Remember those key movie going summers of your
youth? Well, on this eve of the last night of QT
QUATTRO.... Quentin decided to bring us the series
of films that to those folks living in Tennessee....
when he was 9-10 years old in 1973... that captured
him and his friends.

Let’s look at 1973 real quick... this was the year of
EXORCIST, THE STING, AMERICAN GRAFFITI,
PAPILLON, MEAN STREETS, SERPICO, ENTER
THE DRAGON, THE PAPER CHASE and WEST
WORLD.... But in 1973... in the state of Tennessee...
there was a living legend... A big ol burl of a man...
He’d become a thing of legend... a law enforcement
Paul Bunyon wielding a gigantic stick and beating the
living shit out of evil in dem dar hills of Tennessee.

His name was Buford Pusser... And the entire state
was excited about his film.... WALKING TALL
starring Joe Don Baker as the biggest meanest most
upright uprooter of evil....

That year, WALKING TALL played all summer
long... never budging from it’s Drive-In screen....
other films came and went... on the double-bill... but
one of them... was ALWAYS the man that kicked ass
and knocked the teeth out of evil doers. And all
summer long, Quentin and his friends went to the
drive-in and watched Buford Pusser on the big
screen... and then saw films like DETROIT 9000,
CLEOPATRA JONES, WICKED WICKED,
LITTLE CIGARS, THE ARENA and so on... He
didn’t name those titles... but those are 1973 drive-in
titles...

At the concession stands according to Quentin... they
had 8x10 glossies of the Real Buford Pusser for
sale... and other law enforcement memorabilia. You
see... Buford Pusser was a modern day Davy Crockett
and Daniel Boone type.... a down home hero who’d
been shot 8 times and knifed 7 times all in the line of
duty. And was alive to tell his tale!

This was high folk hero art... and Quentin... well, he
and his friends went to the drive in constantly to see
their hero whoop evil’s ass.

The funniest part of Quentin’s intro was that he saw
the film... Night Number One.... Everyone who was
anyone was there... A classic night at the drive-in...
squeaking suspensions... couples making out....
people leaning on their horns as a sound of
applause... crickets chirping.... the sky up above... and
Buford Pusser kicking ass on the screen.

Well, in the first WALKING TALL there is a scene
where Buford decides to get what’s coming to him...
He’s hightails it to this little den of sin... armed only
with what looked to be 4 feet of some form of hard
wood that he swung like a baseball bat.... Unhinging
jaws, breaking femurs, landing devastating
concussions to the tops of heads... Breaking up
gambling tables and landing the men in hospitals... all
justifiably mind ya... BUT YOU MUST SEE THIS
SCENE TO BELIEVE IT... It is HARDCORE
VIOLENT... Well... Quentin saw this scene... and the
next night he returned with his group of friends and...
the scene wasn’t there. It was gone.

All summer long these highly innocent kids....
Quentin amongst them... went over and over again,
hoping to see THAT scene. They didn’t understand
about editing or about the concept that a projectionist
can sometimes cut out material that they find to be...
too much. Instead... they just started doubting
themselves... and this scene became something of an
urban legend.

When all was said and done... The movie began and
folks... This movie kicked my ass. I was expecting
some sort of sweaty southern fable about crime and
punishment... but dudes... this thing was brutal.
When the film was over there was this cathartic rush
to the lobby... where various folks began group
consultation and psychological care for one another.
This one girl... she was so strongly affected by the
film, that she was in continual sobbing mode.... so
much so, that she bummed a cigarette and began
smoking for the first time in 7 months... FOLKS...
this film is SO POWERFUL, it drove this poor lady
back to the clutches of the tobacco industry.

Now... at the beginning of the film... Quentin
mentioned that the WALKING TALL trilogy...
should be seen all at once, because there is something
quite unique that happens over the course of the three
films... something he didn’t want to get into till the
introduction of the third film.

But... this film alone throws soooo much pure tragedy
at ya, that by the time it is done... you’re just
exhausted and a bit shell-shocked. I found myself
convinced that his children were going to be blown
up while fishing... concerned about a trip outside to
grab the holiday turkey.... EVERYTIME HE
TURNED THE IGNITION in the last hour... I just
knew he’d blow up.

This was the sort of world they’d constructed and it
was a scary, real and brutal world.

Now... between the first film and the second film
there was a major casting change.... After WALKING
TALL succeeded the way it did, Buford Pusser was
all set to step in and star in a sequel called....
BUFORD... but he died in a mysterious ball of GM
fire in the night as his corvette burst into flames and
left Pusser a dead man on the side of the road after
signing autographs all day at a fair.

The circumstances were mysterious... the death so
violent and random... and after so many attempted
auto deaths... this just went beyond coincidence,
though nothing was ever proven.

