WALKING TALL
Year: 2004
USA: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
UK: Twentieth Century Fox
Cast: The Rock, Johnny Knoxville, Ashley Scott, Neal McDonough, Kristen Wilson, Khleo Thomas, John Beasley, Barbara Tarbuck, Michael Bowen, Kevin Durand, Andrew Tarbet, Patrick Gallagher, John Stewart, Eric Breker, Ryan Robbins, Michael Adamthwaite, Darcy Laurie, Fred Keating, Ben Cardinal, Kett Turton, Terence Kelly, Mark Houghton, James Ashcroft, Eric Keenleyside, Aaron Douglas, Michael Soltis, April Amber Telek, Sandra Steier, Ben Cotton, Cobie Smulders, Chelsie Amber McEachnie, Kaja Gjesdal, Melody Tinesa Cherpaw, Alana Drozduke, Sandra Higueras, Ty Olsson, Ana Mirkovic, David Purvis, Beverley Elliott, Rita Theresa Edwards, Sarah Smith, Douglas Sheridan, Katina Robillard, Jacqueline Stewart
Director: Kevin Bray
Country: USA
USA: 86 mins
UK: 84 mins
USA Rated: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong violence
USA Release Date: 2 April 2004
UK Release Date: 9 July 2004
Synopsis
The first big screen version of WALKING TALL, starring Joe Don Baker as real-life Tennessee Sheriff Buford Pusser, debuted in 1973 and was a huge grassroots hit with moviegoers. Its two sequels, WALKING TALL PART II (1975) and FINAL CHAPTER: WALKING TALL (1977), starred Bo Svenson as Sheriff Pusser and were also popular, memorable versions of the lawman's heroic stand against crime in his small, rural Southern town.
In the new WALKING TALL, the original theme remains - one man standing up for his beliefs and vowing to do what's right against great odds - but the story itself gets an update.
Chris Vaughn (The Rock) has come home. He's a retired US Special Forces soldier who has returned to his hometown to renew old relationships and make a new life for himself. But while Chris was away, his boyhood town wasted away to a dilapidated, crime-ridden shell of itself. His wealthy high school rival, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), has closed the once-prosperous lumber mill - once the area's largest employer - and has turned the town's resources towards criminal gains. The place Chris grew up is now overrun with crime, drugs, and violence.
Enlisting the help of his old pal Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville), Chris gets elected sheriff and vows to shut down Hamilton's operations. His actions endanger his family and threaten his own life, but Chris refuses to back down until his hometown once again feels like home.
Chris Vaughn won't talk softly any longer...and he carries a very big stick.
DVD EXTRAS
alternative ending,
loads of deleted scenes
outtakes
an audio commentary with The Rock
a fascinating featurette on the stunts, introduced by The Rock, detailing how the film really goes back to the "old school" of action films with no CGI or modern wire work