Shots Across The Bow

Sacrilege!

How in the heel can you make a movie about Buford Pusser and set it ANYWHERE other than Tennesee?

Washington State? Give me a break!

Here's a quick clue for Hollywood (not that they've called, begging for my wisdom):

Back when the original (and only, based on what I've seen aboiut the new version) Walking Tall came out, after it finished the rounds of the first run theaters, it hit the drive in circuit, playing at the Dixie Lee Drive In, out near where Watt Rd hits Kingston Pike. Back then, that was a long way outside of Knoxville, before the sprawl that swallowed Farragut got it's start, and it was one of the few places near Knoxville where you could go see an "adult film." Of course, we didn't call them that then; they were just "dirty movies," or "titty flicks." I don't know who ran the place, but I do know that when he found a movie his patrons liked, it stayed there for awhile. I think it was a movie called "Candystripers" that held the record for the longest continuous run at the DLDI. That is, until Walking Tall came out.

When Walking Tall hit the drive in circuit, it moved into the second screen at the Dixie Lee, and didn't leave for well over a year. For perspective, even Start Wars can't make that claim.

Now there have been other movies about guys coming home to clean up the town (remember Billy Jack?) but none of them even comes close to Walking Tall

Why?

Because, excepting for a little dramatic license, it was by-God a true story! Buford Pusser lived and died in McNairy County Tennessee, and if you want to, you can go see the car he died in right here in Sevier County. The battles he fought are a matter of record, the good he did, the people he helped, and even his mistake are all real, and most of it made it into the movies. Truth gave the movie a resonance, a reality that folks responded to.

This "Chris Vaughn" character is every bit as fictional as Fergusen Washington, where the new version is set. This already diminishes any possible impact of the movie, because we're aware from the beginning that it's just another movie. We've gone from truth, to a movie version of the truth, to a Hollywood treatment of the movie version of the truth.

In real life, Pusser was forced to kill Louise Hathcock, bar owner and bootlegger, in a gunfight in a bedroom. He was arresting her for theft and possessing whiskey in a dry county when she turned on him and tried to shoot him, missing with her first shot. In self defense, he shot her once in the shoulder and twice in the chest. I'll bet that this little episode doesn't make it into the movie. It might upset the feminists, dontcha know.

And that's the problem in a nutshell; instead of something resembling reality, we're getting another pre-packaged Hollywood fantasy, cleansed of all warts and human imperfections.

Posted by Rich at March 22, 2004 12:08 AM | TrackBack