- Title: Walking Tall (2004)
- IMDB: link
On this date ten years ago Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson‘s remake of 1973’s Walking Tall hit theaters. Loosely based on real events, the simple premise finds war hero Chris Vaughn (The Rock) return home to find his home town at the mercy of an unscrupulous businessman (Neal McDonough) and old high school rival who keeps a stranglehold on the small Washington town with a shady business dealings and rigged casino.
Discovering the man’s total disrespect for the law, and after being assaulted and almost killed by the man’s hired thugs, Vaughn finds no help from the local police which causes the former Army Special Forces ass-kicker to bust-up the casino with only his fists and a two-by-four before running for office on the platform of cleaning up the town.
Along for the ride the film casts Johnny Knoxville in the role of comic relief as Vaughn’s idiot best-friend and Ashley Scott as a childhood friend turned stripper turned love interest.
Memorable as a moderately-priced action vehicle for The Rock to kick ass, the film made back its budget with a little extra to spare but has mostly been overshadowed by the star’s more notable movies. Walking Tall certainly isn’t a great film. One could certainly argue (as many critics have) that it’s not even a good one, but for fans looking for something akin to a Road House-lite it can be a guilty pleasure. The DVD includes deleted scenes, bloopers, a photo gallery, an alternate ending, a featurette on the film’s stunts, audio commentary from The Rock as well as a second audio commentary from director Kevin Bray, editor Robert Ivison, and cinematographer Glen MacPherson.
[MGM, DVD $14.98 / Blu-ray $16.99]