Well... when Buford was going to play.... Joe Don
had walked away from the project and wasn’t headed
back... So instead, they cast Bo Svenson... and as
Quentin explained it... because of the way the first
film ends... you almost need a new actor for the
second film.

You see, Buford’s jaw was blown off with a shotgun,
and at the end of WALKING TALL... he’s in the
hospital in bandages.... and in PART II: WALKING
TALL it picks up right there with the bandages being
removed and it being... Bo Svenson.

Now here’s the thing... I knew nothing about
WALKING TALL or Sheriff Buford Pusser. I
thought this was Redneck/Good Ol Boy night..... I
wasn’t expecting a backwoods Elliot Ness version of
THE UNTOUCHABLES. I was stunned.

Just like with Elliot Ness stories... I was entranced... I
mean, this stuff is all based on ‘true’ stories... and as
such, I just begin accepting at face value. With this
film... I knew... the dude is gonna be dead. He’s
dying man... They are going to kill this man. And
there was a complete sense of dread.

Also... Joe Don Baker felt like Joe Don Baker... and
for me, I’m just not as used to seeing Bo Svenson, so
he just stepped in and ruled the part... On top of that,
he didn’t a second film and apparently some early
eighties TV series based on Buford. Which I can
only imagine being the exact opposite of DUKES OF
HAZARD.

Again the second film ends... and there is no death...
Just strange and bizarre... the story grows beyond his
little county... we learn of a larger Hick Mafia that
controls the stills of Tennessee, the gambling and the
whoring. We learn about the state government
politics... they begin to try and assassinate Buford
throughout the film... always hitting someone.... but
not Buford.... always missing their target. And as the
film went on and on... he didn’t die... That would be
the third film.

The highlights for me in PART II, was the bringing in
of Angel Tompkins (which could very well of shared
the screen with WALKING TALL in 1973 when she
starred in the midget gangster con game flick...
LITTLE CIGARS, which showed at last year’s fest)
to seduce Buford.... The scene where Buford let’s her
know the jig is up... FANTASTIC. It highlighted the
character arc of Buford from being a dumb hick, to
being an educated lawman. He became a quick
study... and I imagine he would have to, right after all
them shootings.

Also... Libby Boone was fantastic as the secretary
with a crush on Buford.

And then Quentin introduced the FINAL CHAPTER:
WALKING TALL.... which was directed by Jack
Starrett... who’s CLEOPATRA JONES might very
well of played some screens along with this film....
but... now he’s winding up this trilogy with... a bit of
a surreal moment.

Quentin gets really funny here a bit, but not really...
He’s dead serious. What I mean by funny is... You
know when you are a fan of a series... and there is
some sort of weird disruption of continuity... how as a
fan, you always come up with a theory to explain it.

Well, Quentin feels that when you watch all three
WALKING TALL films in a row... by the time you
are done... Bo Svenson IS BUFORD PUSSER... and
the proof of that is in the FINAL CHAPTER, because
part of that film is the actual filming of the first film...
And while they don’t show Joe Don Baker... we know
that those scenes from the first film... that the
shadowy driver.. well, our memory has Joe Don
Baker... but because we have Bo Svenson watching
those scenes... and watching the filming of those
scenes... Well, we know... THIS IS REAL, because
he’s watching that Hollywood version we saw earlier.

The third film is the final sad part of the whole tale.

Overall, THE WALKING TALL trilogy... is vastly
improved when having someone hold your hand and
walk you through the history behind the true stories of
Buford Pusser. At least I feel so. The film series
worked and prompted a strong emotional response
with the audience.... something that I didn’t think was
possible in the Good Ol Boy genre. I figured these
would be get drunk films... but instead they were a
tear in my beer set of films.

Now... there was a surprise fourth film this night... Mo
neuih aka DEVIL WOMAN. The movie came out in
1970 from the Philippines, and.... is just one damn
weird fucking movie.

As best I can tell there were three equally weird
movies mixed into this one. There was the story
about the angry mutant girl with snakes for hair and
the ability to command serpents. There was the story
about roving kung fu gangs and the all-white-clothed
martial arts gentleman... and then there was the
Philippino Travelogue inserted for padding.

Had my brain not been completely fried by Buford
Pusser’s big stick... this movie could’ve hurt me.
Instead I was in an emotionally numb state... where I
merely watched... and under my breath made
comments about the absolute insanity of the film.

Again, this is one of those films... that requires an
exhausted and deathly dwindling supply of upper
level neurons. The kung fu was way better than it
needed to be, the snake stuff was just... bizarre... and
I still don’t understand the ending. I just don’t... It’s
beyond me... Maybe it holds the secrets of the
universe... But I can’t read the language to decipher.

Overall... a really fun night of film... The next night
was the triple bill of Kung Fu Flicks!!!