Pusser was the villain, not the hero of this piece.
As part of an in-home retrospective of 70s drive-in hillbilly flicks we watched Walking Tall last night. I remembered it as most people seem to, the story of a guy who "cleans up" his little town with a big stick and not much else besides the fact that it was loosely based on real-life events. My vague but nostalgic feelings for this flick were gone with the proverbial wind after this viewing.
Just for fun, let's take a look at the story as presented in the film, not the real-life misadventures of Buford Pusser and how they relate to it.
At the beginning of the story, the town and the "State Line Mafia" are existing in a state of equilibrium. The elderly and the blue nosed types have something to cluck over and click their dentures at while the rest of the community go on about their lives and enjoy the services provided at the joints on the county line. The community (both sinners & saints) is also enjoying the prosperity that comes with being a "company town." Then here comes good old Buford...
Pusser is not only an ex Marine but also just retired from a life on the road as a touring wrestler. One can assume that he's seen a bit of the real world at some point. Regardless, his reactions to the horrible horrible "vice den" are right out of a Jack T. Chick tract. It's sadly comical to watch the alternating shots of "vice" and Baker's mugging for the camera in an apparent state of Moral Panic. Didn't see anything like that in the Marines eh Buford? Had to come back home to Bugtussle to find out that people like to drink and screw? He acts like he's about to be overcome with an attack of the vapors when he's forced to interact with a nearly topless woman. Too bad the Lucky Spot didn't offer fainting couches, our man Buford could certainly have used one by that point. Pusser is made out to be so Pure that the script writer didn't even allow him to place the bet that instigated the events of the rest of the film, his buddy had to do it.
From that point we have: Pusser starts a fight because his buddy got cheated at dice and loses the fight. He heals up and goes back with a big stick to get what he feels the joint owes him by breaking up the joint yet again and getting arrested for his trouble. His experiences with "da law" make him realize that the State offers him an even bigger "stick" to abuse his enemies with and he runs for Sheriff. Massive community support (and the fact that he's running against a dead guy) puts a badge on his chest and he proceeds to kick his revenge up a notch now that he's got his own little private army. The inevitable hijinks ensue, and Pusser's wife gets to pay the price for his misguided "crusade."
Quickly bypassing the fact that Pusser is as responsible for his wife's death as if he'd fired the bullet himself, he storms away from her funeral bent on still MORE revenge. Without even bothering to preserve the veneer of state sanction, he drives a car through the Nexus of Evil, luckily only killing two people. Who cares if the place was packed or not? The Moral Minority of McNairy (suspiciously absent for any of the film's gunplay) rushes in and, in a bit of slapstick worthy of Benny Hill, destroys the evil gaming tables. Of course these actions would have been called premeditated murder (or at least vehicular manslaughter) and destruction of private property if they weren't being carried out in the names of Justice, Morality, and Movie Magic.
At what point, exactly, was the audience supposed to be cheering? All of this destruction, chaos, and death over fifty bucks? The one man crusade to (ostensibly) keep Bubba and his cousins from getting a hummer and a beer on a Saturday night? When he gets his dog and his wife killed?
The end result of all of this? Bubba and his pals have to drive a little farther to have a good time, the town goes back to stagnation, and Pusser's young children get to enjoy life without their mother. McNairy would have been much better off if Buford had never returned.
All in all, the film is a brazen morality play that is as transparent as the "punish the sinners" motif of the Friday the 13th films. The big difference is that the villain packs a stick instead of a machete and the audience is apparently meant to cheer his actions instead of hope for his eventual demise.
At present nothing is possible except to extend the area of sanity little by little.