"For those of us whose parents took them to see Walking Tall, this is like finding out that, Santa isn't real." FB quote
Sheriff Buford Pusser (circa mid-1960s)
Pauline Pusser
According to evidence, Tennessee officials have determined that McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser likely killed his wife, Pauline, in a staged ambush in 1967. The entire 1000 page report has been made public and will soon be available to view online.The story of Buford Pusser has been told in film, books, and songs, but apparently most had the story wrong. Buford Pusser was lionized as a rural sheriff from humble beginnings who took on organized crime and won, but at a hefty price. The story launched a string of sequels in the early and mid-70s. There was a television series, and a recent remake based loosely on the original storyline. The first film, Walking Tall (1973), was made on a budget of less than $500,000 and grossed over $40 million at movie box offices. The film grossed $10 million in additional revenue from rentals. In Walking Tall Buford Pusser and his wife are ambushed and killed on a lonely country road. After a brief recovery, and Pauline Pusser's funeral, Buford and the locals drive to a fictional bar/impromptu casino/whorehouse where Buford runs his car through the establishment killing the last of the mobsters. Then the local townspeople help him burn the place. This was one of the few movies I got to see in a theater as a young boy. It was really a good story and fairly well made considering the budget, but it was just a "story".I had heard for years that the sheriff was "crooked" from people who had firsthand knowledge in this subject (McNairy County is not far from where I was raised). One of those was a local moonshiner I knew. In the mid-1960s my friend had a moonshining operation in McNairy County TN. This man was full of "Buford" stories. He told me that the first time he met the sheriff it almost ended in bloodshed, but that they later became "friends" more or less but business was business and he still had to "payoff" the sheriff to operate and he said he did. Buford killed two people during his time as sheriff (Louise Hathcock and Russ Hamilton). Buford told my friend that some locals had "hired" Hamilton, a small time hood who had recently been arrested for beating his own mother, to kill Pusser. He told my friend on Christmas Eve 1968 that he was going to kill the killer before the Hamilton could do the job. He also told my friend, who lived in Florence, AL at the time to turn his television on when he got home and hear all about it (which he did and the shooting was reported on the local news). Buford shot Russ Hamilton after investigating a "threat" Hamilton had allegedly made to his landlord, threatening to shoot him. Several articles say Hamilton got off four or five shots at Pusser, but that is not the way Buford told my friend it happened. That version is much less dramatic. Allegedly, Pusser kicks in the door on a the tiny shotgun house/apartment where Hamilton was living. Hamilton was passed out on the couch and there was a pistol and a bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. Hamilton woke up and reached for the pistol and Pusser shot him twice before he could reach it. Based on this and other firsthand accounts involving multiple girlfriends of Buford Pusser, I'd have to say the "movie sheriff" was dirty. Pusser died from injuries sustained after crashing his brand new 1974 Corvette (there was a fire after the crash). That was the same day Pusser had signed a movie contract in which he would play himself. There was a lot of speculation surrounding Pusser's death such as the the car may have been sabotaged, etc., but nothing was ever proven.Way back when the internet first came along, I stumbled across a discussion board pertaining to the Pusser stories I followed for years until they moved to Facebook. The author of this discussion site and FB page was a retired LEO from AR (Elam is his name I believe) and he dug up all sorts of inconsistencies. The story is just breaking, but I believe this guy, Elam was the driving force behind this investigation. There is a lot of information on this subject there (link below) . I wonder if the Buford Pusser museum, BP Festival, monuments, named highway, etc. will remain or will Buford be "innocent until proven guilty"?
Walking Tall (1973) trailer
Pusser with his 1974 Corvette
According to evidence, Tennessee officials have determined that McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser likely killed his wife, Pauline, in a staged ambush in 1967. The entire 1000 page report has been made public and will soon be available to view online.
Big fan of "innocent until proven guilty". There's always people willing to badmouth a better man (or woman). Let's see some evidence.
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing a lot of heresay.
ReplyDeleteI have the 195 Hp small block version of the 74 Corvette. It had the 4:10 rear gear that could easily smoke the rear tires and run a 90 mph quarter mile. A stock big block could easily perform past the brake capabilities. I almost doubled the Hp with aluminum heads, cam, headers, Double-pumper, electronic ignition, and geared to 3:73. That made the car difficult to drive at less than 60 miler per hour. It took a new front suspension to go with the Wilwood brake system to tame it. I need to find stickier tires.
ReplyDeleteHow does aluminum heads increase hp? I know they do but how. I would like to understand the how. Is it better heat dissipation or what exactly? Thanks.
