Tagline: One man will stand up for what’s right.
In Walking Tall, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays Chris Vaughn, a retired soldier who returns to his hometown to make a new life for himself, only to discover his wealthy high school rival, Jay Hamilton (McDonough), has closed the once-prosperous lumber mill and turned the town’s resources towards his own criminal gains.
The place Chris grew up is now overrun with crime, drugs, and violence. Enlisting the help of his old pal Ray Templeton (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 (The Rock) has come home. He’s a retired U.S. 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.
About the Production
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. Buford Pusser is now Chris Vaughn (played by The Rock), a man who returns to his boyhood home in the Pacific Northwest after leaving to pursue a decorated career in the U.S. Armed Forces after high school. Slipping back into town unannounced, Chris is shocked and saddened by what he sees. His beloved town has been ravaged by poverty and corruption, its vital lumber mill is closed, and a crime-ridden casino is now the town’s biggest employer.
It seems Chris’s well-heeled high school rival, Jay Hamilton (Neal McDonough), has become the new robber baron of Ferguson, Washington. His wealth and influence have allowed him to open the casino, a gambling mecca called the Wild Cherry. Even Chris’s high school girlfriend, Deni (Ashley Scott) is one of the casino employees; she dances there as a stripper.
Upon Chris’s return, he and some old friends, including best friend Ray Templeton (Johnny Knoxville), visit the Wild Cherry on Jay’s “good will” invitation. But Chris discovers cheating at the craps tables, and a fight erupts with Hamilton’s security guards that ultimately leaves Chris overpowered, savagely beaten, and left for dead.
Chris’s family – dad Chris, Sr. (John Beasley), mom Connie (Barbara Tarbuck), sister Michelle (Kristen Wilson), and her son, Pete (Khleo Thomas) – help him recover and plead for him to leave things as they are. But Chris is a man who won’t back down. He decides to run for sheriff and rid his hometown of crime with the law as his main weapon.
With Ray as his deputy, Chris sets out to clean up the mess Hamilton has made. Now Sheriff Chris Vaughn, he wields a huge stick fashioned from lumber mill pine. He’s one man against many – but he is Walking Tall.
Walking Tall (2004)
Directed by: Kevin Bray
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Johnny Knoxville, Ashley Scott, Kristen Wilson, Neal McDonough, Barbara Tarbuck, Kristen Wilson, Khleo Thomas, Kevin Durand, Ryan Robbins
Screenplay by: Channing Gibson
Production Design by: Brent Thomas
Cinematography by: Glen MacPherson
Film Editing by: George Bowers, Robert Ivison
Costume Design by: Gersha Phillips
Set Decoration by: Louise Roper
Art Direction by: Roxanne Methot
Music by: Graeme Revell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence, sexual content, drug material and language.
Distributed by: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release Date: April 2, 2004
Views: 86
