Dirty Harry. Death Wish. Billy Jack. The ’70s sure did give us a bunch of movies where fed-up white dudes bring their own brand of justice on all the thugs and lowlifes who dare cross their paths. Walking Tall is the only one of these half-heroic/half-fascist flicks that’s based on a true story. Released in 1973 by Bing Crosby Productions (I guess the notoriously strict crooner considered this inspirational), the movie tells of Buford Pusser (player by Joe Don Baker, looking like a hillbilly Joel Edgerton), the Tennessee sheriff who cracked down on his county’s illegal practices with the help of a big wooden stick. Just like the movies mentioned above, this money-making bit of hicksploitation spawned several sequels, not to mention a 2004 remake starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — who is unfortunately just as stiff as that damn stick. April 26-27 at Full Moon Cineplex, 3455 Lebanon Pike CRAIG D. LINDSEY
Walking Tall