DeleteI could take the stock double hump heads and spend about a week porting and polishing the intake ports after it got decked to remove any warpage. New valves that had a stepped 5 way cut to match what was cut in the head. Another 8 to 10 hours matching the burn volume of each head. Then shim the plugs to face the intake valve. That would get me 25ish Hp with 8:1 compression. The Dart Aluminum heads save 64 pounds. The compression is upped to just over 10:1 and the chamber has the ideal squish shape for maximum combustion. A lighter rotating assembly milled to tighter tolerances with a 6:1 roller rocker instead of a stamped steel 5:1 rocker so it can spin up past the stock redline. The Dart head has been flowed on a bench. This will bump up a stock cam 35 to 40 HP. An aggressive cam with the right lift and duration while working with a stroker 400 crank. All things working together to make dependable Hp.
DeleteI for one really miss FFF. With all the porn on the net, why the have to pick on Irish?
ReplyDeleteI will be happy with the end of this woke new age. One way or another.
Yo.
DeleteBufford had just left the Madison County State Fair that is held in Jackson, Tennessee. His step daughter and others were following him. That highways was a two lane curvy asphalt road and Buford was high balling when he just plain lost control.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify, it was his daughter following an it was the McNairy county fair. Yes it was a curvy road , but when you drive wide open and you are so drunk that your friend was trying to let them take you home not much good is gonna happen. I got this first hand from the friend. Buford’s first cousin,who was a trooper at that time, they are the same age and he’s still alive, his son is a customer of mine, he told me Buford’s momma asked him to go investigate the crash ,because of the rumors about someone trying to kill Buford and she wanted to know for sure, he said himself Buford was drunk. I’m from Adamsville and know a lot of people that knew him,I was only 4 when he died, so I only have heard about him. If you’re real interested in the case pay attention to the ballistics and all that surrounds that, it is what got this whole thing fired up after 57 years. Not sure how much and who’s names are in the report so I won’t say them .
DeleteThis simply breaks my heart. Why reopen a case from 50 years ago? Who benifits, no one. I cannot think of why except to just tear down someone others thought of as a hero. Not sure just who this "helps". Storyteller
ReplyDeleteFor the truth!
DeleteI don't think the people (i.e. Mike Elam) pushing this cold case to the TBI had an axe to grind with Buford or his family. I believe they are simply good investigators who wanted evidence/truth brought to light. Since the time of the ambush, evidence strongly suggested Buford Pusser had killed his wife and staged the ambush, but for whatever reasons, the evidence was altered and/or subdued for years. I get it. The whole thing is a "kick in the balls" for the; image of Buford Pusser, the BP Festival, monuments in and around McNairy County TN, The BP Home and Museum, the Selmer water tower, and especially in the eyes of now grown "ten year old's" who saw it in 1973 and grew up believing the Buford Pusser/"Walking Tall" image of a common man-underdog who took on organized crime. I am glad the evidence/reports will be released. There will never be full legal closure without Buford and a trial, but at least interested parties can view what evidence and notes there are and form their own opinions. I would like to see as much of the evidence as possible and I figure a lot of folks in around McNairy County would too.
DeleteIt's been 50+ years since Pusser died...no way they can get an accurate story this far down the road. Was he a perfect man...highly doubt it. Was he corrupt. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. But there are VERY few people left alive with first hand knowledge of what happened then.
ReplyDeleteI was a young man when this movie came out. Average guy sick of the evil out there and trying to fix it. The guy is Dead. Let sleeping dogs lie, whatever the truth.
DeleteThe guy in the first picture and the guy next to the Vette don't resemble each other.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising that given the amount of sleaze and flat-out lies in the media today, that the media of yesterday would be just as rotten. So many of our childhood heroes are now blemished, their once sterling record of accomplishments torn down by lesser men. Inspirational stories from the past are now revealed as nothing more than lies. Everything we know is revealed as false.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad, really, to pick behind the curtain and see the lies for what they are. Sometimes I think about Cypher in the Matrix, who just wants to go back to believing the dreams instead.
I'll believe what I want to. I don't care what others say. Thank you very much
ReplyDeleteWhether Joe Don was a Baker, or whether Joe Don was a Corleone, a larger issue is Heroes, those Thousand Faces (that Joseph Campbell wrote about), & the purposes those embellishments-typically serve … which net out to “ain’t positive.”
ReplyDelete“Envy the country that has heroes, huh? I say pity the country that needs them.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5uw_UMaemo
I watched that movie in a theater when it came out. I almost puked during the scene where they were carving on him with that knife.
ReplyDeleteHe was shot in the face when his wife was shot.
ReplyDeleteI doubt he shot himself in the jaw to make it look good.
“Speak softly,,,,,,,and carry a BIG stick.
ReplyDelete