Walking Tall (2004)

Director:

Kevin Bray

Writers (WGA):

Mort Briskin (based on a screenplay by)
David Klass (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 April 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Biography | Comedy | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

One man will stand up for what's right.

Plot:

A former U.S. soldier returns to his hometown to find it overrun by crime and corruption, which prompts him to clean house.

Plot Keywords:

Casino | Sheriff | Trial | Jury | Cheating

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Dwayne Johnson	...	Chris Vaughn (as The Rock)
Johnny Knoxville	...	Ray Templeton
Neal McDonough	...	Jay Hamilton
Kristen Wilson	...	Michelle Vaughn
Ashley Scott	...	Deni
Khleo Thomas	...	Pete Vaughn
John Beasley	...	Chris Vaughn Sr.
Barbara Tarbuck	...	Connie Vaughn
Michael Bowen	...	Sheriff Stan Watkins
Kevin Durand	...	Booth
Andrew Tarbet	...	Jimmy
Patrick Gallagher	...	Keith
John Stewart	...	Rusty
Eric Breker	...	Deputy Ralston
Ryan Robbins	...	Travis

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Malaysia:18SG | Denmark:15 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:14A (Canadian Home Video rating) | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (No. 39989)

Filming Locations:

Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The film takes place in Kitsap County, Washington. The Kitsap Penninsula is across Puget sound from Seattle, and is home to both the Bremerton Naval Shipyards and the Bangor Submarine Base. A large part of the population are military personnel, and unlike in the movie, the area has a very low crime rate.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Ray is arresting the casino security guard against the truck, Ray asks him to put his hands down and on the close-up you can see the guy putting his hands down, but on the next shot he still has the hands on the truck and puts them down again.

Quotes:

Jay Hamilton: You know what my new favorite sound is going to be? The sound of you screaming like a bitch!

Movie Connections:

Version of "Walking Tall" (1981)

Soundtrack:

Right Place, Wrong Time

Surprisingly Entertaining Rock Flick ala Chuck Norris

The Rock takes a page out of the Chuck Norris bible in his rendition of a special forces soldier returning to his home town. He quickly learns things in his hometown are not as he had left them and not for the better. Soon, things come to a head and he has to make a choice as to whether he is going to put up with it, or Walk Tall.

As The Rock himself mentioned- the original Sheriff Buford was a white man in his 40's so remember this is an adaptation of a 1970's movie script that was originally "based" on a true story, so we are a pretty long ways out from accurately representing the original events- this is only representing the SPIRIT of the original true story.

Fabulous fight scenes, a tense script and some funny moments all are reminiscent of the numerous Chuck Norris movies that portrayed a quiet guy that doesn't take any bull-crap from nobody man!

While the script made perfect sense in an earlier time - the Viet Nam era, it doesn't quite fly 100% in this day and age. So suspend a little belief.You may findyourself scratching your head as to how that could happen in this day and age.. well.. it could back then - even though it didn't really haha. However, no mention is made of the actual time period they are trying to represent- yet they mention current items like home depot and cops TV show. The moonshine whiskey sheriff buford fought is updated in this script to be crystal meth/ice.

The acting is surprisingly good for the Rock and he is looking manly in this movie instead of the sculpted eyebrow weirdo looks he has achieved in the past. Instead of looking like a dancer in a gay club like he did in Scorpion King, he looks the rough and tumble part for this role.

His attachment to his family is acted in a clumsy and weak manner but that isn't really important to the script- even if he only sort of likes his family he would still protect them with his life so it still works for the momentum of the movie.

Johnny Knoxville is mainly weak but has some great shining moments where they allow him to be Johnny Knoxville instead of the stupid 1-d concept of his character that seems to be forced on him through the other parts of the flick. At times he is reminiscent of Barney Fife to Rock's Andy. :-)

If you want to READ about the real man that INSPIRED this really great story- http://www.sheriffbufordpusser.com/history1.htm (the welcome page has a picture of him)