Walking Tall

I enjoyed Walking Tall on Saturday nights on NBC. It had a straightforward theme song. It had a Sheriff who would defeat evil any way he could, usually with a club. It was fun to tear down old buildings while pretending you were Buford Pusser. The Sheriff had children but no wife. It was a good show in its own right, and probably should have done as well without the Pusser names. In one show, the Sheriff cracked down on angel dust/PCP makers. That show would have fit right in with the meth problem of today. One show featured a Catholic priest who wouldn't tell what he had heard about a crime in a confession because he had taken a vow not to.

It is very unfortunate this show only ended up with seven episodes as I could watch several large seasons of this action packed goodness. The show is that good ole fashion late 70's early 80's action and a bit of drama. Bo really played his role well with his intensity and drive, he made you really believe he was a headstrong Sheriff. The show had great plots within its episodes and in its short run it still included some great guest/costars that fit there parts very nicely. I find myself coming back to my DVD set and watching these 7 episodes rather often and I am always left wanting more. Its sad to me this show never got more than what it did as I feel it should have been ran for at least a few decent seasons.

TV series based loosely upon the movie star lawman Buford Pusser.Bo Swenson reprises his role that he played in the Walking Tall movie.This series is set in modern day times (modern cars....modern times,not 60s/70s).And there is the flaw,as Sheriff Pusser died in 1974 (and he wasn't Sheriff then either).A folksy-aimed series that unfortunately used the wrong man as the basis for the show.If they had given Bo an anonymous generic lawman name,it might have flown for a while.But the Walking Tall franchise had gasped its last.I watched the show when it first aired,and it seemed it tried too hard to get its points across.Very much a right or wrong "I told you so" lesson to be learned.I am sure that the real story of Buford was much harsher than that,but such is the way with Hollywood....they always change things to their liking,even if it isn't true.Mr Swenson did a nice job as Mr Pusser though,I liked him much more than Joe Don Baker's portrayal. The Rock is reprising the tired old tale of Walking Tall once again.Carrying the stick is action star Dwayne Johnson (The Rock).Cant they let it rest? Now there's talk of another WT movie. Pusser has been gone for 32 years now.Thats a long time.Why does Hollywood continue to beat this horse? UPDATE********************************************************** I remember when first watching this series back in 1981,that I was very confused regarding the situations that they set Buford in.He served as Sheriff until 1970,and Pauline was killed in 1967,and in one episode (the first one)it was mentioned she died 2 years earlier...meaning the series was set in 1969,one year before his term ended with no chance at re-election.In another episode it was mentioned that if rumors spread about some female that Buford was involved with back in his school days,he wouldn't get re-elected......however at that point it was impossible,as 3 terms was all he could serve legally.All the TV patrol cars were 1977-1979 Dodge Monaco Police Pursuits,and the occasional mid 70s Country Squire wagon,1979 Ford pickup,and 1979 LTD appeared on screen....these were current day used cars,and not true examples of the real Pusser days.Movie 1 used 1972 Dodge Polaras (Buford's wife was killed in a 1966/1967 Polara),movie 2 used 1974 Chevy Impalas,and movie 3 used 1976 Impalas,none of these truly represented the 1960s as they should have been.This all confused me....as did the PCP use in episode 1,the environmental destruction in "deadly impact",and the total change of appearance of John Witter from his dark hair/fat man persona of the movies.Talk about confused!! I betcha thats why this series didn't fly.....Buford Pusser living and in office in the 1980s? That was just too far fetched for most people.

I never imagined that this short-lived and little-seen television series would be resurrected, but thanks to the remake of the "Walking Tall" movie, this series has been released on DVD. There's not much here to make this series stand out from other police shows from the '70s or '80s - the plots are pretty predictable and familiar. The main character's way of enforcing the law does sometimes become a little uncomfortable as he does stuff like using his club to smash things (or people) and other personal techniques to enforce HIS law. On the other hand, the series does showcase a surprising amount of talent for guest stars, from familiar faces (like Chuck Connors and L.Q. Jones) to people who later became famous (like Eric Stoltz and Robert Englund). And I can't say that any of the episodes that I watched were BORING. Predictable, yes, but executed in a brisk manner that keeps your interest up. In fact, there's something comforting about a series like this where the bad guys are really bad and always get punished in the end by the hero. Worth a look during a slow weekend.

I only caught one or two of these episodes and the only thing I really remember is they weren't very good. A couple or reviewers commented they thought Bo Svenson was a much better Buford Pusser than Joe Don Baker who played in the original movie. Well I don't agree with that at all. Joe Don Baker WAS Buford Pusser and if they had gotten him to play him in this show it might have lasted more than SEVEN episodes. It flopped just like those next two movies did because they had Svenson.