Customer Reviews

Walking Tall

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Walking Tall DVD

Walking Tall is a remake of [[ASIN:B000VDDDWI Walking Tall]. This time the Rock stars as an Army Officer who has come home to find his hometown full of vice and corruption. In this movie he finds a 4X4 versus an axe handle to use as a "helper". I think I'd prefer the axe handle. Highly recommended for fans of the Rock and for people who think Wrestling is real, but the moon landing was fake.

Gunner April, 2008

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this film... it was just short! If you take away the credits you're only left with an hour and thirteen minute movie!

The Rock can really act, who would have thought? The only other downside beside the time is that most of the other characters are so under developed. You can't quite feel happy or feel sorry for them because you just don't know them. Knoxville was great also... he's just a funny guy in my opinion.

The plot is great, as well as the action sequences. At the end of the movie, you are really just ready for the Rock to rip everyone apart that has tried to hurt him and his family and friends; those scars he gets spark a few nerves as well. I would say definitely go rent this movie, just rent one or two more while your at; the Rundown is another good film w/ the Rock also; try that if you haven't already.

This movie is great, and full of action. I was never a fan of wrestling and knew very little about the Rock. I rented this movie last night for my boyfriend and I to watch. Since I was strictly informed not to get any chick-flicks, I figured this was the best choice. It is based on a true story about a guy named Beauford Pusser (gross name) who after comming home from the millitary notices a great deal of change in his home town. The mill he and his father once worked at is now closed and the main source of income for this small town is the casino/strip club owned by his former friend. Things turn ugly whe Chris Vaughn (The Rock) notice the casino is cheating their customers. He tries to go to the police and they are just as crooked as the casino, so the Rock takes matters into his own hands. Great movie choice for ladies wanting to please their boyfriend with a non-chickflick. But don't worry ladies even if you don't like the story line, you will still enjoy it, because the Rock is very nice to look at!! Enjoy.

i went to see this movie and was very pleased with it. i thought the rock did an excellent job. i do not watch wrestling so i do not have my judgement clouded by whatever his character was like on tv. but in this movie i thought he gave a believeable preformance. i loved the rundown so i had to check this one out too.

Walking Tall is a remake of the 1973 film, which is in turn a "semi-biopic" of Sheriff Buford Pusser. Ironically enough, Pusser was a former professional wrestler-turned lawman in McNairy County, Tennessee. For those of you keeping track, the Buford Pusser was renamed to Chris Vaughn (in the world of macho movies, this is understandable) and his background was changed from wrestling to Special Forces. Which is funny, because Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who plays the role of Vaughn, is a former professional wrestler turned actor.

In this action movie, Vaughn returns to his hometown of Kitsap County, Washington (instead of Pusser's actual McNairy County, Tennessee) from a stint in the Special Forces. We're not sure what Vaughn did, but it must have been ugly, because he never speaks about it and answers questions about people he killed with a sad stare. Unfortunately, Kitsap County has gone downhill since the local lumber mill closed. His father, Vaughn Sr. (John Beasley) is out of work. Vaughn's sister Michelle (Kristen Wilson) has become a cop, but her son Pete (Khleo Thomas) hangs out with the wrong crowd. Heck, even Vaughn's old girlfriend Deni (Ashley Scott) has become a stripper. All these sins can be blamed on Vaughn's old high school rival, Jay Hamilton (played with sneering arrogance by Neal McDonough).

Vaughn's return is cause for celebration by his friends, including the recovering alcoholic Ray (Johnny Knoxville, of all people), who treat him to a night of gambling and debauchery at Hamilton's premiere casino. But the whole place is dirty, where gamblers cheat and drugs are given to kids. It's at this point that Walking Tall flirts with cartoonish levels of evil. Even Hamilton points this out: "Why would I sell drugs when I own the entire town already?" Why indeed?

Vaughn goes nuts once he discovers that the place is corrupt, and his fisticuffs earn him a form of vicious revenge from the security staff that involves a box cutter and a lot of cutaway scenes of Vaughn screaming. Left to die, he manages to recover on his parents' sofa. The sheriff (Michael Bowen) and his deputies are obviously in Hamilton's pocket and refuse to help. When Vaughn's nephew overdoses on drugs gained from Hamilton's casino, Vaughn's had enough: he takes a four-foot hickory club and smashes the place up. That's just the first half of the movie.

Returning to reality, Vaughn's outburst causes him to be brought up on several charges, brought by the very people who cut him up the first time. Vaughn wins the case by appealing to squeamishness of the jury, who wince once he shows them the scars from the box cutter. "If you acquit me of these charges, I'll run for sheriff!" he shouts. And they do. And he does. What happens next is a good old-fashioned butt-whupping from a big man with a big stick.

I didn't expect much from an action movie headlined by a wrestler, but Walking Tall distinguishes itself in several ways that make it worth watching:

IT'S MULTIETHNIC: Vaughn's father is black, his mother is white; Vaughn's girlfriend is white. The movie doesn't make a big deal about it.

