Finally got to watch the original 3-part movie Walking Tall (semi-biographical) based on the fascinating and tragic life of Buford Pusser.
Pusser was qualified as a modern day Davey Crockett. His wife was slain in a hail of bullets intended for him (120 shell cases found on the scene), his shutaway jaw required 15 operations. He was shot in 7 separate incidents, stabbed 7 times, was run over, was targeted for assasination 4 times, all in a 6-year span.
Part 1 (1973), Part 2 (1975) and Part 3 (1977).
I had never seen the 3 movies, only the last one and had not known until now that the actor playing Pusser in Part 1 was replaced in Parts 2 & 3. The latter actor is who real life Sheriff Pusser preferred to play him but he was not available for Part 1.
So much of the language in those movies is raw, and peppered with dry, Southern humor. In one scene from Part 3 that I never forgot, a big time mobster was paying an informer that he had never met, to keep tabs on Pusser in order to eliminate him.
The mobster guy ends up finally meeting the lady who was his informer but didn’t know it was her. Coming out of his limousine, he notices her at the doorstep of his house while having a conversation with an associate. The mobster looking at her, then blurts out very audibly in her direction, “whose fat ass is that?”
The associate tells him that the lady is the informer. The mobster cracks a big smile, extends his arms open as he’s walking towards her and performs some timely hypocritical damage control by telling her “Bless your heart!”
I usually don’t like lawyers in movies however, the guy playing Pusser’s friend and lawyer in Part 3, is eminently likeable.
So much to unpack when you read up on all he stories surrounding said movies. These movies capture the essence of a simpler time, which is always fun to delve into.
