-23T06:11:17Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > Ms Hook and myself did visit the museum (we were in the area to tour the Shilo battlefield). It was in his house and pretty cool in a cheesy kind of way. We have pictures of us holding the club he carried for a while. > > I’d always thought the accident was suspicious, at least in the movie they made it seem that way. But the reality, as explained by the lady (who went to high school with him) running the museum, was that it was most likely an accident. > > He had been at the county fair with his daughter. He left to go home and was followed a few minutes later by the daughter and whoever was driving her and her friends. There was only about, IIRC, 5 minutes between them. He was known to drive like a maniac. > > They had the car there and the lady made no mention of a bullet hole which I’m sure she would have if there had been one. That’s a different car. The car with the bullet hole and the story behind it is on this page. That’s the one I saw at the museum in Pigeon Forge, TN when I was a kid. > **[Automotive History and CC Cinema: The Cars of Buford Pusser and the Movie...](https://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-and-cc-cinema-the-cars-of-buford-pusser-and-the-movie-walking-tall/)** > > (first posted 6/5/2014)     Every once in a while events collide with personalities, resulting in a legend.  This was certainly the case with Sheriff Buford Pusser of McNairy County, Tennessee. Pusser, \[…\] ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154/31 "2014-08-23T21:28:08Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > That’s a different car. The car with the bullet hole and the story behind it is on this page. That’s the one I saw at the museum in Pigeon Forge, TN when I was a kid. > [Automotive History and CC Cinema: The Cars of Buford Pusser and the Movie "Walking Tall" - Curbside Classic](http://www.curbsideclassic.com/automotive-histories/automotive-history-and-cc-cinema-the-cars-of-buford-pusser-and-the-movie-walking-tall/) That’s right, there was the car that was shot up when his wife was murdered. Forgot about that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buford-pusser-dead-40-years-today-anybody-remember-him/696154.md?page=1)