Do you think he was right?

yes

You bet I do!

yes i believe buford was the only right one in the bunch

Yes. Old Buford was one heck of a lawman and he paid the price for his honest enforcement actions. As a former cop I truly admire this man of action. If a city today had a 100 Bufords there would be little crime in town.

There is really no right or wrong about the way Pusser handled the state line, He just did the job he had to do. You have to take into account that at the time, Guys TN. was a rough place inhabited by a bunch of very dangerous people. The state line's heydey was at the time when alot of people from Mississippi were going to Chicago to find work and U.S. 45 ran right through it and many didn't know of it's reputation. Besides the bootleging, gambling and prostitution, Louise Hathcock had a nasty habit of pulling a hammer from her apron beating unwary customers at the 45 Grill if they didn't fork over all their cash. There isn't much left there now. Even the old Shamrock Motel sign that remained long after the motel was torn down is gone. There is one little bar still there but the state line is pretty much just a memory.

[deleted]

Yes.

I haven't seen WALKING TALL since it was in the cinema, which means I'm old. So I won't answer your question in relation to the movie, but in relation to real life.

I just read a book about the gulf coast Dixie Mafia. There is a brief mention that Pusser was fighting the Tennessee Dixie Mafia ; that's why I came to the WTboard.

The DM wasn't really organized crime but more a group of criminals who would pull jobs together when it was mutually beneficial.

They sold drugs and provided prostitutes which I will concede is a gray area. But many of the women were forced/tricked into prostitution and some were still teenagers. These guys would pull home invasions and would kill just to leave no witnesses. They would do murder for hire on citizens, politicians,etc, not just each other criminals. There were very violent and may kill a citizen for beating them in a poker game or because they felt slighted.

The book, DREAM ROOM, is actually favorable to the DM, humanizing them while detailing their crimes, so it wasn't a one-sided story.

So yes stopping those guys was the right choice.

CAVEAT: One of the DM claims that Pusser is just as crooked as them, which may be true, but I have found no documentation supporting that.