IT KNOWS ITS LIMITATIONS: The Rock is huge. This obvious fact is used against Vaughn when he's on trial, as the poor, beat-up thugs make him out to be a monster. And he sort of is...he's just a monster you want on your side. Ray is both pathetic and amusing, but mostly pathetic, as only Knoxville can play him.

IT UNABASHEDLY LOVES ACTION: This movie is about good guys beating up bad guys. Although Vaughn's Special Forces training is curiously absent from most of the film, he does get into fistfights and gunfights with everybody. The fighting is fast and furious but never overtly cinematic. There are lots of thuds, grunts, and crunches.

I like The Rock. He's handsome and sleek in a way that other muscle-bound stars are not, conveying both strength and speed. He doesn't come off as a brutal thug by just looking at him, unless he's standing next to someone else. And because Johnson is famous for arching his eyebrow in ironic "am I for real or what?" pose, he's able to pull off comedy by standing next to someone considerably smaller, like Knoxville.

Walking Tall has both heart and muscle, a feel-good tale about a tough guy who stands up for his hometown in an era when nobody seems to be standing up for anything anymore.

As society in general became progressively more liberal in the 1970's, an entire genre of films rose up in reaction to the trend - movies in which an individual, frustrated with a legal system that seemed to be coddling criminals, took it upon himself to mete out his own brand of "frontier justice," usually involving personal vengeance and vigilante-style violence. The seminal films of this genre - "Billy Jack," "Dirty Harry," "Death Wish" and "Walking Tall" - all found favor with mass audiences, although critics tended to dismiss them as, at best, reactionary, and, at worst, neo-fascist in nature. Now, one of them, "Walking Tall," has been retrofitted to cater to audiences in the already far more conservative 21st Century.

The original 1973 "Walking Tall" was based on the true story of Buford Pusser, the sheriff of McNairy County, Tennessee, who won fame by single-handedly wiping out the criminal elements who had overrun his town. It was a one-man "crusade for justice" that came at great personal cost to himself and his family (his wife was murdered and Pusser died a few years later in a "mysterious" car accident). In this new version - which eliminates most of the grittier elements of the story and turns it into a rock'em-sock'em, live-action cartoon - Pusser`s name has been changed to Chris Vaughn and the locale has been moved from the Appalachians to the Pacific Northwest. Chris is a recently discharged soldier who, upon returning to his small hometown, discovers that the place has become a hotbed of vice and corruption, its citizenry forced to live in fear under the tyrannical control of the local casino owner and all-around meanie, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough). When Chris has finally had a bellyful of malfeasance and sleaze, he decides to run for sheriff, vowing to bring the criminals to their knees, and thus allowing the good folks of the town to reclaim their community.

This is a silly and shallow film whose only real purpose seems to be to give the perpetually self-righteous and outraged Vaughn an excuse to hurl endless bric-a-brac and breakaway furniture around the set while the local townsfolk look on in slack-jawed amazement. Never one to be deterred by such quaint and fusty notions as civil liberties or Miranda rights, Sheriff Vaughn chases down the bad guys one by one, smashing heads and busting bones as he goes. The plot is so underdeveloped that the final confrontation scene between Chris and his arch nemesis, Hamilton, feels like a mere afterthought. The film runs barely 75 minutes, yet boasts a 10-minute long closing credit sequence to pad it out to 85! It's as if even the filmmakers themselves had run out of interest in the project and figured they might as well just wrap things up as quickly as possible so they would be free to move on to bigger and better things.

Usually, in a film based on true life events, when the names are changed, it's to protect the innocent. In the case of "Walking Tall," it's more likely that the people who made the film were trying to protect themselves from being sued by the Pusser estate.

I really liked the previous review of this movie. I both agree and disagree with the previous reviewer, though. Mainly, I disagree with the fact that the previous reviewer says the movie claims to be based on the original movie, but is not. I think the this movie is based on the idea of the original movie in the sense that there is a guy standing up against local corruption. The original is outdated for our times. It should almost only be seen as an historical piece.

Like the original movie, I think the most exciting action scene happens in the middle of the movie, not the end, where he goes into the bar and "does his thing" when he finds that there is a major problem with the folks running the place and what has happened to his hometown.

I think it is a very moderized version of the original. Still, considering that the original was based on a true story and this one is fiction, there are discrepencies as the previous reviewer pointed out.

So, it is hard to call the new Walking Tall a "remake" of the original. Rather, it is an "adaption" of the original to modern times.

Basically, The Rock plays a really honorable guy who you feel good about in the movie. I say, "relax." Let the obvious problem with reality and connections to the original pass you by and enjoy this movie. Enjoy it for what it is and don't make too many connections to the original. If you are a fan of The Rock, you will like this. His character is very likable.

