Walking Tall: Final Chapter [Final Chapter: Walking Tall] * (1977, Bo Svenson, Margaret Blye, Forrest Tucker, Lurene Tuttle, Morgan Woodward, Leif Garrett) – Classic Movie Review 11,870

The third in the Walking Tall series, director Jack Starrett’s 1977 action thriller Walking Tall: Final Chapter [Final Chapter: Walking Tall], is more of the same violent adventures of Southern vigilante sheriff Buford Pusser, only much worse.

Grimacing Bo Svenson returns as the scary lawman with the baseball bat who takes the law into his own hands to clean up the Tennessee area.

In this episode, we learn how he becomes a dubious American celebrity and is killed in a suspicious car accident.

Original star Joe Don Baker declined to reprise his role from the 1973 Walking Tall in the two sequels, and is much missed in a movie that is made cheaply and with little apparent skill or flair, though, to be fair, Svenson is a strong presence and a reasonable substitute.

Also in the cast are Margaret Blye, Forrest Tucker, Lurene Tuttle, Morgan Woodward, Libby Boone, Leif Garrett, Vance Davis, Bruce Glover, H B Haggerty, Taylor Lacher, Dawn Lyn, John Malloy, Sandy McPeak, Robert Phillips, Logan Ramsey, Clay Tanner and Wanda Wilson.

The film opened in the US on 10 August 1977.

The on-screen title is Final Chapter: Walking Tall.

The whole series was shot in Chester and Madison Counties, Tennessee. Pusser was sheriff of McNairy County.

A 1978 TV movie titled A Real American Hero: Buford Pusser with Brian Dennehy and a brief TV series followed.

In 2004, a Walking Tall remake was made starring Dwayne Johnson. Two sequels were released in 2007: Walking Tall: The Payback and Walking Tall: Lone Justice, both released directly to DVD and starring Kevin Sorbo as Nick Prescott, the son of the town’s sheriff.

The cast are Bo Svenson as Buford Pusser, Forrest Tucker as Grandpa Carl Pusser, Lurene Tuttle as Grandma Helen Pusser, Leif Garrett as Mike Pusser, Dawn Lyn as Dwana Pusser, Simpson Hemphill as Brownard, Sandy McPeak as Lloyd Tatum, Logan Ramsey as John Witter, Morgan Woodward as The Boss, Clay Tanner as O Q Teal, Maggie Blye as Luan Paxton, Bruce Glover as Deputy Grady, Red West as Sheriff Tanner, David Adams as Robbie Teal, Michael Allen Honaker as Udell Teal, Vance Davis as Aaron, and Libby Boone as Pusser’s secretary Joan.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,870

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