Still, as the previous reviewer explains, there are many C. Bronson type scenes in the movie. That comparison, for me, is spot on. If you like Bronson-type action, great! If you don't, then I recommend against watching this.

Definitely a 4 star movie for me...

when i first went to see Walking Tall, i loved it. i saw the movie and it felt like an hour long, cause in reality, the movie is only 1 hour 15 mintues long. the credits felt longer than the movie, but for this, the shortness of the movie is a good thing.

in that one hour 15 mintues, the movie is fast, action packed and flat out awesome. the characters are all awsome, the acting is realisitic and the story is very real. the movie revolves around chris vaughn, a former special forces member who comes back home and finds that home isn't what it used to be. drugs are now a common thing and the once thriving mill, which employed a good portion of the town is closed while a new casino has replaced the mill. along with the casino comes the sex, drugs and gambling.

vaughn, who is left for dead after getting into a fight with the casino security guards vows to turn the town around and clean it up.

overall, the movie is awsome, and it is without anydoubt, the best acting i've seen by the Rock and Johnny Knockville.
again, Walking Tall is a short but action packed action thrilled movie that you won't forget.

The movie is based on actual events and I have to say was pretty good. Yeah I know most actual event movies are boring and stuff but this one was pretty fast paced... actually seemed to fast. Its funny cause The DVD says runtime of 1 Hour and 26 minutes, I think that its only that when you add the end credits which is about 14 minutes (no joke, movie was over with at 1 hour and 12 minutes and the credits were going until 1 hour and 26 minutes and whatever seconds). Besides that the movie is full of action and has that comedy appeal as well. The basics are a military guy (The Rock) comes back to his hometown after 8 years to try and get work at the local mill which was the main industry when he left. He comes back to find it closed and goes to see his parents home. He learns that the main industry now is a casino owned by his one time friend, but trouble starts when Rock finds out that the casino is crooked and so is the people who protect it. I don't want to give away too much details since you'd rather see it then read about it in a review. Its definately one not to miss. Enjoy.

The Rock returns in his latest action film, "Walking Tall", that's supposedly based on true events, but, isn't (names, events, and places have been changed, so, what's so true about it?). Its also a remake of the original "Walking Tall" (that starred Joe Don Baker as Sheriff Buford Pusser and THAT film was based on true events). "Walking Tall" is an easy enough timepasser and overall decent film that, hopefully, will encourage fans of "The Great One" to be curious enough to check out the original "Walking Tall".

The Rock stars as Chris Vaughn, a retired member of the Special Forces, returning home to be with his family and settle down. But upon his return, Chris finds out that his hometown has changed quite a bit since he left. Drugs have been rampantly sold throughout town, the mill has been closed for five years, unemployment is way up, and the only true moneymaker in town is a casino owned & operated by an old highschool football buddy of Vaughn's, who is crooked as he is corrupt & runs the town with an iron fist. After a gruesome fight at the casino & an even worse beating at the hands of the casino's henchmen, Chris Vaughn won't stand for anymore of the town's monkey crap and before you can say, "You smell what "The Rock" is cookin'?", Vaughn runs for election of the town's sheriff (he, of course, wins the position), walks tall and carries a big stick and proceeds to lay the smacketh down on all who have destroyed the town & attempt to bring him and his family down.

The outcome is pretty predictable. I like The Rock in his movies, but, it's the movies themselves that I have a hard time with. With this one it seems everything happened rather quickly (especially when he wins the job as the towns sheriff. Did anyone vote? Couldn't there have been a small subplot dealing with the original sheriff not willing to give up the position so easily or tainted ballots?). The film seems a bit rushed with no real character devlopment between any of the characters (whats the origin of Chris' relationship with Danni, why did Chris originally hangout with Johnny Knoxville's character, whats the real reason why Chris' father won't pick up a gun ever again, etc.). The film screen time can't be more than 80 minutes (I attended the 7:10 pm screening and I was out by 20 minutes to nine (that included, at least, 10 minutes of previews). That makes "Walking Tall" the shortest film since "Men in Black II"!)

The plus side is the characters are likable enough to enjoy. Knoxville gives his best performance to date as Vaughn's, Deputy giving the film some great, funny moments (especially the truck chopping sequence. That was awesome!). The Rock is cool as Chris. He comes off likable as "The Average Joe" trying to make his way in life. The fight scenes are down to earth (no "Matrix" style slap fighting, or homo, slomo, "bullit-time" action, either). The beginning to "Walking Tall" is an homage to "First Blood" (the first "Rambo" film), from the Northern Mid-West Town the film takes place in, to Chris Vaughn walking the road into town. When the Sheriff's car pulls up to greet Vaughn I was almost expecting Sheriff Teasle to step out of the car and arrest him for vagrancy (the charge that got Rambo arrested for).

"Walking Tall" is a decent film to watch and is an easy enough timepasser. I just expected more from The Rock.